All Manner of Experiments: Legacies of the Baghdad Group for Modern Art is the first exhibition to contextualize and historicize an essential chapter in Arab modern and contemporary art. This in-depth presentation of the Baghdad Group for Modern Art, which was founded in 1951 and remained a creative force through the early 1970s, presents a spirited picture of multiple generations of artists working together to forge a new and distinct aesthetic that captured the dynamism and hope of postcolonial life in Iraq. The exhibition invites audiences to learn about modernism from the vantage point of Iraq—a vibrant site of exchange and influence across West Asia, North Africa, and Europe, reflecting on the group’s formation, progression, and impact on subsequent generations of artists.
All Manner of Experiments will combine significant examples of painting, sculpture, and drawing from the Group with archival material, including newsreel footage, the Group’s manifesto, exhibition posters, and artist-designed brochures.
The groundbreaking exhibition draws from major collections such as the Barjeel Art Foundation (Sharjah, United Arab Emirates), Dalloul Art Foundation (Beirut, Lebanon), Ibrahimi Collection (Amman, Jordan and Baghdad, Iraq), and Qatar Museums / Mathaf: Arab Museum of Modern Art (Doha, Qatar), as well as from artists and estates.
The Baghdad Group for Modern Art was formed after a dynamic period of accelerated change and growth in Iraq following the nation’s liberation from British rule in 1932. During the 1930s and ’40s, amid ongoing political turbulence, artists began a crucial negotiation between a nascent postcolonial national consciousness and a burgeoning modernism. Iraqi artists were challenged on two intersecting fronts: on the one hand, with the need to construct points of continuity with Iraqi visual history, and on the other, with the call to create new forms of representation capable of expressing a modern existence.
Spanning works from 1946 to 2023, All Manner of Experiments will focus on the relationships within the Baghdad Group for Modern Art, including teacher-student dynamics, aesthetic experiments, and the contributions of lesser-known members as well as Group precedents and peers. The exhibition is organized into a series of experimental narratives that demonstrate membership in the group as not a fixed process, but a flow of people and ideas held together by a common impetus toward material innovation and aesthetic exploration.
Featured artists include Faraj Abbu, Himat Mohammed Ali, Sadik Alfraji, Dia al-Azzawi, Rasoul Alwan, Shakir Hassan Al Said, Khalil Al-Warid, Kahtan Awni, Bogus Bablanian, Amar Dawod, Ismail Fattah, Ghassan Ghaib, Mohammed Ghani Hikmat, Jabra Ibrahim Jabra, Fouad Jihad, Ardash Kakafian, Hanaa Malallah, Mahmoud Obaidi, Widad Orfali, Suad Al Attar, Khalid al Rahal, Miran al-Saadi, Mahmoud Sabri, Naziha Selim, Nazar Salim (Nizar Selim), Jewad Selim, Lorna Selim, Kareem Risan, Walid Siti, Madiha Umar, and Nazar Yahya.
The exhibition is curated by expert in modern Iraqi art history Nada Shabout along with specialist in modern Iraqi art Tiffany Floyd, and Director of the Graduate Program and Chief Curator at CCS Bard Lauren Cornell. Zuhra Amini (CCS Bard ’25) and Truth Murray-Cole (CCS Bard ‘26) contributed curatorial research and editorial support to the project.
The exhibition is accompanied by a catalog designed by Hala Al-Ani and published by CCS Bard featuring essays by exhibition curators and Nabil Salih (CHRA Bard ‘25), reflections from participating artists, and illustrations of featured works.
Exhibition Support
Lead support for All Manner of Experiments is provided by the Barjeel Art Foundation (Sharjah, United Arab Emirates), the Dalloul Art Foundation (Beirut, Lebanon), the Farjam Foundation (Dubai, United Arab Emirates), the Ibrahimi Collection (Amman, Jordan and Baghdad, Iraq), and Qatar Museums / Mathaf: Arab Museum of Modern Art (Doha, Qatar).
Major support for All Manner of Experiments is provided by The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts and the E. Rhodes and Leona B. Carpenter Foundation.
Exhibitions at CCS Bard and the Hessel Museum of Art are made possible with generous support from Lonti Ebers, the Marieluise Hessel Foundation, the Robert Mapplethorpe Foundation, the Board of Governors of the Center for Curatorial Studies, and the Center’s Patrons, Supporters, and Friends.
