Die iranische Moderne in der Bildenden Kunst: Der Bildhauer und Maler Parviz Tanavoli

Parviz Tanavoli had his first solo exhibition of modern art in 1958. At the time he was only 21 years old. Startling for the audience, he had formed assemblages out of scrap metal and semi-abstract ceramics showing themes from normal daily life. At that time, in Iran’s capital nothing like this had ever been considered art. But any initial disapproval was soon gone completely: by the beginning of the 1970s, Tanavoli had become one of the most important artists in Iran. He became especially well known for his artistic work based on Iranian folklore, which developed into the Saqqakhaneh modern art style and served as an example for numbers of other artists. In the mid-1960s, a lively art scene developed around Tanavoli and a group of other Iranian contemporary artists, with several galleries and with a number of art journals. Tanavoli taught as a lecturer, first at the innovative College of Decorative Arts and later at the Fine Arts Institute of the University of Tehran, spreading his ideas about a free and personal art. In the modernization efforts of the Iranian regime, for which the new Iranian modern art served well as publicity, Tanavoli’s artistic work was not censored. This situation changed dramatically with the Islamic Revolution; since this time Tanavoli has no longer been able to exhibit or work in Iran. Nevertheless, in the last years the modern Iranian artistic style has gained the attention of an international audience.