Mahbuba Elham Maqsoodi (born 1957) is a

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

Afghan Afghan or Afgan may refer to: Related to Afghanistan *Afghans, historically refers to the Pashtun people. It is both an ethnicity and nationality. Ethnicity wise, it refers to the Pashtuns. In modern terms, it means both the citizens of Afghanist ...

artist based in

Munich, Germany Munich is the capital and most populous city of Bavaria, Germany. As of 30 November 2024, its population was 1,604,384, making it the third-largest city in Germany after Berlin and Hamburg. Munich is the largest city in Germany that is no ...

. She is recognized for miniature paintings and painting on glass, including designing 34 stained glass windows for

Tholey Abbey Tholey Abbey () in Tholey, in the district of Sankt Wendel in Saarland, is a Benedictine monastery dedicated to Saint Maurice. It is part of the Beuronese Congregation within the Benedictine Confederation. History As early as the 5th and 6th cen ...

in Germany. She is an advocate for women's rights, a published author, and received a PhD in Art History.

Early life and education

Born in

Herat Herāt (; Dari/Pashto: هرات) is an oasis city and the third-largest city in Afghanistan. In 2020, it had an estimated population of 574,276, and serves as the capital of Herat Province, situated south of the Paropamisus Mountains (''Se ...

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. It is bordered by Pakistan to the Durand Line, east and south, Iran to the Afghanistan–Iran borde ...

, Mahbuba Elham Maqsoodi is the fourth of seven daughters. Her father, an educator, founded a school for girls. She graduated from high school with a university entrance diploma, and obtained teaching qualifications. She taught

chemistry Chemistry is the scientific study of the properties and behavior of matter. It is a physical science within the natural sciences that studies the chemical elements that make up matter and chemical compound, compounds made of atoms, molecules a ...

and

biology Biology is the scientific study of life and living organisms. It is a broad natural science that encompasses a wide range of fields and unifying principles that explain the structure, function, growth, History of life, origin, evolution, and ...

at an all girls high school. Together with her older sister Afifa, she became politically active. Both sisters were members of the youth wing of a political party which primarily advocated for

women's rights in Afghanistan Women's rights in Afghanistan are severely restricted by the Taliban. In 2023, the United Nations termed Afghanistan as the world's most repressive country for women. Since the 2020–2021 U.S. troop withdrawal from Afghanistan, US troops with ...

. In 1979, an

Islamist extremist Islamic extremism refers to extremist beliefs, behaviors and ideologies adhered to by some Muslims within Islam. The term 'Islamic extremism' is contentious, encompassing a spectrum of definitions, ranging from academic interpretations of Sup ...

assassinated Afifa.

Artistic life

Afghanistan (1973 – 1979)

Maqsoodi's artistic career began in 1973, when she started studying the art of Persian miniature paintings with Fazl Maqsoodi, whom she later married. At the time, Fazl was a master-class student of Ustad Mohammad Sayed (otherwise known as Mashal). Mashal's organisation was famous across

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) and also known as Persia, is a country in West Asia. It borders Iraq to the west, Turkey, Azerbaijan, and Armenia to the northwest, the Caspian Sea to the north, Turkmenistan to the nort ...

and Afghanistan for its Behzadinian art of miniatures (also known as the "torch of Behzadinian miniature tradition"). Once married, the couple participated in group exhibitions in both Herat and

Kabul Kabul is the capital and largest city of Afghanistan. Located in the eastern half of the country, it is also a municipality, forming part of the Kabul Province. The city is divided for administration into #Districts, 22 municipal districts. A ...

. One of Maqsoodi's miniatures was added to the collection of Kabul's National Gallery.

Russia (1979 – 1994)

In 1979, Mahbuba and Fazl Maqsoodi received a scholarship from Afghanistan's Ministry of Culture. Both artists were allowed a course of studies in a foreign country; this led them to Saint Petersburg, Russia. Mahbuba became a scholarship holder at Mukhina Academy of Arts (presently known as the Stieglitz Academy of Arts). In Saint Petersburg, the official socialistic doctrine of arts meant that students had to strictly follow socialist realism. In 1987 Maqsoodi finished her scholarship with a final thesis at the faculty for

ceramic A ceramic is any of the various hard, brittle, heat-resistant, and corrosion-resistant materials made by shaping and then firing an inorganic, nonmetallic material, such as clay, at a high temperature. Common examples are earthenware, porcela ...

s and

glass Glass is an amorphous (non-crystalline solid, non-crystalline) solid. Because it is often transparency and translucency, transparent and chemically inert, glass has found widespread practical, technological, and decorative use in window pane ...

as the best student of the course. Additionally, her academic submission was added to the academy's collection. As a result, both Mahbuba and Fazl Maqsoodi were able to hold an art exhibition, which opened on December 3, 1987, at Arseniy's Morozov Villa, formerly "House of Friendship with Foreign Nations". After the scholarships ended, there was no chance of return to Afghanistan due to the ongoing

civil war A civil war is a war between organized groups within the same Sovereign state, state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies.J ...

. The couple applied for postgraduate scholarships and The Ministry of Culture, for the purpose of research studies, approved both applications. In 1993, Mahbuba completed her studies at the Stieglitz Academy for Arts with a PhD in

Art History Art history is the study of Work of art, artistic works made throughout human history. Among other topics, it studies art’s formal qualities, its impact on societies and cultures, and how artistic styles have changed throughout history. Tradit ...

. Her PhD thesis was entitled: "The tradition of ornaments in contemporary Afghan ceramics".

Germany (1994 – present)

In 1994, Fazl Maqsoodi had a solo exhibition at Gallery Goethe 53 in Munich, Germany. The exhibition was titled "Afghanistan on fire". In the years between 2001 and 2012, Maqsoodi's artwork mainly focused on architectural based contractual orders. For her, it meant to professionally adapt the artistic language of the 19th century (

Pre-Raphaelite The Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood (PRB), later known as the Pre-Raphaelites, was a group of English painters, poets, and art critics, founded in 1848 by William Holman Hunt, John Everett Millais, Dante Gabriel Rossetti, William Michael Rossetti, ...

and

Romanesque style Romanesque architecture is an architectural style of medieval Europe that was predominant in the 11th and 12th centuries. The style eventually developed into the Gothic style with the shape of the arches providing a simple distinction: the Ro ...

). From 2012, she developed her art and gained attention in 2017 with her solo exhibition "GlasKlar" at Munich's Maximilianeum. In 2018, she participated and won an art competition to design 34 new windows for Germany's oldest Benedict monastery in Tholey. Alongside Maqsoodi, the artist

Gerhard Richter Gerhard Richter (; born 9 February 1932) is a German visual artist. Richter has produced Abstract art, abstract as well as photorealistic paintings, photographs and Glass art, glass pieces. He is widely regarded as one of the most important con ...

was contracted to design 3 of the windows. All of the windows have been fabricated at Bayerische Hofglasmalerei Gustav van Treeck (est. 1887) in Munich, and at Glasmalerei Frese in Saarbrücken. Maqsoodi has always seen herself as a

painter Painting is a Visual arts, visual art, which is characterized by the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a solid surface (called "matrix" or "Support (art), support"). The medium is commonly applied to the base with ...

and

drawer A drawer ( ) is a box-shaped container inside a piece of furniture that can be pulled out horizontally to access its contents. Drawers are built into numerous types of furniture, including cabinets, chests of drawers (bureaus), desks, and ...

. For her, painting on glass is part of a wider artistic body of works. The complexity and variety of (hand-made) glass creates a three-dimensionality, which is characteristic for the artist.

Social commitments

From her early years, Maqsoodi has been socially engaged and interested in

women's rights Women's rights are the rights and Entitlement (fair division), entitlements claimed for women and girls worldwide. They formed the basis for the women's rights movement in the 19th century and the feminist movements during the 20th and 21st c ...

. In 2003, she founded the "Afghan Women in Munich" association (a membership corporation). The association's mission is to support women

refugee A refugee, according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), is a person "forced to flee their own country and seek safety in another country. They are unable to return to their own country because of feared persecution as ...

s and their families to establish participation in society and to receive adequate information on their rights and duties. The female role in society is of utmost importance for Maqsoodi: "If I don't like something, I will change it. Sometimes unknowingly, but always naturally. I emancipated myself in Afghanistan, and I would like to make life for Afghan women easier." As a member for many years of the "Alliance of women's associations in Munich", her commitment to institutions like the "Munich advisory committee for foreigners" and the "Munich municipal council commission for integration", has made a great contribution to the process of cultural and social integration. For her social engagement, she received the Bavarian Constitution Medal in silver on December 16, 2013.

Personal life

In 1994 Maqsoodi, her husband, and their two sons were granted

political asylum The right of asylum, sometimes called right of political asylum (''asylum'' ), is a juridical concept, under which people persecuted by their own rulers might be protected by another sovereignty, sovereign authority, such as a second country or ...

in Munich, Germany. In 2010, Fazl Maqsoodi passed away from

cancer Cancer is a group of diseases involving Cell growth#Disorders, abnormal cell growth with the potential to Invasion (cancer), invade or Metastasis, spread to other parts of the body. These contrast with benign tumors, which do not spread. Po ...

at the age of 60. Mahbuba Elham Maqsoodi continues to live and work in Munich.

Book publication

"Der Tropfen weiß nichts vom Meer"

On September 12, 2017, Mahbuba Maqsoodi presented her book "Der Tropfen weiß nichts vom Meer" (The drop knows nothing of the sea) to the public, which she wrote together with her close friend and editor Hanna Diederichs. The autobiographical work includes 77 short stories, divided into three episodes: Afghanistan, Russia, and Germany. The book was published by Wilhelm Heyne Verlag, Munich, and their publishing group Random House GmbH ().

Selected exhibitions

* 1976: School of Persian Miniature Painting, group exhibition: "Young Herati Artists and the Persian Miniature Painting." (Herat, Afghanistan) * 1980: Faculty of Fine Arts, University of Kabul, group exhibition: "Modern Painting in Afghanistan" ( Kabul, Afghanistan) * 1981: Culture Centre

Tashkent Tashkent (), also known as Toshkent, is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Uzbekistan, largest city of Uzbekistan. It is the most populous city in Central Asia, with a population of more than 3 million people as of April 1, 2024. I ...

, group exhibition: "Miniature Paintings, Paintings by Mahbuba Elham Maqsoodi and Fazl Maqsoodi" (Tashkent,

Uzbekistan , image_flag = Flag of Uzbekistan.svg , image_coat = Emblem of Uzbekistan.svg , symbol_type = Emblem of Uzbekistan, Emblem , national_anthem = "State Anthem of Uzbekistan, State Anthem of the Republ ...

) * 1985: Academy of Arts, group exhibition; miniature paintings, graphics, paintings, ceramics: "Herat-Leningrad" (Saint Petersburg, Russia) * 1987: Arseniks Morozov Villa, group exhibition; paintings, graphics, ceramics: "What happened in seven years" (Moscow, Russia) * 1987 travelling exhibition: "Selected pieces from diploma thesis submitted to the Stieglitz Academy of Arts" (Saint Petersburg, Russia), (

Minsk Minsk (, ; , ) is the capital and largest city of Belarus, located on the Svislach (Berezina), Svislach and the now subterranean Nyamiha, Niamiha rivers. As the capital, Minsk has a special administrative status in Belarus and is the administra ...

, Belarus), (

Warsaw Warsaw, officially the Capital City of Warsaw, is the capital and List of cities and towns in Poland, largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the Vistula, River Vistula in east-central Poland. Its population is officially estimated at ...

, Poland) * 1992: MANEGE Art Gallery Sankt Petersburg, group exhibition; "White Porcelain" (Saint Petersburg, Russia) * 1997: VHS München, group exhibition: "Afghanistan Land voller Hoffnungen?" (Munich, Germany) * 1999: Kulturzentrum Pasinger Fabrik, group exhibition (Munich, Germany) * 1999: SOAS Library, group exhibition: "Art from the destroyed Afghanistan" (London, United Kingdom) * 2000:

Museum Fünf Kontinente The Museum Five Continents or Five Continents Museum (), located in Munich, Germany, is a museum for non-European artworks and objects of cultural value. Its name until 9 September 2014 was Bavarian State Museum of Ethnology (). The building ...

, group exhibition: "Frieden für Afghanistan" (Munich, Germany) * 2001: Crypt Gallery

St. Martin in the Fields St Martin-in-the-Fields is a Church of England parish church at the north-east corner of Trafalgar Square in the City of Westminster, London. Dedicated to Saint Martin of Tours, there has been a church on the site since at least the medieval pe ...

, group exhibition: "Flug in die Freiheit" (London, United Kingdom) * 2002:

Bonn Women's Museum The Bonn Women's Museum () is a women's museum in Bonn, Germany. It was founded in 1981 by Marianne Pitzen (the current director) and an interdisciplinary group of working women, and claims to be the first museum of its kind in the world.

, group exhibition; "Wegziehen" (Bonn, Germany) * 2003:

European Patent Organisation The European Patent Organisation (sometimes abbreviated EPOrg in order to distinguish it from the European Patent Office, one of the two organs of the organisation) is a public international intellectual property organisation, organisation create ...

, group exhibition: "Afghanistan die neue Freiheit" (Munich, Germany) * 2003:

Suermondt-Ludwig-Museum The Suermondt-Ludwig-Museum is an art museum in Aachen, Germany. Founded in 1877, its collection includes works by Aelbrecht Bouts, Joos van Cleve, Anthony van Dyck, Otto Dix and Max Beckmann. History The ' (Aachen museum association) was create ...

, group exhibition: "Ex Orient - Isaak und der weiße Elefant", (Aachen, Germany) * 2004: Glashalle Gasteig, "Lange Nacht der Frauen" (Munich, Germany) * 2005:

Rheinisches Landesmuseum Bonn The Rheinisches Landesmuseum Bonn, or LVR-LandesMuseum Bonn, is a museum in Bonn, Germany, run by the Rhineland Landscape Association. It is one of the oldest museums in the country. In 2003 it completed an extensive renovation. The museum has a ...

, "Afghanistan- meine Hoffnungen, mein Leiden" (Bonn, Germany) * 2008: Kulturzentrum Trudering, group exhibition "2 künstlerischen Wege" (Munich, Germany) * 2017:

Maximilianeum The Maximilianeum, a palatial building in Munich, was built as the home of a gifted students' foundation but since 1949 has housed the Bavarian State Parliament. History The Maximilianeum was initially an educational foundation set up by King ...

"GLASKlar" (Munich, Germany) * 2017: Katharina von Bora Haus: "Kunstwerk des Monats - VIELFALT" (Berg am Starnberg, Germany) * 2018: Kunstverein Wörth, group exhibition: "EUROPA ohne Grenzen" (Wörth am Rhein, Germany) * 2019: Nazareth Kirche, "Und ICH!" (Munich, Germany) * 2020: Kunstraum van Treeck, Malereien und Glasbilder im Rahmen des "First View Neue Künstlerfenster" Mahbuba Maqsoodi und Gerhard Richter für die Benediktinerabtei Tholey, (Munich, Germany)

References

External links

Website Mahbuba Maqsoodi
*
"Eine Emanzipationsgeschichte aus Afghanistan"
' In: Mehr Zeit für Menschen, BR Bayern 3 (15.10.2017)
"''Glaskünstlerin Mahbuba Maqsoodi"''
BR Mediathek (8.11.2017) * '
Glasmalerkunst in St. Arnual"
' SR-Mediathek (14.11.2019)
''"Mahbuba Maqsoodi. A short documentary by Benjamin Mang"''
FilmFreeway.com (26.03.2020)
"''Literarische Reise in den Orient"''
Passau, Niederbayern TV (22.05.2019) *

' Ein Thema in der Sendung "Der Morgen" auf SR 2 KulturRadio (23.08.2019) *
"Fensterkunst für Tholey. Ein Besuch bei Glaskünstlerin Mahbuba Maqsoodi in München."
' Wir im Saarland-Kultur.

SR Fernsehen SR Fernsehen is a regional public service television channel owned and operated by Saarländischer Rundfunk (SR) and serving Saarland. It is one of the seven regional "third programmes" that are offered within the federal ARD network. The cha ...

(18.12.2019) *
"Bayrisches Glas für Tholey"

SR-Mediathek (5.02.2020)
*
"Mahbuba Maqsoodi baut Brücken mit Malereien"
'' Gustav van Treeck. Bayerische Hofglasmalerei (26.03.2020)