Hassan Musa

Hassan Musa (born 1951 in El Nuhud, Sudan), is a Sudanese-born French contemporary painter. He is one of the Sudanese pioneers in contemporary art and zoomorphic calligraphy.^{[citation needed]} Musa’s artwork is known to adapt, mix and combine diverse styles from contrasting parts of the world: his stylistic inspirations are rooted from European painting, Arabic calligraphy and Chinese watercolor. Musa’s paintings gather printed textiles which are utilized as canvas. Its theme habitually appropriates classical Western artworks to approach and challenge well-known figures such as Osama bin Laden, Che Guevara, Vincent van Gogh or Josephine Baker. One of the most well-known statements of the artist is “Images are like blows: we receive them, we give them back. We transmit violent things because that is the way we receive them. It's a way to survive, my images are my line of defense”. Musa here elaborates on how he uses his interpretation on western politics, culture and art to revive images present in the world through giving it back to the people.^[1][2]

Musa was born in 1951 in El Nuhud, Sudan.^{[citation needed]} He lives in Domessargues, France.^{[citation needed]}

Musa earned a master's degree from the College of Fine and Applied Art at the Sudan University of Science and Technology, Khartoum, in 1976 and a doctorate in Fine Art and Art History from the University of Montpellier, France, in 1979.^[3]

Musa's large works are often executed using textile ink on printed textile,^[4] creatively blending the designs of the fabric with his own paintings. In his art, which he does not consider as 'African', Musa often^[5] appropriates^[6] classical Western masterpieces, such as The Gleaners by Jean-François Millet^[7][8] or Olympia by Édouard Manet.^[9] Confronting and mixing these classical images with later personalities such as Vincent van Gogh,^[10] Josephine Baker,^[11] Che Guevara^[12][13] or Osama bin Laden,^[14][15] Musa creates a critical view on Western art, politics and culture.^[16][17]

Furthermore, he has created mail art,^[18] calligraphy,^[19] engravings^[20] and has illustrated books.^[21]

Alongside gallery exhibitions, Musa's works have been shown at:

• Visual arts of Sudan
• Contemporary African art

• "Sudan Past and Present: From the Islamic Period to the Modern World". British Museum.
• Enwezor, Okwui; Okeke-Agulu, Chika (2009). Contemporary African art since 1980. Damiani. ISBN 978-88-6208-092-7.

• Artist's official website
• Hassan Musa at Grove Art Online
• Hassan Musa at the Sudan Artists Gallery
• Hassan Musa, Performance and Persona, 1992-2007, in Artists and Art Education in Africa, Elsbeth Court et al, eds., Sajid Rizvi, Series ed.  Saffron Books African Art and Society Series, ISSN 1740-3111
• Sudan's Hassan Musa on how he shares art on envelopes
• The Hassan Musa Mail Art collection, comprising 70 items of mail art, lino prints and correspondence is held by SOAS Special Collections. Digitised images from the collection are available to view online here.