Lorna Selim

Lorna Beryl Selim (1928 – 23 January 2021) was an English artist and art teacher, who married prominent Iraqi sculptor Jewad Selim, relocating to Baghdad with him in 1950. She was a practising artist for much of her life up until her death. Selim contributed to the arts community in Iraq through her exhibitions, teaching and active participation in arts groups for twenty years. After her husband's premature death in 1961, she was part of the team responsible for completing his iconic monumental work, entitled Nasb al-Hurriyah.

Life and career Although Lorna Selim was well known as the English wife of the prominent Iraqi sculptor, Jewad Selim, Selim was also a capable and influential artist in her own right. She is consistently listed as an Iraqi artist from the pioneer generation.

Born in Sheffield in 1928, Lorna received a scholarship and used it to study at the Slade School of Fine Arts, London, graduating with a Diploma in Painting and Design in 1948. It was here that she met the Iraqi artist and sculptor, Jewad Selim, who was also studying at the Slade School. In 1949 she received an Art Teachers' Diploma from the London University Institute of Education.

From 1949 to 1950 she taught art at the Tapton House Grammar School, Chesterfield. In September 1950 Lorna left Sheffield to join Jewad in Baghdad, Iraq and they were married a week later. An Iraqi art critic noted that:

Selim was fascinated by the traditional Iraqi housing found along the banks of the Tigris—the bayt (houses) and the mudhif (or reed dwelling). Not long after her arrival in Baghdad, the city underwent a period of "modernisation," and many traditional houses were being demolished. She would rush to make sketches of the structures before they were lost permanently. Lorna began by sketching a building then she would return home to start the layout of the painting. She would then return to the building to sketch the finer details and note down the colours. Between 1957 and 1963, she sketched many vernacular buildings and homes.

Lorna Selim was very active in Iraq's arts community through her participation in important arts groups. She became a member of the Society of Iraqi Plastic Artists and the influential The Baghdad Modern Art Group which had been founded by her husband, Jewad Selim and Shakir Hassan Al Said.

Selim continued to paint from her Welsh hillside home in her later life, surrounded by close family (ref: 2018, Miriam Jewad Selim, daughter). Lorna Selim died in Wales on 23 January 2021.

Work Her work is held in permanent collections including the Mathaf Arab Museum of Modern Art in Doha and elsewhere.

Legacy Selim is the subject of a non-fiction book by Iraqi journalist, Inaam Kachachi entitled Lorna, Her Years with Jawad Selim published in Arabic by Dar el-Jadid of Beirut in 1998.