Gallery Named After Ahmad Esfandiari

A cultural center in Tehran named its art gallery after Ahmad Esfandiari, a pioneer of Iranian modern painting.

A number of veterans and novices attended an opening ceremony held at the Mehr Cultural Center in southern Tehran, ISNA reported.

The 90-year-old Esfandiari belongs to the first generation of the Iranian pioneers of art. He still works steadily and experiments within his style and technique.

Qassem Nazemi, an official from the Art and Cultural Organization of Tehran Municipality made a brief speech at the opening ceremony and expressed happiness that a cultural center named its gallery after a pioneer in art.

The participants next inaugurated the first exhibition of the gallery displaying a collection of 20 artworks by Esfandiari in the presence of the master.

Born in 1922, Esfandiari created a new eclectic style by using modern Western combinations of familiar Iranian art motifs and elements. He held his early exhibits in Tehran’s first-established art gallery named Apadana. He has so far attended all the painting biennials of Tehran and has also participated in the Venice Biennial twice.

According to the artist, he has been making drawings of nature since he was a child and that he later became interested in watercolor. He began to choose the Impressionist style in his paintings, after he saw more artworks by Gauguin and Cezanne during his university studies.

The two Iranian artists Parviz Tanavoli and Ehsan Yarshater took his works to the United States for the first time and displayed them in different exhibitions there.