iranian art set to reach new highs in christie’s auction in dubai
60 Works by Iranian artists to feature in the forthcoming sale of International Modern and Contemporary Art and expected to fetch in the region of $2 million.
International Modern & Contemporary Art: 31 October at 6.30pm
Contemporary Jewels & Watches: 1 November 2007 at 6.30pm
As a result of Christie’s groundbreaking two sales to date of international Modern and Contemporary Art, the market for Modern and Contemporary Arab and Iranian Art has grown rapidly over the last two years, encouraging collectors worldwide to come forward and offer rare and unusual pieces, many completely unknown to the market and unseen for decades. The forthcoming sale of International Modern and Contemporary Art in Dubai, to be held at the Jumeirah Emirates Towers hotel at 6.30pm on 31 October 2007 reflects this new tendency and includes many museum-quality Arab and Iranian works of art from American, European and Middle Eastern collectors, as well as a selection of work by western artists
Built on the solid foundations laid in the first two sales of International Modern and Contemporary Art that Christie’s have staged in Dubai, this third sale will help to firmly establish a strong and vibrant secondary market for Modern Arab and Iranian Art in the Middle East, and provide a platform for the best and unique pieces of contemporary art available in the region, says William Lawrie, Specialist, Modern & Contemporary Arab & Iranian Art, and Michael Jeha, Managing Director, Christie’s Middle East.
A large proportion of works offered in this sale have been sourced from private collections from across the globe, many of whom are completely unknown in the Middle East, as well as unique contemporary pieces that, until now, have not been available anywhere else in the Middle East
With 60 lots by Iranian artists, this sale in particular celebrates the art of Iran, representing 60 years of Iranian art, including works by almost every important Iranian artist to have produced work between the years of 1950 until 1990. These include important works by the masters of the Saqqa-khaneh school- Charles Hossein Zenderoudi, Parviz Tanavoli, and Faramaz Pilaram; a selection of paintings by many of the great artists from the 1960s through the 1990s including Massoud Arabshahi, Sohrab Sepehri, Hossein Kazemi, Marcos Grigorian, Sirak Melkonian, Bahman
Mohasses, Gholamhossein Nami, Jafar Rouhbakhsh, Mohsen Vaziri, Koroosh Shishegaran and Abolghassem Saidi; a tightly curated section of modern Iranian art influenced by the Persian miniature including works by Hossein Behzad, Nasser Ovissi, Sadegh Tabrizi, Aydin Aghdashloo, Farah Ossuli, Mohammed Ali Taraghijah and Nasratollah Mosleimian; and strong group of photography by artists such as Abbas Kiarostami, Shirin Neshat and Shadi Ghadirian; and finally, a selection of unique pieces by some of Iran’s foremost emerging artists, including Farhad Moshiri, Golnaz Fathi, Afshin Pirhashemi and Reza Drakhshani.
Charles Hossein Zenderoudi is represented in the sale by four outstanding works. Offered from a private French collection, Mir + 54 + BZ + S, painted in 1962 ($140,000-180,000), is representative of the Saqqa-khaneh movement, and as an early example demonstrates many of the artist’s concepts and his visual vocabulary, expressed in a strong and emergent way. First Name, 1977, is a large example by the artist and as a result will be highly-sought after ($80,000-100,000).
Parviz Tanavoli’s Standing Poet ($120,000-150,000) executed in 2006-7 in bronze is unique. It comes from the series by the same name. Referring to Persian mysticism, a poet is considered as a symbol of the pious man. Poets and Prophets are among the main themes of Tanavoli’s works that have been created since the early 1960s, and works for the ‘Poet’ series are housed in major international collections including the Museum of Modern Art in New Yorkand the Museum of Contemporary Art, Tehran.
Massoud Arabshani explores various aspects of his Persian heritage in his art, employing a wide range of media, from gold leaf to oil, and a range of symbols, including those of ancient Mesopotamia, as well as more universal ones. Similarly his brushstrokes range from heavy impasto to the very lightest. This sale will offer five works by the artist, each one very different, demonstrating the extraordinary range of the artist. The group is led by Beyond the Lines, executed in oil and aluminium on canvas in 1978 (estimate: $45,000-60,000)
Persian miniatures were a source of inspiration for many Iranian artists in the twentieth century. The resulting works of art could be quite diverse in terms of style, scale and content. Hossein Bezhad is represented by two works, both offered from a private Swiss collection. After a long trip to Paris, where he studied Eastern and Western paintings styles in the leading museums, he created a completely new style of miniature painting, which fused aspects of traditional Persian painting with contemporary trends from the West. Dreaming of the Beloved, painted in 1951/2 (estimate: $25,000-30,000) and Proprietors of the Black Gold, 1952 (estimate $25,000-30,000) are both outstanding examples of this new style and will be highly-sought after..
A number of works by Nasser Ovissi will be offered from private collections in the US, Europe and the UAE. Early works include Loneliness in summer, painted in 1958-1971 (estimate: $40,000-
60,000) and Sleeping Girls, painted circa 1960s (estimate: $15,000-20,000), both oil on canvas. Later pieces include Horse and Woman in Love, oil, fabric and gold leaf on canvas (estimate: $40,000-60,000), painted circa early 2000s.
In Aydeen Aghdashloo’s celebrated Memories of Destruction series, the artist uses icons of Italian as well as Persian classical paintings, subverting them by destroying much of the familiar images through tearing, crumpling, burning or scratching. Memories of Destruction: The Years of Fire and Snow of 1978 ($20,000-30,000) , is based on the principles of Italian Renaissance painting, in particular Sandro Botticelli. The images are usually set against an ambiguous and esoteric background, mostly a bitterly cold winter, in order to make a strong and moving statement that can be interpreted both culturally and politically: It was painted in 1978, just a year before the Revolution, a time of turmoil within Iran.
Farhad Moshiri, considered by many to be one of the most influential young artists in the Middle East, is represented by One World – Yek Donia (estimate$60,000-80,000), a depiction of a map of the world executed in thousands of Swarovski diamond-shaped crystals on canvas on board in 2007.
These Iranian works in this auction will be presented alongside a selection of Arab Modern and Contemporary Art and Western Post War Contemporary Art of equal quality, attracting collectors from the Middle East and globally.
