Well-read in Marxist thought on art and culture, Mahmoud Sabri was an active writer and an advocate for Realism in art. Born in Baghdad, Sabri pursued a degree in social sciences at the Loughborough University in the UK, making his artistic debut in an exhibition held at the Iraqi Embassy in London in 1947. His early work reflected the suffering of the Iraqi people. Upon his return from the UK, Sabri joined Société Primitive – renamed the Pioneers Group in 1950 – and worked closely with the artist Faiq Hassan. As his career progressed he pursued a new form of art that represented his dedication towards realism as well as his interest in the relationship between art and science. Until 1959, he held a position in al-Rafidain Bank, eventually resigning to head the establishment of Iraq’s Exhibitions Department. In 1960, Sabri traveled to Moscow to study mural painting at the Surikov Art Institute under the mentorship of Aleksandr Deyneka, and in 1963 moved to Prague to join the Committee for the Defense of the Iraqi People. In Prague, he published a manifesto of Quantum Realism, exploring the application of the scientific method in art.