Tehran gallery named after modernist painter Ahmad Esfandiari

TEHRAN,Jun 21(MNA) -- A cultural center in Tehran has named its art gallery after Ahmad Esfandiari, a pioneer of Iranian modern painting. A number veterans and novices attended an opening ceremony held on Tuesday at the Mehr Cultural Center in Khani-Abad No neighborhood in southern Tehran. 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. Qasem 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. The Tehran Museum of Contemporary Art also hosted an expo of Esfandiari’s artworks in 1987.