NOW AND TEN

components that creates a mystical aura. The red
background provides an elegant contrast to the
blue, gold and black texts, while also adding to
the transcendental nature of the piece. Through
its decorative as well as spiritual quality, Pilaram’s
painting embodies the duality celebrated by the
Saqqakaheh movement.
For his calligraphic works, Pilaram turned to
Nasta’liq calligraphy, one of the traditional and
dominant styles of Persian calligraphy. Additionally,
his works build on the traditional model of Siah
Mashgh or practice sheets for calligraphy upon
which Persian script was repeated over and over
until it was transcribed perfectly.
Faramarz Pilaram with Parviz Tanavoli and Abby Grey, in Pilaram’s studio, Tehran, 1967.
Courtesy of Parviz Tanavoli.
Acclaimed as one of Iran’s Modern masters,
Faramarz Pilaram is unmatched in his artistic
expression and sophisticated reconceptualisation
of Persian calligraphy. Starting in the 1960s
and continuing through the Iranian Revolution,
Pilaram’s experimentation with calligraphy
is captured in a body of work spanning over
two decades. His canvases feature strong but
traditional colours and overlapping, repetitive and
rotating letters, which render the Persian script
indecipherable as a written or spoken language;
instead, the enigmatic new script developed by
Pilaram creates a new aesthetic language unique
to each of the artist’s works.
Amongst the pioneers of the Saqqakhaneh
movement that arose in the 1960s, Faramarz
Pilaram sought to focus on art that would refect
on the rich cultural heritage of his beloved Iran. The
Saqqakhaneh School is an association of Iranian
artists, including Charles-Hossein Zenderoudi
and Parviz Tanavoli, who drew directly from the
traditional art forms of Iran as the raw material
for their artworks. In the view of the members
of the school, elements from their cultural roots
had to be linked to modern styles and fused to
create a distinctly national artistic expression.
Iranian art critic and journalist, Karim Emami was
the frst to use the term saqqakhaneh to describe
the works of Iranian artists, alike Pilaram, whose
Modern paintings fused calligraphy and structural
elements from Shiite art. The word gradually came
to be applied to the Modernist works by Iranian
artists that incorporated traditional or decorative
elements from Iran’s historic, religious, folkloric
and artistic past.
The term saqqakhaneh is derived from a
ceremonial public structure, which serves as a
water fountain as well as a votive site. Many
saqqakhaneh were constructed as memorials
for Shiite martyrs who were denied access to
water in the Kerbala plain during the 7th century.
Devotees often fasten small locks and pieces of
cloth to the lattice grillwork in the exterior part
of some saqqakhaneh. Sometimes, small objects
with religious signifcance are placed inside little
compartments of public fountains. This dual
nature of the saqqakhaneh was embodied in many
artworks produced by artists of the eponymous
School, including Pilaram.
Pilaram’s practice marries the traditional
techniques and iconography of Islamic, pre-
Islamic, and folk art with the Western techniques
that were widely prevalent in pre-revolutionary
Iran. The present work from the Esteemed Private
Collection of Akbar and Sousan Seif Nasseri is
an outstanding amalgamation of the elements
Pilaram is celebrated for. In this canvas, the artist
has not only used bold and expressive colours, but
also a fresh, abstracted script. In 1975, twenty-six
year old Pilaram described these idiosyncratic
characteristics of his art, which was being shown
at the Iran-America Society: ‘The combination of
calligraphic elements and other forms create a unity
in my mind that creates the reality of my paintings…
I am searching for ways to promote an authentic
Iranian art.’ (The artist quoted in Washington D.C.,
Iran-America Society, Faramarz Pilaram, exh. cat.,
1975, unpaged).
In the present composition, the script is composed
of gilded golden and black rhythmic waves that
add to the dynamic movement created by the blue
typographical elements lying directly underneath.
Thus, there is a sense of fow and movement
conceived by the layering of calligraphic
Through his active experimentation with traditional
calligraphy and mystical motifs, Pilaram is an
avant-gardist in the true sense of the word. His art
education began in his schooling days in Tehran
where he attended the School of Decorative Arts
for Boys. After receiving his diploma in 1959,
he enrolled in the Faculty of Decorative arts to
continue his art education, during which time he
also began exhibiting his works. In 1964, Pilaram,
along with his contemporaries including Mansour
Qandriz and Massoud Arabshahi, helped establish
the Talar-e Iran (Iran Gallery). He received a
Master’s degree in painting and interior design
in 1968 and in 1971, he went to France for a year
to study lithography and print. A few years later,
in 1974, Pilaram along with Marcos Grigorian,
Massoud Arabshahi and Sirak Melkonian,
amongst others, formed the Goruh-e Naqqashan-e
Azad, a group of Iranian Modernists who exhibited
together in Tehran and defended a freer form of
art and painting.
During his career, Pilaram received several national
and International awards including the 1962 Gold
Medal at the 3rd Tehran Biennale, the Silver Medal
at Venice Biennale that same year, the First Prize
from the Ministry of Art and Culture at the 4th
Tehran Biennale in 1964, and the First Prize for a
Special Stamp issued by UNESCO for the ‘World
Liberation of Hunger’ in 1968. His works have
been widely exhibited in Iran and abroad and are
held in important private and public collections,
including the Tehran Museum of Contemporary
Art; Tehran Fine Arts Museum; Grey Art Collection
at New York University; Museum of Modern Art,
New York, and the Empress Farah Pahlavi’s Private
Collection.
As one of his most outstanding and visually
captivating compositions from his Saqqakhaneh
period, the present work is a rare example that
epitomises the essence of Modern Iranian art
as it delicately combines the traditional style of
Iranian painting with a Modernist and almost
Pop touch. As such, the present work, one of
Pilaram’s most iconic compositions, encapsulates
the Saqqakhaneh style at its perfection.
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