Issa Hanna Dabish

Issa Hanna Dabish (1919-2006), simply known as Issa Hanna, was an Iraqi artist and restorer of antiquities, noted for silkscreen works. Along with Akram Sukri, he was instrumental in founding Iraq's first modern art association in 1941.

Life and career Issa Hanna Dabish was born in Tel Keppe, an Assyrian town in northern Iraq, in 1919. At around the age of five or six, the young Issa Hanna, emigrated to Baghdad with his family after locusts ravaged the family's crops.

In an interview with the Multicultural Review, he described his early childhood in Telkaif and Baghdad:

He received his early education at Rawdat Al-Chaldan and Al-Ma'muniya Primary School. He attended the Jaafari secondary school at the same time as he was teaching painting at the Eastern Middle School. His early art education was at the Institute of Fine Arts in Baghdad where he graduated in 1950 and later studied abroad at Syracuse University New York graduating in 1956. Although his parents encouraged his painting as a hobby, he often felt the need to conceal his artistic endeavours for fear of being reprimanded. However, two of his teachers, artists, Nasser Awni and Qasim Naji, noticed his ability and encouraged him. Professor Nasser Awni found a special room for gifted artists and he was allocated a place there. In his final year, he completed a portrait of King Faisal, which was displayed in the Boy Scouts Square at the annual Boy Scouts Festival. He subsequently became the first Iraqi to teach silkscreen technique.

After completing his education, he worked for the Water Board, but later joined the Department of Antiquities, where he met the artist, Akram Shukri, who was the Director of the Antiquities’ Laboratory.

He remained very active in Iraq's arts community throughout his life. He served on the inaugural board of the Society for Artists and Art Lovers, formed in 1941, as its treasurer. He was a founding member of the Primitive Artists Group in 1950, and also a foundation member of Iraqi Plastic Artists’ Society, formed in 1956.

Work Throughout his career, Issan Hanna focused on the practice of painting. He was not drawn to theories of contemporary art.

He painted in the abstract style. Twelve of these works have since been recovered are now on display at the Baghdad Museum of Modern Art.