Ibrahim El-Salahi (Sudanese, born 1930)


Standing Figure signed 'Salahi' (lower right)pen & ink60 x 45.5cm (23 5/8 x 17 15/16in).
|ProvenanceAcquired in Nigeria, circa 1960.A private collection, United States.El-Salahi is perhaps Sudan's most celebrated living artist. His five decade career was brought to international attention in 2013, when a major retrospective of his work was held at Tate Modern in London. The exhibition touched on key themes that run throughout the artist's oeuvre: the legacy of colonialism, the creative influence of faith, and his own hybrid identity. Having studied at the Slade School of Fine Art in London, El-Salahi returned to Sudan in 1957 where he devoted his attention to the ancient artistic traditions of the region and the study of calligraphy. His works from the 1960s are therefore a fusion of African, Arab, Islamic and Western influences.This ink and whitewash is not dated but is very similar in subject matter and style to the line drawings that he executed in the early 1960s. A very similar piece is illustrated in Salah Hassan's catalogue, Ibrahim El-Salahi: A Visionary Modernist, (New York, 2012), fig.14, p.57.El-Salahi's work can be found in the collections of the Museum of Modern Art, New York, Metropolitan Museum, New York, The Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, The British Museum, London, Tate Modern, London, The Smithsonian Institute, Washington DC, The Guggenheim Museum, Abu Dhabi, The National Gallery, Berlin, and many others.