{{Infobox artist | name = Issa Hanna Dabish | native_name = عيسى حنا | image = | imagesize = | caption = | birth_date = 1919 | birth_place = Tel Keppe, Iraq | death_date = 2006 | death_place = Canada | education = * Institute of Fine Arts, Baghdad (1950) * Syracuse University, New York (1956) | field = Painting, Restoration of antiquities | training = | movement = Abstract art | works = | patrons = | awards = | spouse = }}

'''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.<ref name="laibi">Laibi, F., [http://maakom.com/site/article/2685/“The Departure of the Pioneer of Printing on Silk Issa Hanna”]{{Dead link|date=September 2024 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}, [Obituary] Maakom, 2008, (translated from Arabic) {{Dead link|date=May 2021}}</ref>

In an interview with the ''Multicultural Review'', he described his early childhood in Telkaif and Baghdad:<ref name="Namou, W. 2009, pp 35-36">Namou, W., “The Concealed Gift of Our Society: The United States Gives Iraqi Artists a Voice”, ''Multicultural Review'', vol. 18, no.2, 2009, pp 35-36</ref>

{{blockquote|From the age of five or six years old, I did sculpture from mud while living in Telkaif, a village in northern Iraq. At six we moved to Baghdad and I started drawing. When my family gave me four floos (pennies) to spend in school, I would hide the money and then buy a box of watercolors. Sometimes my mother would catch me, and say, “Oh, he’s sketching again!” My parents wanted me to be an engineer or a doctor.}}

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.<ref name="laibi" />

He showed an early talent for drawing. At the age of 12, he was making portraits of well-known local figures in chalk, pen and ink.<ref name="Bacall, J. 2014, p. 21">Bacall, J., Chaldeans in Detroit, Arcadia Publishing, 2014, p. 21</ref> 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.<ref name="laibi" />

He was on good terms with the Selim family, whose members were all notable artists in their own right, and he was a similar age to two of the sons, Su'ad Salim and Jawad Selim. During visits to the Salim home, he was able to observe their collection of paintings by Iraqi pioneer artists including; Abdul Qadir Al Rassam, Asim Hafidh and Mohammed Saleh Zaki, and was also given access to art books that were in print at the time. Through the Selims, he was introduced to prominent artists, Zaid Mohammed Saleh Zaki, Atta Sabri and Hafidh al-Droubi, who was teaching at the Art Institute. Al-Droubi, who was known for encouraging talented young artists, was very pleased with Issa Hanna's work.<ref name="laibi" /> Al-Droubi and his contemporaries, adopted the young Issa Hanna into their group and expanded his art education by teaching him different types of drawing, and to use a variety of media such as oils, pastels and watercolours. Initially they encouraged him to paint Baghdad's streetscapes and alleyways, but later they also took him on trips outside Baghdad to paint landscapes.<ref name="laibi" />

He enrolled at the Institute of Fine Arts in Baghdad, graduating in 1950 and later studied at Syracuse University in New York, graduating in 1956 where he majored in photography and commercial art.<ref name="ic">Namou, W., “The Concealed Gift of Our Society: The United States Gives Iraqi Artists a Voice”, ''Multicultural Review'', vol. 18, no.2, 2009, pp 35-36; ”Issa Hanna Dabish” [Biographical notes], [https://ibrahimicollection.com/node/65/''Ibrahimi Collection''],</ref> He subsequently became the first Iraqi to teach silkscreen technique.<ref name="ReferenceA">Hanna-Fatuhi, A., ''The Untold Story of Native Iraqis: Chaldean Mesopotamians: 5300 BC – Present'', [e-book edition], n.p.</ref>

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.<ref name="laibi" /> Together with Akram Shukri, he was instrumental in forming the Society of Artists and Art Lovers, founded in 1941.<ref>Shabout, N.M., ”Collecting Modern Iraqi Art,” Chapter 9 in: Mejcher-Atassi, S. and Schwartz, J.P., ''Archives, Museums and Collecting Practices in the Modern Arab World'', Routledge, 2016</ref>

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.<ref>Oraibi, E.Y., ”We Remember the First Artistic Association in the History of Modern Iraq”, [Almada Supplement: Iraqi Memory], [http://almadasupplements.com/news.php?action=view&id=20901#sthash.COrHpj4v.dpbs/''Almada'']{{Dead link|date=September 2024 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}, 4 July 2019,</ref> 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.<ref name="ic" /> He was appointed the lifetime honorary chairman of the Iraqi Artists Association.<ref name="Bacall, J. 2014, p. 21"/> He was also the chairman of the International Chaldean Artists’ Association.<ref name="ReferenceA"/>

In 1993, he emigrated to Canada to be with his son. In spite of his advanced age, he continued to paint, producing smaller works in pastels and aquarelle. He also taught painting to senior citizens and children out of a local gallery.<ref name="Namou, W. 2009, pp 35-36"/> He died in 2009, aged 90 years.<ref>In the literature, there is some confusion about his date of death. A Facebook page set up in his memory claims that he died in 2006. This is not consistent with secondary sources, which give his date of death as either 2008 or 2009 and almost always claim that he had attained 90 years. The later date seems more credible, since he gave an interview to the ''Multicultural Review'' in June–July, 2006.</ref>

==Work== Throughout his career, Issan Hanna focused on the practice of painting. He was not drawn to theories of contemporary art.<ref name="laibi" /> Nature is the dominant theme in his paintings.<ref>Gilgamesh, Issue 2, Ministry of Information and Culture, 1990, p. 15 and p. 89</ref><ref>Adnan Mounshed, [https://www.iraqicp.com/index.php/sections/variety/245-authors/2018-01-18-19-29-46/10602-2018-09-23-19-14-35/“The First Painters in Iraq Generations or groups?”]{{Dead link|date=September 2024 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }} 21 October 2019 (translated from Arabic)</ref>

He painted in the abstract style.<ref name="ic" /> Some 20 works were housed in the Iraqi Center for the Arts (formerly the Saddam Center for the Arts), prior to the lootings of 2003.<ref>[http://artdaily.cc/news/21716/Enduring-Spirit--Works-by-Iraqi-Chaldean-Artists#.Xa1MpGZS-Uk/”Enduring Spirit: Works by Iraqi Chaldean Artists"], ''Art Daily'', 21 October 2019,</ref> Twelve of these works have since been recovered are now on display at the Baghdad Museum of Modern Art.<ref>Namou, W., “The Concealed Gift of Our Society: The United States Gives Iraqi Artists a Voice”, Multicultural Review, vol. 18, no.2, 2009, p. 35</ref>

==See also== * Iraqi art * Conservation and restoration of cultural heritage

==External links== *[https://ibrahimicollection.com/node/65/Ibrahimi collection] – reproductions of selected artists's work; many of which were destroyed or looted in 2003 and cannot be found in other collections

==References== {{reflist}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dabish, Issa Hanna}}

Category:20th-century Iraqi painters Category:People from Tel Keppe Category:1919 births Category:2006 deaths Category:University of Baghdad alumni Category:Syracuse University alumni Category:Iraqi abstract painters Category:Iraqi expatriates in the United States Category:Iraqi emigrants to Canada Category:Iraqi Assyrian people Category:Chaldean Catholics Category:20th-century Iraqi male artists