Untitled Pen and Ink, 1963. — Ibrahim El-Salahi
Ibrahim El-Salahi is a Sudanese artist and former politician and diplomat. He was born in Omdurman, Sudan in 1930, and by the 1960s his talent as an artist was being recognized. He lead an art school known as the “Khartoum School,” which was one of the leading African movements in modernism and pan-Africanism. El-Salahi became the Sudanese cultural minister in teh 1970s and was imprisoned for six months, accused of anti-government activities. El-Salahi began to move from muted to vibrant colors, and ultimately settled on much of his later work being in black and white. He reamains of of the most respected of African artists, and is known as the godfather of African modernism. This drawing stems from the Khartoum School era, and is a part of the Harmon Foundation Collection.
I was immediately attracted to this painting because of its vague animal shape, but as I began to study it I became more and more intrigued. Comments on the painting are hard to find on the internet, so I’ll just give some of my own thoughts. First of all, I love the heavy use of ink on some of the edges of the ‘animal’ in the piece, along the ‘mane’ the underbelly, and along the back. It is somewhat horse-shaped, thought what might pass for feet do not look like hooves. The head of the animal looks like an African mask. What I originally thought was the rump of the beast now appears to be another creature (perhaps an elephant) behind the first, with the rump of the front animal being a sixth of the painting’s width from the right. The “legs” are long and thin, and in fact the animal looks more sickly each time I look at it. Remarkable are the several black splotches, many with a trail of black ink flowing down, like blood spilled from so many bullet wounds. Is this picture representing the famine and bloodshed of Africa? Are the vertical lines those of bars, and the animal is an Africa escaping from years of colonial oppression? There may be views out there of others, and certainly the artist’s own. What does the picture say to you?
Ibrahim el-Salahi
Selected Links
http://www.archives.gov/research/african-art/
http://www.contemporary-african-art.com/african-modernists.html#sthash.ZcMYniTU.ciBBVuBJ.dpbs
http://www.africanart.org/inaugural/12/ibrahim_el_salahi_a_visionary_modernist
markofthearts 
After reading you response, I can definitely see how when you first looked at it you saw an animal. However, I wish I had created my own reaction to this painting before reading your post, because that wasn’t actually what I saw when Ii first looked at it. I find the fact that the artist ended up using black and white for this work, interesting. Also, why did he choose to do black and white instead of color? I feel like this work could be so much better presented than that. However, I guess that leaves plenty of room for interpretation for the viewer. It almost looks like the “animal” that you suggested, has claws on its feet. In all honesty, I am more interested in the background of this work. It seems that there are plants in the background, until you look under the animal; then it no longer looks like plants to me. I’m not really sure what I would say it looks like, other than the inside of some building.
Thanks for stopping by! Oh yes, you are correct about the “background” stuff, that I thought looks like plants, or people, or any number of things. I am sorry that I could find no in-depth commentary on the picture to see just what the artist was presenting. Maybe it was just a series of lines and such. I don’t really know. I could not find any comment from the artist, so I can’t really say. I saw an animal, you might not. That’s fair. Thanks for your comments!
This certainly is an interesting piece, not much unlike the piece I chose in its uniqueness. To me it looks as if this piece was meant to be interpreted as an infinite number of varying animal species; at a simple first glance I was able to count around four possible animal interpretations. This is definitely a very complex piece of art. I am glad that you gave biographical information at the beginning and provided a picture of the artist with more of his pieces of his art as a back drop, the final picture gave me as a view a glimpse of the multiple forms art which Salahi has been able to create.
I’m glad you could come by for a look. Yes, I think there are many possibilities as far as interpretations go for this piece, as it is quite complex. el-Salahi has a number of interesting art pieces, some of which have a much more defined political or social statement to make. This one jumped out at me as soon as I saw it. Thanks for stopping by!
When I first glanced at this piece. I didn’t think anything of it. It just looked like a bunch random shapes and lines, not until you mentioned it, did I really look hard at it. And I agree it does look like a wild beast of some sort, looks like a horse or zebra form. I also think this drawing is cool because it does definitely have a modern vibe to it with the same look as graffiti street art. So it makes sense why they call him the godfather of African modernism. And I think it is cool that he transitioned to only black and white art because I tend to appreciate the vintage look that black and white has versus color. Especially since I am a photographer, I enjoy getting cool black and white photographs more than boring color ones! 😛
hi mjhamlin! Thanks so much for responding here. Yes, I agree with all your points about this piece. Your reactions were similar to my own in at first looking over it, but as I looked closer it began to intrigue me, and now when I look at it, I can see other things that I missed before. And you are a person after my own heart! I do photography as well, and do especially like black and white. I even shoot my color shots like I’m shooting black and white, lol. Good comments!
Hey
I just want to say what a graceful shop you have!.
I am a regular customer of your website.
I had visited your shop last month, and I saw a very nice product i wanne buy.
But I have a question! today I wanted to order it, but can not find the product anymore in your website.
The product looks like this picture http://item.pictures/inkprinter
I hope you will sell it again soon.
I’ll wait.
greetings
“Sent from my iPhone”