Among the first to experiment with Arabic calligraphy in modern art

• Born in Aleppo in 1908 and raised in Baghdad, Madiha Omar is among the earliest Iraqi women painters.

• In 1949, she presented one of the first known theses on Arabic calligraphy as a source for modern abstract art at the Corcoran School of Art in Washington, D.C.

• Her work is recognized as a foundation for the Hurufiyya movement, which reimagined Arabic letters as a modern artistic form.

 Madiha Omar was one of the first Arab artists to explore the expressive potential of Arabic script as a visual form. Long before the Hurufiyya movement took shape, she was already treating letters not as symbols to be read, but as abstract elements to be felt. Her training in both traditional Islamic design and Western techniques gave her the tools to build something uniquely her own.

In the 1940s, while living in Washington, D.C., she exhibited works that layered Arabic calligraphy over modern abstract compositions. For her, the medium was a way to explore rhythm, identity, and inner voice. When most artists followed Western trends, Madiha quietly rooted herself in her culture without being limited by it.

Her work helped shape a visual language that many others would later build upon. Today, she remains a foundational    figure in the history of modern Arab ar