Ahmed Shibrain Explained

Ahmed Shibrain, also known as Ahmad Mohammad Shibrain (1931 – 23 March 2017) was a Sudanese Modernist painter and Dean of the College of Fine and Applied Art in Khartoum.

Life and artistic career

Shibrain was born in 1931 in Berber, Sudan. He studied Fine Arts at the School of Design at the Khartoum Technical Institute (KTI) and at the Central School of Art and Design in London, England. In 1972, he was Commissioner for Art in the Sudanese Ministry of Youth and later also Secretary of Culture in the Ministry of Culture and Information. In 1975, he became dean of the College of Fine and Applied Art at the Sudan University of Science and Technology.^{[1] [2]}

Along with Ibrahim El-Salahi, Shibrain is considered one of the leading representatives of the art movement called School of Khartoum that combined Islamic, African and Western artistic traditions.^[3] Both artists are also representatives of the so-called hurufiyya-movement (derived from the Arabic word for letter), as they developed contemporary pictorial representation from traditional Arabic calligraphy.^[4] Shibrain's large-format calligraphy, in which the words of Islamic texts are interpreted as independent ornaments and images, attracted international attention.^{[5] [6]}

Among other collections, his works are represented in the collections of the Barjeel Art Foundation in the United Arab Emirates and of the National Archives (formerly Harmon Foundation) in Washington, D.C.^[7]

Shibrain died in Khartoum on 23 March 2017, aged 82.^[2]

Major exhibitions

• 1967: 9. São Paulo Art Biennal
• 1974: Contemporary African Art. National Museum of African Art, Washington
• 1996: The Right to Write. National Gallery, Amman, Jordan

References

1. Web site: 2020-05-29. en-US. Barjeel Art Foundation. Ahmad Shibrain.
2. Web site: Ahmed Shibrain's Art: A Marrying Of Arab And African Cultures Sudanow Magazine . 2023-01-01 . sudanow-magazine.net . 6 December 2020.
3. . Palmer . Victoria . Art out of Sudan . African Arts . Los Angeles . 34 . 4 . Winter 2001 . 84–85 . 10.2307/3337812 . 3337812 .
4. Book: 10.4324/9780203986578 . 587 . Encyclopedia of Twentieth-Century African History . 2005 . Eyoh . Dickson . 978-0-203-98657-8 .
5. Casey . David M. . Contemporary African Art . African Arts . 1974 . 8 . 1 . 62 . 10.2307/3334925 . 3334925 .
6. Book: Okeke-Agulu, Chika . Postcolonial Modernism: Art and Decolonization in Twentieth-Century Nigeria . 2015-04-06 . Duke University Press . 978-0-8223-7630-9 . 172–175 . en.
7. Web site: 2016-08-15 . Contemporary African Art - Shibrain, Ahmed Mohammed (Sudan) . 2022-12-31 . National Archives . en.

Further reading

• Daum, Werner and Rashid Diab 2009. Modern Art in Sudan. In Hopkins, Peter G. (Hrsg.) Kenana Handbook of Sudan. New York: Routledge, pp. 453–516. ISBN 0-7103-1160-5.
• Book: Hale, Sondra . Zuhur . Sherifa . https://books.google.com/books?id=Sd5g1ohkocAC&q=Ahmed+Shibrain&pg=PA188 . Images of Enchantment: Visual and Performing Arts of the Middle East . 187–204 . Imagery and invention: Sudanese at home and in the world. Conversations with Mohamed Omar Bushara and Musa Khalifa . 1998 . American Univ in Cairo Press . 978-977-424-467-4.

External links

• Works by Ahmed Shibrain at MutualArt