Prof. Ahmed Shibrain

Professor Ahmed Shibrain was a Sudanese modernist painter, graphic artist and educator, and a founding figure of the Khartoum School. Born in Berber, Sudan, he studied at the College of Fine and Applied Arts in Khartoum before continuing his studies at London’s Central School of Arts in 1957.

Shibrain’s art practice brought Arabic calligraphy, Islamic visual traditions and Sudanese and African cultural references into dialogue with modernist abstraction, contributing to the development of Sudanawiyya and the wider Hurufiyya movement. He later served as Head of the Graphics Department and Dean of the College of Fine and Applied Art in Khartoum.

Shibrain exhibited internationally, including at the 9th São Paulo Biennial, Brazil (1967), Contemporary African Art, National Museum of African Art, Washington, D.C. (1974), and The Right to Write, National Gallery, Amman (1996). Shibrain’s artwork was subsequently featured in major exhibitions including Taking Shape: Abstraction from the Arab World, 1950s–1980s and In the Heart of Another Country: The Diasporic Imagination Rises.

In 2003, Shibrain was awarded the Republic of Sudan Order of Merit in recognition of his contributions. In 2008, he was also honoured by the Ruler of Sharjah for his contribution to the development of art and culture and to the Sharjah Calligraphy Biennial.Shibrain’s artwork is held in institutional collections including the Barjeel Art Foundation in Sharjah, United Arab Emirates; the Smithsonian National Museum of African Art and the National Archives, Washington, D.C.; and the Weltkulturenmuseum in Frankfurt, Germany, among other international collections.

Biography courtesy of Strauss & Co