If I could say it in words there would be no reason to paint.
 

Arts & Culture Desk

In a message to a ceremony to honor Iran’s master miniaturist Mahmoud Farshchian, Iranian Culture and Islamic Guidance Minister Mohammad-Mehdi Esmaeili wrote the prominent artist is one of the influential figures of Islamic-Iranian art who has preserved honorable works and drawings in the history of Iranian art.
Doing valuable educational and research activities, training students and painters and helping a generation of artists learn different styles of Iranian painting are the cultural and artistic services of Farshchian, added Esmaeili, IRNA reported on Saturday.
“He gave credit to the contemporary art of Iranian painting and while paying attention to the visual traditions of Iranian miniature, he introduced the contemporary magnificence of Iranian painting to the world,” the Iranian minister noted.
The current government believes that the appreciation of Iranian artists and figures means respect for values of the cultural side of Islamic Revolution, Esmaeili added.
The minister wished health and well-being to Farshchian and concluded: “I wish that he can always create artworks and Iranians enjoy his Iranian-Islamic miniatures.”
Master Farshchian was born in the city of Isfahan on January 24, 1930. His father, a rug merchant, was an art aficionado who instilled a love for the arts in his son. Young Mahmoud showed an interest in arts quite early in life and studied under the tutelage of Haji Mirza-Aqa Emami and Isa Bahadori for several years.
After receiving his diploma, Farshchian left for Europe, where he studied the works of the great Western masters of painting. Consequently, he developed an innovative artistic style with universal appeal.
He has won numerous national and international awards, including the gold statuette of Italy’s Vessillo Europa Delle Arte in 1984 and the gold medal of Belgium’s 1958 International Art Festival.

Iranian traditional signer Alireza Qorbani will have a joint performance with Azerbaijani singer Alim Qasimov on February 20 in Expo 2020 Dubai, the United Arab Emirates.
The performance is in line with the events in Iran’s pavilion in the expo and will be held in the Dubai Millennium Amphitheater, IRNA reported.
It is aimed at highlighting cultural commonalities between Iran and the Republic of Azerbaijan to exemplify friendship between peoples and countries.
Qasimov is the most prominent Azerbaijani singer who is also well-known at the global scale.
Qorbani and Qasimov will sing classic poems from Persian and Azerbaijani literatures.

 

Arts & Culture Desk

Fatemeh Behboudi, an Iranian photographer with the project “The War Is Still Alive”, will participate in the Biennale of Female Photography in Italy with 12 other photographers from around the world.
The cultural association La Papessa organizes the Biennale of Female Photography from March 5-8 in Mantua, a city with rich art and history, elected cultural capital of Italy in 2016, according to boxofficelive.it.
The biennale will display a selection of projects by national and international professional female photographers. This exhibition will be held in historical venues of the city.
During the four days, there will be creative workshops, conferences with journalists, photographers and exhibition presentations, with the participation of prominent figures in and outside the field of photography.
There will be portfolio readings, interviews, and an open call for all nationalities, a unique opportunity to show international works in Mantua’s public spaces during the biennale.
Other photographers of the event are Ilvy Njiokiktjien, Tami Aftab, Betty Colombo, Flavia Rossi, Sarah Blesener, Daniella Zalcman, Myriam Meloni, Collettivo Lumina, Delphine Diallo, and Esther Ruth Mbabazi.

By Farzaneh Shahrokhi Dana
A stoic, if not detached, observer, he is a constant in the fast-paced life of the neighborhood, always there, persistent, somber, looking slightly upwards, indifferent to his surroundings, concerned with neither the noise of the crowd at high noon nor the lonely silence of midnight, invariably preoccupied with something of a higher order. He was one of us, immortalized by his heroism to become a prime manifestation of our defiance of time. And yet, a cosmic irony prevailed to let the passing of time leave its marks on him, reminding us of our inescapable finitude.
 

Artworks by Pablo Picasso, Mark Rothko, Andy Warhol and other modern masters are going up for auction in a sale ordered by a US court as part of a billionaire couple’s acrimonious divorce.
Sotheby’s auction house announced on the 18 February that it will offer 30 works from the Macklowe Collection on 16 May in New York, AP reported.
The works belonged to New York property developer Harry Macklowe and his wife Linda, who spent 40 years assembling a collection by some of the 20th century’s greatest artists, displaying many of them in their grand apartment in Manhattan’s Plaza building.
The pieces being auctioned in May were collectively valued at hundreds of millions of dollars following their split in 2016.
Sculptures by Picasso, Alberto Giacometti and Jeff Koons are also among the works on offer in the sale, the second from the Macklowe Collection. The first sale of 35 artworks in November netted $676 million (€597 million) – the highest-ever total for a Sotheby’s auction.
Last November’s sale included a multicoloured Rothko canvas, ‘No. 7,’ that sold for €72 million, Jackson Pollock’s ‘Number 17, which went for €53 million and Warhol’s ‘Nine Marilyns,’ which fetched €41 million.
A public display of works from the May sale is planned at Sotheby’s in London from Tuesday until March 2. The items then are scheduled to go on tour to Palm Beach, Taipei, Hong Kong, Shanghai and New York ahead of the auction.
Major talking points include an untitled 1960 abstract by Mark Rothko, a rare bronze Picasso statue called ‘Jeune homme’ from 1958, and the dreamy Gerhard Richter, ‘Seascape’ from 1975.
“This collection really is an extraordinary presentation of the best of the last 80 years in art history. It presents the most extraordinary masterpieces by sort of the most historic artists working in that period,” says Emma Baker, head of Evening Sale for Contemporary Art at Sotheby’s.
Arguably, the star of the show is Warhol’s ‘Self-Portrait,’ which Baker describes as “extraordinarily fresh”.
It originated from his series of Vanitas paintings, which featured human skulls.
With this painting, Warhol seems to depict his own artistic sendoff.
“With this series of works, as throughout his career, he was really looking to install himself along the pantheon of other icons that he created throughout his career that became Warhol icons. And he’s really looking to kind of insert himself into that dialogue. And this series is incredible because it’s his last sort of contribution to that pursuit,” says Baker.
The second edition of the Macklowe collection’s sale will take place at Sotheby’s New York on 16 May.