1934 Artist Ismail Fattah was born in the province of Basra in Iraq and lived on "Abu Al-Aswad Al-Dawali" Street in Al-Ashar. From a young age, he showed signs of talent and interest in sculpture and drawing as he used to make models of clay and colored carton, he was drawing on the walls of the houses and on the ships anchored in the Ashar port of Basrah.
1952 - 1953 He studied painting at the Institute of Fine Arts – morning sessions in Baghdad.
He was assigned to work as a drawing teacher in Nasiriyah by the Ministry of Education after he submitted his papers to work, but Jewad Selim intervened and personally went to the minister to ask him to be appointed in Baghdad so that he could remain in the institute and this was accepted, so Ismail began to attend the evening sessions.
1959 He graduated from the Institute of Fine Arts and obtained a diploma after four years divided into two years of sculpture and two years of painting under the supervision of Jewad Selim and Faik Hassan.
1959 He became engaged to his cousin and he was teaching art class in the Eastern Middle School in Baghdad, at the same time that he was waiting for his mission to Italy, as he was nominated by his teacher, Jewad Selim, and because there was no vacant place, only one seat for studying ceramics, so Ismail accepted it in response to the advice of Jewad Selim.
1960 He traveled to Italy and got involved with his affairs over there, to the limit that he didn’t communicate with his family; as a consequence his engagement to his cousin was annulled. In Italy, he was introduced and accepted as a student at the ‘Academia di Belle Arti – Academy of Fine Arts’ in the third year directly due to his high artistic level, but he wanted to start from the second year and he still had difficulty learning the Italian language.
1961 Ismail wrote to his sister Nihad (Nahida), from Rome on 17th of November 1961, saying, "You must know that I am in the third year to study sculpture because I was accepted in the second year instead of the first, and now I am at the top of the students, the students from around the world, and I have done many works and I will send some pictures in the future. At the same time, I study pottery in the evening, but not the study that you are learning, but a recent study that has great importance for artistic pottery work." Then he says, "I have participated in several exhibitions and won several awards, and now I am preparing to participate in one of the exhibitions in Rome."
1962 He won the first prize for Arab artists in painting and the first prize for sculpture in Italy and participated in several exhibitions in Rome.
1962 During his studies in Italy, he met his colleague, the artist Lisa (Marie Luise Scheik), who was born in 1941 in Oslo - Norway, who was accepted with him in the third year directly without going through the first and second years and graduated with him in the following year and they would present their thesis together as Ismail wrote in his letter (to his sister Nahida on 15th of July 1962)* and she was known after her marriage as Lisa Fattah and get married, and had their first son (Saheel) in Italy. Lisa Fattah came to Iraq and lived with Ismail Fattah for thirty years and had another son (Ismail) and two daughters.
1962 He held a solo exhibition at the Today’s Artists Gallery in Rome and won the first prize for sculpture for foreign artists, as Ismail wrote to his sister Nihad (Nahida) on 15th of July 1962, saying, “I have been chosen with ten foreign artists to participate in an exhibition of one of the galleries in Rome, and my works got the admiration and appreciation of the audiences, many newspapers wrote with recognition, and it was the beginning of my career launch after which I achieved great victories in art. I am waiting for the time to be in my country in order to instill the fruits of my works and artistic philosophy”.
1963 - 1964 He participated in The Annual Margeta Exhibition and won a prize, and graduated from the "Academia di Belle Arti – Academy of Fine Arts" with two degrees, one in ceramic art of which his study period lasted for two years and a second degree in sculpture, which lasted another two years.
1965 He held a solo exhibition at Laurina Gallery in Rome and two solo exhibitions in Baghdad after his return from from Italy, one in Al-Wasiti Hall and the other in the National Museum of Modern Art, and had held a solo exhibition in Gallery One in Beirut.
1966 He held a solo exhibition at the hall of the Baghdadi Society in Baghdad.
1969 He worked as a teacher of ceramics and then sculpture at the Academy of Fine Arts in Baghdad and continued to work there till mid-nineties and joined the “Towards a New Vision Group” and participated in their first exhibition.
Since the beginning of the seventies, a series of his large sculptural and monumental works began decorating many public buildings and squares in Baghdad, such as the façade of the Iraqi Lawyers Union, the Ministry of Industry, and the Ministry of Trade. He finished many monuments in bronze for the Iraqi Abbasid Painter Al-Wasiti, the Arabic philosopher Al-Farabi, The Abbasid Poet Abu Nawas, and Iraqi Poet Al-Rusafi.
1970 - 1975 He was assigned to design, implement, and supervise a group of the main sculptural monuments of the Conference Palace in Baghdad, which took five continuous years to complete as well as implementing the mural for the entrance of the insurance company.
1971 He headed the Iraqi Artists Association for Abstract Art and remained its president for seven years and participated in the Iraqi Art Exhibition in Kuwait.
1972 He participated in the Contemporary Iraqi Art Exhibition at the Hall of the National Museum of Modern Art in Baghdad. Also, he designed and executed two monuments, one for the poet Abu Nawas and one for the painter Yehya Al-Wasiti, which he completed in a short time.
1974 He participated in the first Arab art exhibition in Baghdad and the first anniversary of the ruling party exhibition in the hall of the Academy of Arts, and also participated in the first Arab Biennale exhibition in Baghdad.
1975 He participated in the second anniversary of the ruling party exhibition at the Iraqi Museum of Modern Art in Baghdad.
1976 was a year of full of many artistic activities inside and outside Iraq, including his participation in the Venice Biennale in Italy, as well as the New Delhi Triennial in India, the IAA Exhibition in Baghdad, the Second Arab Biennale in Rabat, Morocco, and the third anniversary of the ruling party exhibition in the Iraqi Museum of Modern Art in Baghdad.
1977 He participated in the fourth anniversary of the ruling party exhibition at the Iraqi Museum of Modern Art in Baghdad
1978 He participated in an exhibition of eight Arab artists at the Iraqi Cultural Center in London, as well as exhibiting his works at the fifth anniversary of the ruling party Exhibition at the Iraqi Museum of Modern Art in Baghdad. He also participated in the second Arab Art Biennale exhibition in Rabat and the theme of the exhibition was "Palestine", so he made a large head in which he mixed drawing and sculpture under the title "Head from the Holy Land" and was placed on a sandy area.
1980 He participated in an exhibition of twelve Arab artists at the Faris Gallery in Paris, the exhibition of modern Iraqi sculpture at the Iraqi Cultural Center in Paris, and the seventh anniversary of the ruling party exhibition at the Iraqi Museum of Modern Art in Baghdad.
1982 He participated in the second Al-Wasiti Festival in Baghdad.
1983 During his artistic career, he designed, participated in the implementation and technically supervised the Martyrs' Monument project in cooperation with a Japanese design and supervision company and several contracting companies to implement the monument complex.
1986 He traveled to London to supervise the Iraqi Flag monument, which was a subsidiary part of the Martyr monument.
1988 He held a solo exhibition of his recent works entitled “Homage to Jewad Selim” at the Kufa Gallery in London.
1990 He participated in the Iraqi Contemporary Art Exhibition in Cyprus.
1992 He participated in the exhibition "Three Iraqi Artists (Ismail Fattah, Lisa Fattah, Muhammad Mahruddin)" at Darat al Funun in Amman, and then his wife, Lisa Fattah, passed away after a long suffering with cancer, and was buried in Baghdad.
Years after the death of his first wife and a psychological crisis as a result of the death of Lisa and the travel of his children outside Iraq, he married Dalia Shaker Mahmoud and had two sons from her.
1995 He traveled to Qatar and lived in Doha and remained there till the last years of his life, as he carried out several works of drawing and sculpture for the Qatar Museum of Arab Art, the most important of which were sculptural works of his well-known figures sitting in a giant size of marble and in different colors.
2000 He participated in the exhibition “Magic of Moments in Nature and Place” at Gallery Art in Baghdad.
In the late years of his life, he used to live in Doha, where he carried out several works of drawing and sculpture for the Qatar Museum of Arab Art, the most important of which were sculptural works of marble by his style for giant sitting, watching and waiting in different colors.
2004 He was diagnosed with colon cancer and traveled to Abu Dhabi for treatment, and was hospitalized in Tawam Hospital - Department of Internal Medicine in Al-Ain city. In his last days, he insisted on returning to Baghdad to die and be buried next to his wife (Lisa). An Emirati plane with medical staff had been assigned to transport him to Baghdad.
July 21, 2004, He breathed his last breaths on the grounds of Baghdad International Airport at the age of seventy, and was buried in Baghdad as per his will.
He was a member of the Baghdad Group for Modern Art.
