In the 20th-century, al-Waiti's illustrations and the Baghdad School served as an inspiration for The Baghdad Modern Art Group.[15] Founded in the 1950s by artists, Jawad Saleem and Shakir Hassan Al Said, members of the group believed that the Mongol invasion of the 13th-century represented a "break in the chain of pictorial Iraqi art"[16] and wanted to reassert a national identity and build a distinctive Iraqi identity which referenced heritage and tradition.[17] As the leader of the group, Saleem promoted the idea of istilham al-turath – "seeking inspiration from tradition".[18]