Massoud Arabshahi

Massoud Arabshahi (Persian: مسعود عربشاهی; 1935 – 2019), was an Iranian painter, and bas-relief sculptor.^[1][2][3] He was a leading member of the Saqqakhaneh movement,^[4][5][6] and was known for his conceptual artwork. Arabshahi had worked in Tehran, Paris, and California.

Massoud Arabshahi
مسعود عربشاهی
Massoud Arabshahi in 2007
Born	1935 Tehran, Pahlavi Iran
Died	September 16, 2019 Tehran, Islamic Republic of Iran
Alma mater	College of Decorative Arts, Tehran
Occupation	Artist
Known for	oil paintings, bas-relief sculptures
Movement	Saqqakhaneh movement

Early life and education

Massoud Arabshahi was born in 1935 in Tehran, Pahlavi Iran.^[7][2] He has attended the Public High School for Fine Arts in Tehran.^[7]

In 1968, he graduated from the College of Decorative Arts at Tehran University (now University of Tehran). Arabshahi had studied painting under Shokouh Riazi.

Career

His sources of inspiration comprise Achaemenid and Assyrian art as well as Babylonian carvings and inscriptions. Combining tradition and modernity. Arabshahi held his first solo exhibition at the Iran-India Centre, Tehran, in 1964, four years before graduating from university.

Arabshahi work's was created in various mediums, including oil paint-on-canvas, architectural bas-reliefs, and other sculptures. Arabshahi's bas-reliefs were commissioned for the Office for Industry and Mining (1971), Tehran; and for the California Insurance Building (1985) in Santa Rosa, California, U.S..

Arabshahi played a pivotal role in the establishing the Iran Gallery (Persian: Talar-e Iran) in Tehran, founded in 1964 by Arabshahi, Mansoor Ghandriz, Rouin Pakbaz, Faramarz Pilaram, Sadegh Tabrizi, Mohammad-Reza Jodat, Ghobad Shiva, Sirus Malek, Farshid Mesghali, Parviz Mahallati, Morteza Momayez, and Hadi Hezareiy.^[8] After the death of artist Mansoor Ghandriz in 1966, the Iran Gallery was renamed Ghandriz Gallery (Persian: Talar-e Ghandriz) in his honor; and it remained open until the summer of 1978 during the Iranian Revolution.^[9]

In 1975, Marcos Grigorian founded of the Group of Free Painters and Sculptors in Tehran.^[10] The other founding artists included Arabshahi, Gholamhossein Nami, Morteza Momayez, Mir Abdolrez Daryabeigi, and Faramarz Pilaram.^[11]

Arabshahi's work has been shown in a number of solo and group exhibitions in Iran, Europe and the United States including Two Modernist Iranian Pioneers, at the Tehran Museum of Contemporary Art, 2001; and Iranian Contemporary Art, Barbican Centre, London, 2001.

He died on September 16, 2019, in Tehran, Iran.

Prizes

• 1964, Ministry of Arts and Culture Prize, 4th Tehran Biennial
• 1965, Mother's Day Exhibition Prize, Tehran
• 1972, First Prize, Public contest for sculpture ornament at the Farah-abad Park, Tehran
• 1973, First Prize, Monaco International Exhibition

Exhibitions

• 1964, Tehran, Iran, India Artistic Center
• 1965, Tehran, Iran, Tehran University
• 1965, Paris, France, Biennial
• 1967, Paris, France, Galerie Solstice
• 1967, Paris, France, Museum of Sacred Arts
• 1968, U.S.A, Mobile Exhibition of Contemporary Iranian Arts
• 1970, Tehran, Iran, Modern Iranian Art: a Retrospective, Iran American Society
• 1971, Tehran, Iran, Negar Gallery
• 1973, Paris, France, Grand Palais
• 1973, Paris, France, Galerie Guiot
• 1973, Monaco, France, Monaco International Exhibition, Monte Carlo
• 1974, Tehran, Iran, International Exhibition of Arts
• 1975, Tehran, Iran, Blue, Takhte Jamshid Gallery
• 1975, Tehran, Iran, Volume and Environment, Iran America Society

References

1. Rouhani, Behrouz (September 19, 2019). "مسعود عربشاهی، نقاشی که 'ویرانی آثارش را دید و تحمل کرد'" [Masoud Arabshahi, the painter who "saw and endured the destruction of his works"]. BBC News فارسی (in Persian). Retrieved 2022-12-15.
2. Grigor, Talinn (2014-06-15). Contemporary Iranian Art: From the Street to the Studio. Reaktion Books. pp. 70–71, 79. ISBN 978-1-78023-309-3.
3. Blair, Sheila S.; Bloom, Jonathan M. (July 2, 2009). "Arabshahi, Massoud". Grove Art Online. doi:10.1093/gao/9781884446054.article.t2082054. Retrieved 2022-12-15.
4. Gharipour, Mohammad (2019-10-15). Architectural Dynamics in Pre-Revolutionary Iran: Dialogic Encounter between Tradition and Modernity. Intellect Books. p. 39. ISBN 978-1-78938-059-0.
5. Scheiwiller, Staci Gem (2014-11-01). Performing the Iranian State: Visual Culture and Representations of Iranian Identity. Anthem Press. p. 102. ISBN 978-1-78308-328-2.
6. Keshmirshekan, Hamid (2005). "Neo-Traditionalism and Modern Iranian Painting: The "Saqqa-khaneh" School in the 1960s". Iranian Studies. 38 (4): 607–630. doi:10.1080/00210860500338408. ISSN 0021-0862. JSTOR 4311766. S2CID 162877296.
7. "Massoud Arabshahi". The British Museum.
8. Saghafi, Morad (Autumn 1996). "The city and the social presentation of art: A glance at Ghandriz Gallery experience". Pages Magazine, No. 13. Retrieved 2022-12-16.
9. "Simurg, c. 1961-1964". Grey Art Gallery. 2015-12-07. Retrieved 2022-12-16.
10. Milani, Abbas (2008). Eminent Persians: The Men and Women Who Made Modern Iran, 1941-1979, Volumes One and Two. Syracuse University Press. pp. 1000–10001. ISBN 9780815609070.
11. "Iranian Painters, Marcos Grigorian". Toos Foundation. Retrieved 2022-12-16.

External links

• Elahe Art Gallery Biography and artworks on Elahe Art Gallery
• Mah Art Gallery Biography, Selected Works and Exhibitions on Mah Art Gallery
• Seyhoun Art Gallery Massoud Arabshahi Exhibit - Seyhoun Gallery, US