Jawad Saleem (Arabic: جواد سليم, 1919–1961) was an Iraqi painter and sculptor[1] born in Ankara, Ottoman Empire in 1919.

Despite his short career, Jawad Saleem stands as the central figure of modern Iraqi art and history.

At war's end, he enrolled at the Slade School, London (1946-1948),[1][10] where he was heavily influenced by Western artists such as Pablo Picasso and Henry Moore.

[18] He was one of the founders of the Jama'et Baghdad lil Fen al-Hadith (The Baghdad Modern Art Group, founded in 1951) with fellow artist Shakir Hassan Al Said and Mohammed Ghani Hikmat (1929-2011);[1] a group which attempted to combine ancient Iraqi art traditions with modern European techniques.

They believed that the Mongol invasion of 1258 represented a "break in the chain of pictorial Iraqi art"[19] and wanted to recover lost traditions.

[13][23] In 1959, shortly after the 14 July revolution, Saleem was commissioned by the new leader of the republic, Brigadier General 'Abd al-Karim Qasim to create a monument for the city center that would be a celebration to Iraq's declaration of independence.

It was to be situated in the heart of Baghdad's central business district, overlooking Liberation Square and Jamhouriyya Bridge.

The sculptor understood that the monument would need to be a symbol of a new world, and designed a work that was a narrative of the 1958 revolution, but that also paid homage to Iraq's deep art history by including Abbasid and Babylonian wall-reliefs, producing a sculpture that was both "strikingly modern" yet also referenced tradition.

[25] Initially, Saleem had wanted the sculpture to be at ground level, but the architect, Rif'at Chadirji insisted that it be elevated so that it would look more 'monumental'.

[29] Scholars have suggested that his premature death can be attributed, at least in part, to the stresses of completing the Nasb al-Hurriyah sculpture.

[33] The monument consists of 14 bronze castings, representing 25 figures on a travertine slab, raised 6 metres off the ground.