Mahmoud Sabri (Iraq, 1927-2012) Study of Grief mixed media on cardboard, framed executed circa 1960s 49 x 69.5cm (19 5/16 x 27 3/8in). Footnotes: Provenance: Property from the artist's estate Note: The present work is a study for a painting in the collection of the Prague National Gallery From Figure to Atom: The Evolution of Mahmoud Sabri: Important Works from the artist's estate This early study for Grief, executed in the 1960s, offers a rare and intimate insight into the working process of Mahmoud Sabri, one of the most intellectually rigorous and politically engaged figures of the Iraqi modern movement. The finished painting, now held in the collection of the National Gallery Prague, stands among Sabri's most poignant meditations on loss and collective suffering. The present work, however, reveals the genesis of that emotional and compositional intensity in its most immediate form. Rendered with a looseness and urgency absent from the final composition, the study captures Sabri's initial structuring of grief as both a personal and communal experience. The figures, simplified yet expressive, gather around a recumbent body, their gestures already charged with anguish. Limbs bend and fold into one another, creating a rhythm of interlocking forms that conveys both intimacy and suffocation. The flattened pictorial space and raw application of paint heighten this sense of emotional compression. Sabri's engagement with themes of mourning and injustice is inseparable from his political convictions. Working in exile and deeply critical of the conditions in Iraq, he conceived of art as a vehicle for social consciousness. In this context, Grief can be understood not simply as a lamentation, but as an indictment. The sorrow depicted is not isolated or private, but emblematic of a broader human condition shaped by violence and displacement. The composition recalls the visual language of Western religious imagery, particularly scenes of lamentation, yet Sabri strips these references of transcendence. Instead, he grounds the scene in a stark human reality. The figures do not gesture toward salvation, but remain anchored in loss. In the study, this tension is even more pronounced, as the absence of refined detail allows the emotional structure of the work to emerge with clarity. As a preparatory work, this study holds particular significance. It documents the evolution of a major composition while standing as a compelling work in its own right. The immediacy of the brushwork and the openness of form lend it a directness that complements the more resolved final painting. Together, they underscore Sabri's enduring concern with the representation of suffering and the role of the artist as witness. This lot is subject to the following lot symbols: AR AR Goods subject to Artists Resale Right Additional Premium. For further information on this lot please visit Bonhams.com For further information about this lot please visit the lot listing