Parviz Tanavoli

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Parviz Tanavoli
Born
Parviz Tanavoli

(1937-03-24) 24 March 1937 (age 87)
Tehran, Pahlavi Iran
EducationTehran School of Fine Arts
Academy of Fine Arts in Carrara,
Brera Academy
Occupation(s)Artist, art historian, educator
Known forSculpture, painting
WorksThe Wall (Oh Persepolis)
Heech
MovementSaqqakhaneh School of Art
Hurufiyya movement
Websitewww.tanavoli.com

Parviz Tanavoli (Persian: پرویز تناولی; born 1937) is an Iranian sculptor, painter, educator, and art historian. He is a pioneer within the Saqqakhaneh School of Art,[1] a neo-traditionalist art movement.[2] Tanavoli has been one of the most expensive Iranian artists in sales.[3] Tanavoli series of sculpture work Heech are displayed in prestigious museums and public places, such as the British Museum, Metropolitan Museum of Art, Hamline University, Aga Khan Museum, and as public art in the city of Vancouver.[citation needed] Additionally Tanavoli has written extensively on this history of Persian art and Persian crafts. Since 1989, Tanavoli has held dual nationality and has lived and worked both in Tehran, and Horseshoe Bay in West Vancouver, British Columbia.[4][5]

Early life and education

Parviz Tanavoli was born 24 March 1937 in Tehran.[6] In 1952, he started his education at the Tehran School of Fine Arts (now part of the University of Tehran).[3] He continued his studies in Italy at the Academy of Fine Arts in Carrara (Italian: Accademia di Belle Arti di Carrara) in 1956 to 1957; as well as at Brera Academy (Italian: Accademia di Belle Arti di Brera) in Milan from 1958 to 1959 .[7] He studied under sculptor Mariano Marini.[7]

Upon graduating from the Brera Academy in 1959, he returned to Iran in 1960 and taught sculpting at the College of Decorative Arts in Tehran.[7]

Career

Teaching

Upon his return to Iran, he started teaching at the Tehran College of Decorative Arts, where he was also a founding member. Many pioneers of Iranian modern art, such as Zenderoudi, studied under him at this college. From February 1961 to 1964, Tanavoli taught sculpture for three years at the Minneapolis College of Art and Design, as a guest of art collector Abby Grey.[8][7] He then returned to Iran and assumed the directorship of the sculpture department at the Tehran University (now University of Tehran), a position he held for 18 years until 1979 when he retired from his teaching duties.[citation needed]

In addition to his tenure as a sculpture professor at the Minneapolis College of Art and Design from 1961 to 1964 and his 18-year directorship of the sculpture department at Tehran University, Tanavoli has continued to teach and mentor young artists. Tanavoli's newest "heeches" exhibition, titled "All and Nothing," was held at Tehran's Art Space Gallery from July 6 to August 3, 2022. The exhibition showcased the works of 40 of his students and his own newest "heeches," which are among his most recognized works.[9][10]

Artwork

Parviz Tanavoli, Heech, Stainless steel, Agha Khan Museum, Toronto (Canada)
Parviz Tanavoli, Heech Lovers, 5.5 Meters in Stainless steel, Vancouver (Canada)

He is the main figure and the key member of the Saqqakhaneh group of artists who share a common popular aesthetic, according to the scholar

nasta'liq, the three letters he, ye and če are combined to produce the word heech.[12]
\

In 2003, Tanavoli turned his Tehran house into the "Museum of Parviz Tanavoli," showcasing his personal art collection, which was only open for a few months due to political issues in Iran.[5]

Rasht 29 Club

In 1967, Tanavoli, Kamran Diba, and Roxana Saba (daughter of Abolhasan Saba) founded the Rasht 29 Club on a northern street near the Amirkabir University of Technology (formerly the Tehran Polytechnic).[13][14] Rasht 29 Club was named after the street address, and it was a popular hangout amongst artists of the time including Marcos Grigorian, Hossein Zenderoudi, Sadegh Tabrizi, Faramarz Pilaram, Sohrab Sepehri, Massoud Arabshahi, Yadollah Royai, Nader Naderpour, Reza Baraheni, Esmail Shahroudi, Ahmadreza Ahmadi, Bijan Elahi, Ebrahim Golestan, Hageer Daruish, Kamran Shirdel, Sadeq Chubak, Karl Schlamminger, and others.[14]

Sales

Tanavoli's work has been auctioned worldwide, leading to over $9 million in overall sales, making him the most expensive living Iranian artist.[15] In 2008, his work, The Wall (Oh Persepolis), an almost 2-meter tall bronze sculpture covered in incomprehensible hieroglyphs fetched USD 2.84 million at a Dubai Christie's sale, which was an auction record for an artist of Middle Eastern origins.[16][17]

Exhibitions

The most recent solo exhibition of Parviz Tanavoli, "Parviz Tanavoli: Poets, Locks, Cages", took place from July 1, 2023, to November 19, 2023, showcasing a comprehensive range of his works spanning six decades. This exhibition, held at Vancouver Art Gallery, provided a thorough retrospective of his career.[18][19][20]

Prior to this, his solo exhibition was in 2019 at the West Vancouver Art Museum entitled "Oh Nightingale". Before that, he had another solo exhibition in 2017 at the Tehran Museum of Contemporary Art based on his Lions works and Lion collection.[21]

In 2015, after four decades, Davis Museum at Wellesley College organized the first solo exhibition of Tanavoli's work in the US.

In 2003 he had a major retrospective at the Tehran Museum of Contemporary Art. Prior to that he had held solo exhibitions in Austria, Italy, Germany, United States and Britain. Tanavoli has been in group exhibitions internationally.

His work has been displayed at the

Museum of Modern Art, New York, Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, Hamline University, St. Paul[22] and Shiraz University, Iran.[23]

Politics and art

In 2005, he created a small piece of sculpture called Heech in a Cage to protest the conditions of the American-held prisoners at

Israeli-Lebanon war.[citation needed
]

A day before Tanavoli was due to speak at the British Museum in 2016, authorities in Iran confiscated his passport, preventing him from leaving the country, accusing him of "disturbing the public peace". Tanavoli explained that "I have not done anything wrong. I spent the whole day at the passport office, but no one told me anything, nor did anyone at the airport. I'm not a political person, I'm merely an artist."[2][4]

Honors and legacy

In 2015, the biographical documentary film, Parviz Tanavoli: Poetry in Bronze, was released. It was directed by Terrence Turner and produced by Timothy Turner and Tandis Tanavoli.[5][24][25]* Poetryinbronze.com

In October 2020, the former Mina Street in the Niavaran neighborhood was renamed Parviz Tanavoli by the municipality of Tehran.[citation needed]

Bibliography

Authored or co-authored by Tanavoli

Tanavoli has authored over forty publications dating back over four decades. Among these are:

On Tanavoli

Films, books, catalogs and magazines on Parviz Tanavoli

  • Film: The biographical documentary film, “Parviz Tanavoli: Poetry in Bronze” was released in 2015 Poetryinbronze.com
  • Parviz Tanavoli's : Monograph is considered the first exquisite "Catalog raisonné " of an artist in the Middle East. Notes by Parviz Tanavoli, Sia Aramjani, Shiva Balaghi, Kamran Diba, Gisela Fook, Maryam Saudi, Alireza Sami Azar and Tandis Tanavoli have been published in this book.

This book, in English and Arabic, was published once and for all in a limited edition of 1000 volumes, each with a unique number, in 2010 with the support of the Sheikh of Abu Dhabi, Khalifa Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, and was purchased by famous collectors and libraries.

See also

References

  1. ^ Foundation, Encyclopaedia Iranica. "Welcome to Encyclopaedia Iranica". iranicaonline.org. Retrieved 2024-03-19.
  2. ^
    ISSN 1756-3224
    . Retrieved 2022-03-24.
  3. ^ a b Dehghan, Saeed Kamali (2016-01-01). "Parviz Tanavoli: Iranian artist who made something out of nothing". the Guardian. Retrieved 2022-03-24.
  4. ^ a b Muñoz-Alonso, Lorena (2016-07-04). "Iranian Officials Seize Parviz Tanavoli's Passport". Artnet News. Retrieved 2022-03-24.
  5. ^ a b c d Lederman, Marsha (2015-02-20). "Master of bronze Parviz Tanavoli strives for recognition on home soil". The Globe and Mail. Retrieved 2022-03-24.
  6. ^ Tate. "Parviz Tanavoli born 1937". Tate. Retrieved 2024-03-07.
  7. ^
    ISBN 978-0-19-530991-1
    .
  8. ISBN 978-0-85773-343-6
    .
  9. ^ Shima, Shahmiri (July 26, 2018). "Celebrated Sculptor Parviz Tanavoli: They Can't Stop Me".
  10. ^ "تناولي و 40 سال هنرآموزي". شرق (in Persian). Retrieved 2023-04-03.
  11. ^ Ekhtiar, Maryam; Rooney, Julia (April 2014). "Artists of the Saqqakhana Movement (1950s–60s)". Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History. Metropolitan Museum of Art. metmuseum.org. Retrieved 2017-02-04.
  12. ^ "Standing heech". National Museums Scotland. Archived from the original on 4 February 2017. Retrieved 3 February 2017.
  13. ISBN 978-1-78023-309-3
    .
  14. ^
    ISSN 1551-4048
    . Retrieved 2022-03-24.
  15. ^ ".:: Art Tomorrow Magazine ::". www.artomorrow.com. Archived from the original on 2013-11-05.
  16. ^ Niknejad, Golnoush (April 26, 2009). "Oh Persepolis". Frontline, Tehran Bureau. Retrieved 2022-03-24.
  17. ISSN 0458-3035
    . Retrieved 2022-03-24.
  18. ^ Thomson, John (2023-07-31). "Sculpture Meets Poetry". Galleries West. Retrieved 2023-12-13.
  19. ^ "West Van artist known as 'Father of modern Iranian sculpture' featured at VAG". North Shore News. 2023-07-29. Retrieved 2023-12-13.
  20. ^ "Parviz Tanavoli: Poets, Locks, Cages". www.vanartgallery.bc.ca. Retrieved 2023-12-13.
  21. ^ "Tanavoli's Works at TMoCA After 17 Years". Financial Tribune. 2017-06-18. Retrieved 2024-03-07.
  22. ^ "The Heech | Photos of Exhibition on Hamline Campus | Hamline University". Facebook.
  23. ^ Harouni, Shadi (10 February 2015). "Parviz Tanavoli: plenty of 'nothing' - exhibition". The Guardian. Retrieved 3 February 2017.
  24. ^ "Photos: Sculptor Parviz Tanavoli and students reunite at Tehran's Boom gallery". Payvand.com. Retrieved 2022-03-24.
  25. ^ "Sculptor Parviz Tanavoli and students reunite at Tehran gallery". Tehran Times. 2017-11-05. Retrieved 2022-03-24.

Further reading

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Parviz Tanavoli.
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