Mohsen Vaziri-Moghaddam

Mohsen Vaziri (Persian: محسن وزیری مقدم, May 26, 1924 – 7 September 2018[1]), also known as Muhsen Vaziri-Muqaddam was an Iranian painter and a professor of art, who has been described as the "pioneer of modern Iranian abstraction."

Mohsen Vaziri-Moghaddam
محسن وزیری مقدم
Born(1924-05-26)26 May 1924
Tehran, Iran
Died7 September 2018(2018-09-07) (aged 94)
Rome, Italy
NationalityIranian
EducationAgricultural Institute, Tehran; Faculty of Fine Arts, Tehran; Academy of Fine Arts, Rome
Known forPainter and educator
StyleGeometric art
MovementModern abstract art
WebsiteOfficial website

Life and career

In 1943, after obtaining his diploma at the Agricultural Institute, he applied to the Faculty of Fine Arts in Tehran and attended for three years, where he studied with the geometric artst, Farhad Heidarian. During this period, the artist noted:

" I learned how to nurture my drawing skills from Heidarian and I did the rest myself; I painted portraits and landscapes that didn’t go beyond study patterns". During his years at the Academy, he felt the influence of Impressionism and Post-Impressionism, especially Van Gogh, in terms of both subject matter and expressive forms.[2]

In 1955 Vaziri travelled to Rome to further his studies and enrolled at the Academy of Fine Arts until 1958.[3] His time at the academy coincided with the establishment of European Informalism and the American action painting. After "studying and analysing new modern art movements", Vaziri reached the conclusion that "painting is not a reconstruction of objective reality, but the artist has to create something that never existed before".[4]

In 1957, a landmark year and turning point in his artistic career, he attended Toti Scialoja's classes at the Academy for six months and started experimenting with abstract art. Vaziri later stated that this was when he learned "how to conceive abstract painting and how to create visual spaces". His first abstract works date back to 1958-1959 and they fit in perfectly with the search for materials and brushstrokes happening in contemporary movements.

Between 1959, and 1960, he developed a vision of abstract art through experiments that were highly focused on materials. This eventually lead to the creation of some of his most powerful works: The Sand Composition Series. These paintings were conceived in a playful moment in the spring of 1959, and for the next three years, Vaziri kept trying his hand at them, until 1963 when they were put on public display. Different types of sand were applied to the canvas in their natural state or mixed with colour. This original concept grabbed the attention of some of the most prominent Italian art critics of the time, including Giulio Carlo Argan and Palma Bucarelli.

In 1964, Vaziri was at the peak of his artistic career, marked by the purchase of one of his paintings by the Modern Art Museum (MoMA) in New York. He left Italy for a long time and returned to Iran where he taught for several years (until 1975) at the Faculty of Decorative Arts (the current University of Art) and the Faculty of Fine Arts in Tehran.[5] Around that time, he started writing several art methodology textbooks, and in 1981, he published Drawing Method and Painting Guide. To this day, his textbooks are studied by Iranian art students. His return to Iran and heavy teaching commitments kept Vaziri away from painting for almost three years.

Between 1967, and 1968, he commenced working on a series of reliefs made of aluminium and iron sheets. At this time, he was still anchored to a mono-dimensional approach. Shortly after, from 1969, the reliefs lead him to the creation of tri-dimensional works in the form of wood sculptures. From 1970, he created the next step in the evolution of still works:e a series of articulated, mobile sculptures whose wood pieces were joined together by nuts and bolts so that – in Vaziri's own words – "they would open and close just like human joints". During the 1970s, these sculptures inspired a series of paintings that marked a return to the well-defined shapes (both pointed and rounded) of his tri-dimensional works and developed them further. Alberto Moravia and Pierre Restany are among the eminent figures who have written about his work.

In 1985, Vaziri moved to Italy permanently with his wife and two children.

In the 1990s, the artist worked on Persian calligraphy shapes, trying to point out the minimalism of its lines. He also continued to test himself with abstract compositions that were all different from each other and characterised by either highly defined shapes and intense colours or vague silhouettes and soft pastel colours.

In 1999, his translation of The Mind and Work of Paul Klee by W. Hahtmann was published.

In 2000, he resumed contact with Iranian universities and held several lectures.

In 2003, Vaziri was affected by an eye disease that considerably reduced his eyesight, but his verve as an artist was unaffected. He invented a new way of expressing himself: a series of acrylic paintings, where large splashes of colour reflected his vision of reality.

Vaziri is still creatively active today and he continues his quest for shapes and colours.

Work

His early works employed architectural patterns and traditional designs, but as he matured, his work became increasingly abstract, making extensive use of two-dimensional geometric patterns in bright colours.[6] He has been described as the "pioneer of modern Iranian abstraction." [7]

His work has tendencies towards social themes and he employs impressionistic brushtrokes.[8] Scholars have located him as part of the third group of modernist Iranian painters who favoured expressionism and symbolism. This group included various types of modernist figurative artists such as Hanibal Alkhas, Bahman Muhassis, Abolqasem Sa’idi and Sohrab Sepehri.[9]

His works are held by the Museum of Modern Art;[10] Parviz Tanavoli's Museum [11] and the Art Museum of Tehran.[12]

Notable exhibitions
  • 1952: (debut solo exhibition), Iran-America Society, Tehran
  • 1956: Portonovo Art Gallery, Rome
  • 1958: Venice Biennial
  • 1960: Tehran Biennial
  • 1960 Venice Biennial (1958, 1960, 1962, 1964)
  • 1950: Rome Quadriennale
  • 1962: Tehran Biennial
  • 1962: Venice Biennial (1958, 1960, 1962, 1964)
  • 1962: São Paulo Biennial, Brazil (1962)
  • 1963: (group exhibition), São Paulo Biennial, Brazil [13]
  • 1964: Museum of Modern Art, New York
  • 1964: Venice Biennial
  • 1969: Shiraz Art Festival, Iran
  • 2004: Contemporary Art Museum, Tehran (with Gerhard Richter)
  • 2009: Pioneers of Modern Iranian Art, Tehran [14]
  • 2011: Pioneers of Modern Iranian Art, Tehran [15]
  • 2013: Iran Modern Exhibition (group exhibition; first major exhibition of post-war Iranian art)[16]
  • 2014: Artevida Corpo (travelling exhibition at venues throughout Rio de Janeiro), Fundação Casa França-Brasil, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil[17]
  • 2018: Mohsen Vaziri Moghaddam: The Iranian Pioneer of Modern Abstraction, Setareh Gallery, Duselldorf[18]
  • 2018: Modernism in Iran: 1958–1978, (group exhibition) [19]
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See also

References
  1. Mehr News Agency - Iran; "Mohsen Vaziri Moghaddam, painter and designer, died (محسن وزیری مقدم هنرمند نقاش و طراح درگذشت)"; Friday 7 September 2018
  2. Cited in: Aziz, June, 2015, p. 2 Online:
  3. Amirsadeghi, H., Different Sames: New Perspectives in Contemporary Iranian Art, Thames & Hudson, 2009, p. 17
  4. Cited in: Aziz, June, 2015, Online:
  5. Grigor, T., Contemporary Iranian Art: From the Street to the Studio, Reaktion Books, 2014, p. 181
  6. Amirsadeghi, H., Different Sames: New Perspectives in Contemporary Iranian Art, Thames & Hudson, 2009, p. 17
  7. "Mohsen Vaziri Moghaddamh," [Biography], Saterah Gallery, Online:
  8. Stein, E. (ed), Intellectual dynamics in the Middle East and North Africa, Routledge, 2017 [E-Book edition], n.p.
  9. Boqrati, F., "Mohsen Vaziri-Moqaddam va Hanibal Alkhas," Herfeh: Honarmand, Vol. 27, 2008–2009, pp 84–85; Moussavi-Aghdama, C., , "Art History ‘National Art’ and Iranian Intellectuals in the 1960s," British Journal of Middle Eastern Studies, Vo. 41, No. 1, 2014 [Special issue: Intellectual dynamics in the Middle East and North Africa], pp 132-150, DOI: 10.1080/13530194.2014.878511
  10. "Artists at MOMA," Online:
  11. Eimen, A., Museum and Mosque: The Shifting Identities of Modern Tehran, University of Minnesota, 2006, p.156
  12. "Sending its fabulous collection of Western modernism abroad," The Economist, 20 December, 212, Online:
  13. Diba, L., "Postwar Cultural Flows and Their Legacies: Tehran, São Paulo, Rio," Guggenheim, Online:
  14. Scheiwiller, S. G. (ed), Performing the Iranian State: Visual Culture and Representations of Iranian Identitym, Anthem Press, 2014, p. 99
  15. Scheiwiller, S. G. (ed), Performing the Iranian State: Visual Culture and Representations of Iranian Identitym, Anthem Press, 2014, p. 99
  16. Diba, L., "Postwar Cultural Flows and Their Legacies: Tehran, São Paulo, Rio," Guggenheim, Online:
  17. "Arte Vida," Wall Street International Magazine, Online:
  18. Setarah Gallery, Online:
  19. Griffin Art Projects, Online:

Further reading
  • Hassan Mourizi Nejad, “Iranian Modern Artists: Mohsen Vaziri-Moghaddam,” Tandis, no. 71, April 11, 2006. pp. 4–7
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