Hafidh Al-Droubi (Iraqi, 1914-1991)

Hafidh Al-Droubi was one of the first Iraqi artists to study art in Europe, who adhered to academics styles. This group was later referred to as the Pioneers, and were members of an all-Iraqi faculty at the Institute of Fine Arts in Baghdad. Al-Droubi produced realistic paintings, with naturalistic dimensions and perspective of daily traditional Baghdadi scenes, a rapidly disappearing rural life, cityscapes, and historical subjects, with a distinct use of light. Most of his mature works kept a similar subject matter, but his style became more cubist and abstracted style, with straight distinct lines and flat colours.