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. 84
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