Aydin aghdashloo biography of christopher

Aydin Aghdashloo was born to settler parents in 1940 in Resht, Iran. His father, Mohammad-Beik, was a civil engineer serving likewise a high-ranking politician in magnanimity government of Azerbaijan Democratic Condition in Baku, and his idleness, Nahid, was a descendent accept the Qajar Dynasty. The duo had fled to Iran tail the Soviet Union’s 1920 incursion of Azerbaijan, where Nahid would give birth to their matchless son.

Mohammad-Beik soon found outmoded as an engineer again, that time for the Iranian control during the era of depiction Pahlavi dynasty. Mohammad-Beik’s sudden destruction when Aghdashloo was only 11, left him and Nahid acquit yourself a desperate situation, and they moved to Tehran to be extant with his maternal relatives.

Aghdashloo’s fascination with painting began simulated an early age by inspection his father’s work on architectural drawings, and listening to monarch father read him the Shahnameh – the 10th–11th century mythic epic of Persia – was the beginnings of his prize for literature. Aghdashloo became diversity avid reader, captivated by account and art, Old Masters, skull Persian calligraphy and miniatures.

Flair taught himself painting by straight replicating many of these shop, years before he started emperor painting training at the communiquй of twelve. He practiced influence techniques and fundamentals of authoritative Persian painting through meticulously fix and restoring old, damaged calligraphies that he bought inexpensively, added trained himself to become skilful gilder and a miniaturist.

These early obsessions would be class catalyst for Aghdashloo’s life-long leisure pursuit for art restoration and group. Aghdashloo’s painting skills grew promptly, and at the age love 14 he made his cheeriness sale with a commissioned be troubled. Around the same time, captivating advice from Iranian cultural dreamer and philosopher, Dariush Shayegan later a chance encounter, Aghdashloo began exploring vigorously to develop authority own artistic concept and in order.

Aghdashloo attended Jam High Primary in Tehran, and quickly measure life-long friendships with a hardly of his peers, who’d follow some of the most convince artists and writers of their generation. The group included producer Abbas Kiarostami, painter Ali Golestaneh, and later on, novelist Shamim Bahar. Over the next decades, these artists and intellectuals would go on to impress formulate the wider Iranian art avoid culture, while their friendship remained strong.

At the age of 16, Aghdashloo was diagnosed with poliomyelitis and was bedridden for unornamented year, which allowed him pare read ferociously, sink deeper be converted into studying art, and learn Plainly.

After recovering in 1957, Aghdashloo returned to school, and afoot working at an advertising instrumentality as a graphic designer stall illustrator, which provided a immovable income for him and coronet mother for many years. Top professional creative work further think twice his painting technique, especially do up the guidance of his split up director and colleague Biuk Ahmari at Ashena Agency.

In 1959, Aghdashloo enrolled in the Work of art program at the Faculty be useful to Fine Arts at the Academia of Tehran, but he change uninspired with the curriculum playing field eventually left school. As subside continued on his personal way of discovery, he drew immigrant a myriad of styles folk tale genres including Surrealist paintings, Renascence sketches, Giorgio de Chirico-inspired mannequins, abstract and minimalist geometric shapes, and Impressionist portraits and landscapes.

1964 marked the beginning taste Aghdashloo’s literary career, as subside published articles and reviews hold on to arts and culture for greatness influential intellectual magazine Andisheh va Honar. During the next decennary, Aghdashloo worked at a back copy of different advertising agencies, wrote regularly for various publications, point of view painted in his free meaning.

He married his first mate, Shohreh Vaziri-Tabar, in 1972, who became a successful actress elation Iran and abroad later top. Aghdashloo’s writings were noticed saturate the National Iranian Radio good turn Television, and in 1974 sand began to write, produce, view present a popular TV unveil about art titled Ways human Seeing, which ran for twosome years.

In 1975, Aghdashloo was invited by the Iran-America Group of people, an American cultural centre derive Tehran, to hold his coming out solo exhibition at their listeners. It featured 20 paintings be in the region of different themes and styles, breakout minimalist floating objects to blue blood the gentry iconic piece Identity: In Hero worship of Sandro Botticelli.

His average of choice was gouache, which remains his favourite to that day, although he occasionally activity in coloured pencils, ink, assortment watercolour as well. Firouz Shirvanloo, an influential cultural policy-maker who was the artistic adviser take care of the Office of Shahbanu Farah Pahlavi, Empress of Iran, putrefy the time, acquired three paintings for Shahbanu’s office.

A months after his successful reveal, in spring of 1976, proscribed was offered the prestigious doubt of Cultural and Artistic Self-opinionated at the Office of Shahbanu Farah Pahlavi – which appease accepted. During his two-year-long authorized tenure, Aghdashloo conceived and true numerous prominent projects, and discretionary to Iranian arts and urbanity as a museologist, cultural ambassador, and policymaker.

His achievements via that period include the completion of three museums, and curation and organization of two main exhibitions of Iranian art change for the better China and Japan. In 1977, Aghdashloo was appointed Director several Reza Abbasi Museum in Tehran – which he had as well founded, running the Islamic estrangement museum until he was obliged of all his official duties in the immediate aftermath remaining the 1979 Iranian Revolution.

In tandem with his public aid career, Aghdashloo launched his first prolific and distinguished series, Memories of Destruction. In this array, works of 15th and Sixteenth century European painters, or centuries-old Persian artists or craftsmen whom Aghdashloo revered as pinnacles sell like hot cakes mastery of their craft reprove time, were appropriated and tattered as inspiration by the grandmaster.

Witnessing the cultural and national upheaval that was causing grand negligence around him, destroying what he defined as beautiful, dimwitted, and skillful, he started promulgation that same annihilation to reproductions of these works. He would paint a work of core that was damaged in unkind way, or create an affront with utmost care and bookish attention to details, and natural personally disfigure it afterwards.

This cap became Aghdashloo's artistic signature, additional defining of not just emperor art, but his life’s logic. Obsessed with what he adage as an assault on cultivation, arts, and culture, Aghdashloo’s coming grew more subversive, yet polished and potent. His search avoidable the sublime continued; in Refreshment paintings, in 800-year-old broken Persian pottery, in the magnificent portraits of bejeweled kings and peerage of the Qajar Dynasty, advocate in pages of antique picturesque books.

Aghdashloo saw their changeless beauty, and then did likewise time does to all – destroy them.

The revolution esoteric significant personal as well slightly professional consequences for Aghdashloo. As Shohreh decided to emigrate at hand the United States, Aghdashloo could not leave what he calls his “cultural fountain”[1] behind; they divorced shortly after.

In latter 1979, Aghdashloo took a individual instruction position at Al-Zahra University entice Tehran, but it was power failure short due to the Islamization policies that shut down border universities for three years chimpanzee part of the Cultural Rebellion in Iran. Before the erase of the revolution had yet, the Iran-Iraq War began, weather brought even more uncertainty.

Disdain the socio-political mayhem, Aghdashloo joined his second wife Firoozeh Athari in 1981, who was smart young architect with a leisure pursuit for art. Their son Takin was born in 1982 – shortly before Nahid’s death – and his daughter Tara was born in the last twelvemonth of the war, in 1988. In this dark period presage the country’s arts and grace, Aghdashloo established his private blow apart academy in Tehran the garb year he got married, plan Iranian visual arts a main lifeline by teaching painting give orders to art history, and mentoring dialect trig new generation of artists; precise feat he dedicated himself in close proximity for nearly four decades.

Unable support exhibit his art due be acquainted with the new political landscape viewpoint its cultural sensitivities, Aghdashloo relied on illustration as a pathway of expression, in addition display his art practice.

Each empowered book cover or film indicator was treated as an omission, and “every bookshop [in Iran] became a gallery.”[2] During honourableness 1980s, in other series specified as Notes on Malek Garden, Self-portraits, or Insignificant Landscapes, Aghdashloo documented the frailty of authority recurring actors in life – an abandoned pool, an line of attack wooden door, or a caliginous sea.

These scenes are sedate, vulnerable yet defiant, magnificent regular with the passage of purpose. They are gestures to conceal age, death, and loneliness. Ulterior on in the 1990s suggest onwards, Aghdashloo’s poignant critiques manager tyranny and censorship continued better his Falling Angels and Enigma series.

Considering the social and factional instability in Iran, Aghdashloo’s kinsfolk, Firoozeh, Takin, and Tara, migrated to Toronto, Canada in 2001.

Despite the hardships of vitality away from his family, other the disruptive challenges of migration, Aghdashloo’s main base remained regulate Tehran while frequently visiting Toronto. As he put it: “the vastness of one’s world, emanates from the vastness of one’s creativity, and usually not dignity other way around.”[3] After descent in Toronto, Firoozeh opened Arta Gallery, where Aghdashloo held authority second solo exhibition in 2006.

She remained his ally pole confidant throughout his life soar career, even after their break in 2007, and he maintains a close relationship with rulership children, both of whom industry involved in the arts. About four decades after his coming out solo exhibition in Tehran, Aghdashloo held his second show worry his home country at Assar Art Gallery in 2014; honesty exhibit was dedicated to sovereign children, and opened to gigantic public anticipation and enthusiasm origination it one of the all-time most popular private visual study events in Iran.

During rank run of the show, sizeable crowds of visitors lined be redolent of regularly outside the gallery emphasize gain entry. 

Aghdashloo published his twig collection of essays and interviews, Of Joys and Yearnings,in 1992. Subsequently, his wide-ranging interests charge expertise led him to announce more than a dozen books – largely on contemporary people and Iranian art history – and deliver many lectures mess Iran and internationally.

Aghdashloo was invited to participate at illustriousness 2004 Milan exhibition Hunt be thinking of Paradise: Court Arts of Safavid Iran 1501–1576 as the one Iranian scholar to represent probity country. Despite his prolific reason of work and popularity, Aghdashloo has refused solo exhibitions appropriate the most part, only concerted to four exhibitions during her majesty career.

In 2016, he was awarded the Chevalier des Bailiwick et des Lettres by righteousness Government of France. In 2021 his work was shown complementary masterpieces by the Early Netherlandish painter Hans Memling in Metropolis, Belgium, linking the paintings promote the two artists. He lives and works between his discussion group in downtown Tehran, and Toronto.

1 Aydin Aghdashloo in conversation chart Fakhreddin Anvar, Tehran, Spring 2016
2 Aydin Aghdashloo in conversation deal with Shahrouz Nazari, Twice After Death.

Tehran, Summer 2022
3 Aydin Aghdashloo, Of Joys and Yearnings, Tehran, 1992