A pivotal chapter in modern Arab art history is taking centre stage in the Gulf. At the New York University Abu Dhabi Art Gallery, the exhibition All Manner of Experiments: Legacies of the Baghdad Modern Art Group revisits one of the most radical and intellectually ambitious movements in the Middle East.

Running through June 7, the exhibition re-examines the groundbreaking work of the Baghdad Modern Art Group, founded in 1951 by Jewad Selim and Shakir Hassan Al Said. Emerging at a crucial moment in Iraq’s nation-building process, the group sought to define a distinctly Iraqi modernism — one rooted in Mesopotamian heritage yet fully engaged in global artistic dialogue.

Rewriting Modernism from Baghdad

For decades, modernism was framed largely as a European phenomenon. But the Baghdad Modern Art Group challenged that narrative. Rather than imitating Western abstraction, its members fused calligraphy, ancient Mesopotamian symbolism and contemporary experimentation to create a visual language that was both local and universal.

Artists such as Dia al-Azzawi, Mahmoud Sabri, Naziha Salim, and Madiha Umar expanded the movement’s experimental ethos, rejecting narrow definitions of “Islamic art” and instead proposing modernism as an open-ended investigation.

Their manifesto positioned Iraqi artists not as followers, but as contributors — even leaders — in a global conversation about art and identity.

From Baghdad to Abu Dhabi

Originally organised by the Center for Curatorial Studies at Bard College, the exhibition now finds renewed relevance in Abu Dhabi. The presentation in the UAE reflects the Gulf’s growing role as a site for revisiting overlooked histories of Arab modernism.

By placing historical works alongside contemporary Iraqi artists — including those working within the diaspora — the exhibition traces continuity across generations. It demonstrates how the experimental spirit of 1950s Baghdad continues to influence artists navigating displacement, memory and political transformation today.

Art as Cultural Reconstruction

Baghdad, once celebrated as a global intellectual capital, endured decades of war and instability. Yet this exhibition reminds viewers that Iraqi modernism was never peripheral — it was visionary.

Through painting, sculpture, archival materials and rarely documented works, All Manner of Experiments reframes the Baghdad Modern Art Group not as a footnote, but as a cornerstone of Middle Eastern modern art history.

At a time when the region’s cultural narratives are being reassessed, the exhibition does more than honour the past — it insists that Arab modernism remains central to understanding global art today.