Mahbuba Maqsoodi

Born in Herat, Afghanistan, Mahbuba Elham Maqsoodi is the 4th of 7 daughters born to Hafizullah. Her early childhood was, comparative to that of her contemporaries, extraordinary. This was namely due to the fact that her father, a liberal and open-minded educator, believed in the importance of girls education and thus founded a school for girls. As such, Mahbuba had the good fortune of attending and successfully graduating from High School with a university entrance diploma. She continued into higher education, and after two years graduated with teaching qualifications.

She began her teaching career in earnest, and taught Chemistry and Biology at an all girls high school. It was during this time that she, together with her older sister Afifa, became politically active. Both sisters were members of the youth wing of a political party, which primarily advocated for women’s rights in Afghanistan.

In 1979, a member of one of the many Islamic terrorist organisations active in Afghanistan assassinated Afifa, Mahbuba’s elder sister, in broad daylight.

This event changed the course of Mahbuba’s life forever. She realised then that her life and that of her family’s was in immediate danger. As such, she, along with her husband Fazl Maqsoodi, began to actively pursue routes out of Afghanistan. Fortunately, they did not have to search for long, as both were granted artists scholarships by Afghanistan’s Ministry of Culture. They accepted the scholarships, and attended higher education institutions in Saint Petersburg, Russia. Here, Mahbuba and her husband completed their artists diplomas and doctorates in the arts (PhD).       

In the meantime, civil war continued to rage in Mahbuba’s native Afghanistan, preventing her from returning. Thus, for a second time, Mahbuba and her husband, who were now parents of two sons, were in search of refuge. After some trepidation, the young family arrived in Munich, Germany in 1994. Here, they were granted political asylum. In 2010, following a long-term illness, Fazl Maqsoodi passed away at the age of 60 in Munich, Germany.

Mahbuba Elham Maqsoodi continues to live and work in Munich, Germany.[1][2][3]

Mahbuba Elham 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 himself was a master-class student of Ustad Mohammad Sayed’s (otherwise known as Mashal). Mashal’s organisation was famous across Iran 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. Mahbuba’s artistic expression called for attention, and one of her award-winning miniatures was added to the collection of Kabul’s National Gallery.

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 and adapt the so-called ‘Socialist Realism’. Furthermore, a free and independent way of artistic expression was declared Imperialistic Non-Culture. Artistic creations and imaginations were to follow the people (and therefore the socialist nation). In the end, the regime decided what the subject of art should be.

In 1987, despite the socialistic doctrines and restrictions imposed, Mahbuba finished her scholarship with a final thesis at the faculty for ceramics and glass as the best student of the course. Additionally, her academic submission was added to the Academy’s Collection. As a result, both artists 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”.[4]

After the scholarships came to an end, there was no chance of return to Afghanistan. First signs of civil war were obvious, as such; the couple applied for postgraduate scholarships. The Ministry of Culture, for the purpose of research studies, approved both applications. In 1993, Mahbuba Elham Maqsoodi completed her studies at the Stieglitz Academy for Arts with a PhD in Art History. Her PhD thesis was entitled: “The tradition of ornaments in contemporary Afghan ceramics”.

In 1994, Dr. Fazl Maqsoodi had a solo exhibition at Gallery Goethe 53 in Munich, Germany. The exhibition was titled “Afghanistan on fire”.[5] The exhibition took place in the same year that the couple and their two sons had immigrated to Munich and had received political asylum.

In the years between 2001 and 2012, Mahbuba Elham 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-Raphelite and Romanesque style).

From 2012, she moved to create a whole cycle of new paintings in her own artistic language, style, and personal ductus, which gained great attention in 2017 with her solo exhibition “GlasKlar” at Munich’s Maximilianeum. Following her solo exhibition in 2017, she has established herself as a contemporary artist with own recognition value.

In 2018, Mahbuba Elham Maqsoodi participated and won an art competition to design 34 new windows for Germany’s oldest Benedict monastery in Tholey. It is worth noting that alongside Mahbuba, the artist Gerhard Richter has been contracted to design 3 of the windows of the Tholey project. In total, all of the new windows for Tholey are considered to be one of the most important projects in sacral architecture and art history in Germany.[6] All of the windows have been fabricated at Bayerische Hofglasmalerei Gustav van Treeck (est. 1887) in Munich, and at Glasmalerei Frese in Saarbrücken.

Mahbuba Elham Maqsoodi has always seen herself as a painter and drawer. For her, her painting on glass is part of a wider artistic body of works. The preference for the medium of glass can be seen in many of her artwork. The complexity and variety of (hand-made) glass creates a three-dimensionality, which is characteristic for the artist.[7]

From her early years, Mahbuba Elham Maqsoodi has been socially engaged and interested in women’s rights. In 2003, she founded the award-winning association of “Afghan Women in Munich” (a membership corporation).[8] The association’s mission is to support women refugees and their families to establish participation in society and to receive adequate information on their rights and duties.[9] The female role in society is of utmost importance for Mahbuba: “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.”[10]

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.[11][12] For her social engagement, she received the “Medal of Bavarian Constitution” in silver on December 16, 2013.[13]

• 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, Group Exhibition: Miniature Paintings, Paintings by Mahbuba Elham Maqsoodi and Fazl Maqsoodi ( Tashkent, Uzbekistan)
• 1985: Academy of Arts, Group Exhibition; Miniature Paintings, Graphics, Paintings, Ceramics: "Herat-Leningrad" ( Sankt 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 (Sankt Petersburg,Russia), (Minsk, Belarus), (Warsaw, Poland)
• 1992: MANEGE Art Gallery Sankt Petersburg, Group Exhibition; "White Porcelain" (Sankt 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, Group Exhibition: "Frieden für Afghanistan"(Munich, Germany)
• 2001: Crypt Gallery St. Martin in the Fields, Group Exhibition: "Flug in die Freiheit" ( London, United Kingdom)
• 2002: Bonn Women's Museum, Group Exhibition; „Wegziehen“ (Bonn, Germany)
• 2003: European Patent Organisation, Group Exhibition: „AFGHANISTAN die neue Freiheit“ (Munich, Germany)
• 2003: Suermondt-Ludwig-Museum, Group Exhibition: „Ex Orient - Isaak und der weiße Elefant“, (Aachen, Germany)
• 2004: Glashalle Gasteig, „Lange Nacht der Frauen“ (Munich, Germany)
• 2005: Rheinisches Landesmuseum Bonn, „Afghanistan- meine Hoffnungen, mein Leiden“ (Bonn, Germany)
• 2008: Kulturzentrum Trudering, Group Exhibition „2 künstlerischen Wege“ (Munich, Germany) [15]
• 2017: Maximilianeum „GLASKlar“ (Munich, Germany) [16]
• 2017: Katharina von Bora Haus: „Kunstwerk des Monats - VIELFALT“ (Berg am Starnberg, Germany) [17]
• 2018: Kunstverein Wörth, Group Exhibition: „EUROPA ohne Grenzen“( Wörth am Rhein, Germany)
• 2019: Nazareth Kirche, „Und ICH!“ (Munich, Germany) [18]
• 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) [19]

• 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)
• „Gefällig? Opulent? Kitschig?“ 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 (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)