Mohammed Saleh Zaki (Ar: محمد صالح زكي) (1888-1974), also known as Abu Zaid ('Zaid's father' - referring to his eldest son Zaid Mohammed Salih Zaki), was an Iraqi artist and one of the first generation of Iraqi painters to be trained in Western painting methods.
He completed his education in Baghdad and later graduated from the Military Academy in Istanbul, Turkey, where drawing and painting were an integral part of the curriculum.
[1] He was an officer in the Iraqi military at the time of the establishment of the national rule, becoming a Commander of the Royal Guard.
[3] Along with painters, Mohammed Hajji Selim (1883-1941), Asim Hafidh (1886-1978) and Abdul Qadir Al Rassam (1882-1952), he was part of a small group of Iraqis who were the first group of artists to take up easel painting and generally work in the European style.
[6] He travelled to Europe in 1938, where he visited art museums and painted his observations of foreign lands.