Ala Bashir
Iraqi painter, sculptor and plastic surgeon
Ala Bashir (Arabic: علاء بشير) is an Iraqi painter, sculptor and plastic surgeon who has exhibited widely and is noted for his portrayals of the human condition.
Biography
Ala Bashir was born into a Shiite family of the Jubouri tribe, though he would later renounce sectarianism and tribal affiliations. As a cosmetic surgeon, Bashir claims to have been the first in the Middle East to successfully complete hand replantation surgery. This, in addition to his uniquely surrealist painting and sculpture in an Iraqi art scene focused on the nationalist and heroic, won Bashir the notice of dictator Saddam Hussein. Dr. Bashir would go on to be President Hussein's personal physician and have uncommon access to Hussein in more unguarded and intimate moments. Following the fall of the Baathist government, Bashir worked with the CIA to secure the surrender of high-ranking regime officials.
Work
His works of art have been shown in several international exhibitions in, for example, France (Paris, Cagnes-sur-Mer), the United Kingdom (London), Ireland (Dublin), Austria (Vienna), Germany (Bonn), Yugoslavia (Belgrade), Italy (Rome), Russia (Moscow), Qatar (Doha), Morocco (Rabat), Libya (Tripoli), India (New Delhi), Tunisia (Tunis), Egypt (Cairo), the United States (New York, 1976 American tour), Iraq (Baghdad) and currently at the American Visionary Art Museum in Baltimore-USA.
Ala Bashir earned many national and international awards, among which are the Gold Medal in the Biennale International Exhibition in Baghdad in 1988, the second prize in the International Poster Exhibition in Paris in 1983 and Iraq's highest State Award for Fine Art in 2003.
Bashir designed two historically important monuments in Baghdad: "The Union", a statue (73 feet high, made of stone, weighing 970 tons), depicting the love between man and woman. This monument was destroyed by the Iraqi Authority in February 2010.
“Ala Bashir” enters the record as iraqi painter, sculptor and plastic surgeon. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Bashir, Iraqi and painter can confirm, complicate or overturn.
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Named sources, stable identifiers and responsible institutions provide the strongest route from overview to verifiable evidence. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 31, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q4164654. VIAF identifies the subject as 42085732. The Library of Congress control number is nb2005006668. 3 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1976, 1988, 1983 and 2003.
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