Background
El-Salahi was born in Omdurman, Sudan, on September 5, 1930. An Islamic scholar and proficient transcriber of the Holy Qur'an, El-Salahi’s father worked as a professor at the Omdurman Islamic Institute.
Al-Gamaa Ave, Al Khurtum 11111, Sudan
Ibrahim El-Salahi became a student of the School of Design of the Gordon Memorial College, currently the University of Khartoum.
University College London, Gower St, Kings Cross, London WC1E 6BT, UK
El-Salahi won a scholarship to study at the Slade School of Fine Art in London from 1954 to 1957.
1965
Ibrahim El-Salahi with Alfred J. Barr Jr. at the Museum of Modern Art.
Ibrahim El-Salahi at work.
Ibrahim El-Salahi posing with his painting.
Ibrahim El-Salahi with his work.
Ibrahim El-Salahi during his exhibition.
London, United Kingdom
Ibrahim El-Salahi’s exhibition at the Tate Modern in London.
The Artist in his studio, circa 1964-1965.
1965
Ibrahim El-Salahi with Alfred J. Barr Jr. at the Museum of Modern Art.
Al-Gamaa Ave, Al Khurtum 11111, Sudan
Ibrahim El-Salahi became a student of the School of Design of the Gordon Memorial College, currently the University of Khartoum.
University College London, Gower St, Kings Cross, London WC1E 6BT, UK
El-Salahi won a scholarship to study at the Slade School of Fine Art in London from 1954 to 1957.
Ibrahim El-Salahi.
Ibrahim El-Salahi at work.
Ibrahim El-Salahi posing with his painting.
Ibrahim El-Salahi with his work.
Ibrahim El-Salahi during his exhibition.
London, United Kingdom
Ibrahim El-Salahi’s exhibition at the Tate Modern in London.
The Artist in his studio, circa 1964-1965.
El-Salahi was born in Omdurman, Sudan, on September 5, 1930. An Islamic scholar and proficient transcriber of the Holy Qur'an, El-Salahi’s father worked as a professor at the Omdurman Islamic Institute.
Since an early age, Ibrahim El-Salahi watched his father drawing on whitewashed surfaces with date-palm kernels, providing the young artist with his first interest in calligraphy. His marks in school prevented him from pursuing medicine, which fortunately led him to start his career as an artist.
He became a student of the School of Design of the Gordon Memorial College, currently the University of Khartoum. After his graduation, El-Salahi won a scholarship to study at the Slade School of Fine Art in London from 1954 to 1957. There El-Salahi was exposed to European schooling, modern circles, and various historical artists, which subsequently transformed the style of his artworks.
In addition, he received a UNESCO scholarship to study in the United States in 1962. From there El-Salahi visited South America. Between 1964 and 1965 he moved back to the United States with the support of the Rockefeller Foundation. In 1966 he led the Sudanese delegation during the first World Festival of Black Arts in Dakar, Senegal. After the completion of his education and art training, he returned to Sudan.
El-Salahi held a number of various positions at different public and state organizations. He worked as a demonstrator at the Art Department of the Khartoum Technical Institute (now Sudan University of Science and Technology). From 1957 to 1959 he served as a lecturer at the School of Fine & Applied Art (today College of Fine and Applied Arts), which was the part of the same institute. Between 1960 and 1966 El-Salahi held the post of a tutor and head of Painting Department of the Institute. From 1967 till 1969 Ibrahim El-Salahi served as a Principal Lecturer there.
Ibrahim El-Salahi was appointed an assistant cultural attaché of Sudan Embassy in London, which position he occupied during 1969-1972. From 1972 to 1973 he worked as a Director General of Culture in the Sudan Government. He was an undersecretary at the Ministry of Culture and Information, Sudan Government, between 1973 and 1975.
In 1975 he was imprisoned without charge for six months; as he was accused of being accused of participating in an anti-government coup. While in prison El-Salahi was allowed to sketch out his ideas for huge paintings for 25 exercise minutes every day. But he secretly sketched and buried his small drawings into the ground to maintain his ideas. When he was finally released from prison, El-Salahi left the country and for some years worked and lived in Doha, Qatar, before settling in Oxford, England.
From 1980 till 1982 El-Salahi served as an expert of the Office of the Undersecretary, Ministry of Information, Qatar, and from 1984 to 1985 as a UNESCO consultant to the Ministry of Information and National Guidance in Somalia. Ibrahim El-Salahi held the position of an expert of the International Information Relations Committee of the Arab Gulf States in 1986-1989. Concurrently, he held the post of an Adviser to the Undersecretary at the Ministry of Information and Culture in Qatar. Between 1989 and 1997 he was appointed translator and biographer at The Amir’s Office, Diwan Amiri, Qatar. In 1997 he became a translator of the Political Department, Diwan Amiri, Qatar; he left this position in 1998.
As an artist, El-Salahi used in his artworks calligraphy and elements of the Islamic culture. Trying to connect his oeuvre to his heritage, Ibrahim El-Salahi started to fill artworks with symbols and marking of small Arabic inscriptions. As he advanced with incorporating Arabic calligraphy into his works, the symbols started to produce humans, animals, and plant forms, providing more meaning to his artworks and allowing viewers to connect to them. El-Salahi's first solo exhibition was held at the Grand Hotel Exhibition Hall, Khartoum, in 1960.
El-Salahi managed to mix the European styles with the traditional Sudanese themes in his art. It evoked transnational African-influenced surrealism. In general, his oeuvre has gone through several phases. His first period lasted during the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s. It was dominated by elementary forms and lines. Subsequently, his paintings became rather meditative and abstract. His later works have been characterized by lines, and he mainly used white and black colours. Ultimately, he developed his own style and was among the early group artists to elaborate the Arabic calligraphy in his artworks. This style became known as hurufiyah.
In the summer of 2013, a major retrospective show of El-Salahi's artworks was organized at Tate Modern, London, running from 3 July to 22 September 2013. It was Tate's first retrospective dedicated to an African artist. Among his most recent exhibitions have been shows held at Skoto Gallery, New York, in 2014; the Jerwood Gallery, Hastings, in 2015; the Armory, New York (Vigo Gallery) and Salon 94, New York, both in 2016.
Ibrahim El-Salahi is one of the leading contemporary artists of today, who is considered to be a pioneer in Sudanese art. He has been instrumental in the development of a Sudanese and Pan-African Modernism.
His works have been exhibited not only in his native country but abroad as well, including the United Kingdom, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, the United States, Germany, France, etc.
The artist's solo show at the Dara Art Gallery in Khartoum in 2000 attracted over a thousand visitors. In 2001, El-Salahi was honoured with a Prince Claus Award from the Netherlands.
Funeral and Crescent
A Vision of the Tomb
The Last Sound
Self-Portrait of Suffering
The Bull and the Mint Shrub
The Tree
They Always Appear
The Inevitable
Reborn Sounds of Childhood Dreams I
Reborn Sounds of Childhood Dreams II
The Group
The Tree
Visage d’homme au sceau de Salomon
Untitled
Geometric Study
Portrait de soudanais
Untitled XII
Portrait of a Sudanese gentleman
Bride-groom on a horse
Untitled (Triptych)
They Always Appear
The Mosque
One Day I Happened to See a Ruler
Illustration no. 2 for Tayeb Salih’s novel Maryoud
Hard Exit
al-Booma
Flamenco Dancers
By His Will, We Teach Birds How to Fly No.11
Ibrahim El-Salahi was born to Muslim family.
Ibrahim El-Salahi was a member of the "Khartoum School" that was founded by Osman Waqialla. In the 1960s he became associated with the Mbari Club in Ibadan, Nigeria.
