Mohammad Omer Khalil

Mohammad Omer Khalil (, , born January 8, 1936) is a Sudanese-born artist living in New York City. Born in a neighborhood of Khartoum, Khalil later studied at the School of Fine and Applied Arts, where he taught after graduating. He moved to Italy to attend the Accademia di Belle Arti di Firenze where he studied painting, mosaics, painting frescos, and etching. He continued his studies in mosaics at the Accademia di Belle Arti di Firenze in Florence and the Academy of Fine Arts in Ravenna. Khalil moved back to Sudan where he briefly taught. He migrated to the United States of America in 1967.

After moving to New York City, Khalil became an expert in printmaking and later opened a studio where his clients included Norman Lewis, Louise Nevelson, Al Held, and Sean Scully. He began teaching at Pratt Institute in 1973, the first of many schools where he has taught in the US. Khalil's works gained in popularity, especially in North America and Europe. His first solo exhibition took place in 1979. This was followed by decades of success and exhibitions in Africa, Asia, Europe, and North America.

Biography Early life Mohammad Omer Khalil was born on January 8, 1936, in Burri Almahas, a neighborhood of Khartoum, Anglo-Egyptian Sudan (modern-day Sudan). After graduating from Khartoum's School of Fine and Applied Arts in 1959 where he studied under Greek artist Aristomenis Angelopoulos, he taught at the school for the next four years. Khalil moved to Italy to study painting and mosaics at the Accademia di Belle Arti di Firenze (ABAF) in Florence. He was able to attend the academy due to receiving a scholarship from the Sudanese Ministry of Education. At ABAF, Kahlil studied fresco painting under Primo Conti. He also took classes in etching under Rodolfo Margheri. After graduating, he studied mosaics at the Academy of Fine Arts in Ravenna in 1966.

Career 1960s to 1980s After leaving Italy, Kahlil briefly taught at the Khartoum Technical Institute in Sudan before emigrating to the United States in 1967, becoming an expert in printmaking. In addition to teaching at these schools, Khalil spent much time teaching in New York City at the Robert Blackburn Printmaking Workshop and the Asilah Printmaking Workshop in Asilah. That same year he participated in group exhibitions at the International Triennial of Original Graphic Prints in Grenchen, Switzerland, the Toledo Museum of Art in Ohio, and the Columbia Museum of Art in South Carolina. During the rest of the decade, Khalil's work was shown in Iraq, the United Kingdom, and Norway. Solo exhibitions during this time include ones at the Alif Gallery in Washington, D.C., the Eleini Gallery in London, and the Bronx Museum of the Arts in New York City. Describing the inspiration for these pieces, Khalil said "I listened to Dylan every day...at a point in my life [when] there was an empathy with the sadness and anger in Dylan's life and music." One of these prints, Tangled Up in Blue, was later purchased by the National Museum of African Art in Washington, D.C.

Inspired by the notable Arabic poet Adunis, in 1999 Khalil created the Harlem series, which featured etchings of poems. He won first prize in printmaking in 2001 and 2003 at the National Academy of Design, and in 2003 at the International Bienneal in Cairo.

In the late 2010s and early 2020s, students from Fisk University restored eleven paintings, including Inno by Khalil. The works are part of a traveling exhibition, African Modernism in America, that was held at various museums in the United States. Other artists represented in the exhibition included Skunder Boghossian, Ibrahim El-Salahi, Mohamed Melehi, Aimé Mpane, Pilipili Mulongoy, and Suzanna Ogunjami, among others. A solo exhibition of Khalil's work took place in 2023-2024 at Washington and Lee University and the exhibition Common Ground, named after a series of Khalil's etchings, was held at multiple galleries in 2026.