Aziz art March 2018
History of art(west and Iranian)-contemporary art-Reza Khodadadi-Alfred Basbous-Marcos Grigorian-Middle East art -surrealism painting -Iranian art auction -Famous Iranian art -middle east artist-Famous iranian artist-humanity-Iranian#Iranian contemporary art -middle east -surrealism painting -visual art -gallery-contemporary art -Qajar art - art auction -exhibition -modern art -London -USA - UK -Aziz Anzabi-Famous Persian artist-painting-art-life-man-woman
History of art(west and Iranian)-contemporary art-Reza Khodadadi-Alfred Basbous-Marcos Grigorian-Middle East art -surrealism painting -Iranian art auction -Famous Iranian art -middle east artist-Famous iranian artist-humanity-Iranian#Iranian contemporary art -middle east -surrealism painting -visual art -gallery-contemporary art -Qajar art - art auction -exhibition -modern art -London -USA - UK -Aziz Anzabi-Famous Persian artist-painting-art-life-man-woman
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<strong>Aziz</strong> Art<br />
<strong>March</strong><strong>2018</strong><br />
Marcos Grigorian<br />
Alfred Basbous<br />
Reza Khodadadi<br />
Competition<br />
NOROOZ
1-Norooz<br />
11-Competition<br />
12-Reza Khodadadi<br />
16-Alfred Basbous<br />
21-Marcos Grigorian<br />
Director: <strong>Aziz</strong> Anzabi<br />
Editor : Nafiseh Yaghoubi<br />
Translator : Asra Yaghoubi<br />
Research: Zohreh Nazari<br />
http://www.aziz-anzabi.com
NOROOZ<br />
1
Norooz<br />
( "New Day") is the name of the<br />
Iranian New Year,<br />
also known as the Persian and<br />
Kurdish New Year, is celebrated by<br />
Iranian peoples worldwide as the<br />
beginning of the new year. It has<br />
been celebrated for over 3,000<br />
years in the Balkans, the Black Sea<br />
Basin, the Caucasus, Central Asia,<br />
and the Middle East.It marks the<br />
first day of the month of Farvardin<br />
in the Iranian calendar.<br />
Nowruz is the day of the<br />
astronomical vernal equinox (or<br />
northward equinox), which marks<br />
the beginning of the spring in the<br />
northern hemisphere and usually<br />
occurs on <strong>March</strong> 21 or the<br />
previous/following day depending<br />
on where it is observed. The<br />
moment the sun crosses the<br />
celestial equator and equalizes<br />
night and day is calculated exactly<br />
every year and families gather<br />
together to observe the rituals.<br />
Although having Persian and<br />
religious Zoroastrian origins,<br />
Nowruz has been celebrated by<br />
people from diverse ethnic<br />
communities and religious<br />
backgrounds for thousands of<br />
years. It is a secular holiday for<br />
most celebrants that is enjoyed by<br />
people of several different faiths,<br />
but remains a holy day for<br />
Zoroastrians.<br />
Origin<br />
Nowruz is p<strong>art</strong>ly rooted in the<br />
religious tradition of Iranian<br />
religions such as Zoroastrianism or<br />
even older in tradition of Mitraism<br />
because in Mitraism festivals had a<br />
deep linkage with the sun light. The<br />
Persian festivals of Yalda (longest<br />
night) and Mehregan (autumnal<br />
equinox) and Tiregān (longest day)<br />
also had an origin in the Sun god<br />
(Surya). Among other ideas,<br />
Zoroastrianism is the first<br />
monotheistic religion that<br />
emphasizes broad concepts such as<br />
the corresponding work of good<br />
and evil in the world, and the<br />
connection of humans to nature.<br />
Zoroastrian practices were<br />
dominant for much of the history of<br />
ancient Persia (modern day Iran &<br />
Western Afghanistan
Nowruz is believed to have been Ancient Iran. Due to its antiquity,<br />
invented by Zoroaster himself in there exist various foundation<br />
Balkh (modern-day Afghanistan), myths for Nowruz in Iranian<br />
although there is no clear date of mythology. In the Zoroastrian<br />
origin. Since the Achaemenid era tradition, the seven most important<br />
the official year has begun with the Zoroastrian festivals are the<br />
New Day when the Sun leaves the Gahambars and Nowruz, which<br />
zodiac of Pisces and enters the occurs at the spring equinox.<br />
zodiacal sign of Aries, signifying the According to Mary Boyce,<br />
Spring Equinox. Nowruz is also a “It seems a reasonable surmise that<br />
holy day for Sufi Muslims, Nowruz, the holiest of them all,<br />
Bektashis, Ismailis, Alawites,Alevis, with deep doctrinal significance,<br />
Babis and adherents of the Bahá'í was founded by Zoroaster<br />
Faith.<br />
himself.Between sunset on the day<br />
The term Nowruz in writing first of the 6th Gahanbar and sunrise of<br />
appeared in historical Persian Nowruz, Hamaspathmaedaya (later<br />
records in the 2nd century CE, but known, in its extended form, as<br />
it was also an important day during Frawardinegan) was celebrated.<br />
the time of the Achaemenids (c. This and the Gahanbar are the only<br />
550–330 BCE), where kings from festivals named in the surviving text<br />
different nations under the Persian of the Avesta.<br />
Empire used to bring gifts to the The Shahnameh dates Nowruz as<br />
Emperor, also called King of Kings far back to the reign of Jamshid,<br />
(Shahanshah), of Persia on Nowruz. who in Zoroastrian texts saved<br />
The significance of Nowruz in the mankind from a killer winter that<br />
Achaemenid Empire was such that was destined to kill every living<br />
the great Persian king<br />
creature. The mythical Persian King<br />
Cambyses II's appointment as the Jamshid (Yima or Yama of the Indoking<br />
of Babylon was legitimized Iranian lore) perhaps symbolizes<br />
only after his p<strong>art</strong>icipation in the the transition of the Indo-Iranians<br />
New Year festival<br />
from animal hunting to animal<br />
History and tradition<br />
husbandry and a more settled life<br />
The celebration has its roots in in human history
In the Shahnameh and Iranian<br />
mythology, he is credited with the<br />
foundation of Nowruz. In the<br />
Shahnama, Jamshid constructed a<br />
throne studded with gems. He had<br />
demons raise him above the e<strong>art</strong>h<br />
into the heavens; there he sat on<br />
his throne like the sun shining in<br />
the sky. The world's creatures<br />
gathered in wonder about him<br />
and scattered jewels around him,<br />
and called this day the New Day or<br />
No/Now-Ruz.<br />
This was the first day of the month<br />
of Farvardin (the first month of the<br />
Persian calendar).<br />
The Persian scholar Abu Rayhan<br />
Biruni of the 10th century CE,<br />
in his Persian work<br />
"Kitab al-Tafhim li Awa'il Sina'at al-<br />
Tanjim" provides a description of<br />
the calendar of various nations.<br />
Besides<br />
the Persian calendar, various<br />
festivals of Arabs, Jews, Sabians,<br />
Greeks and other nations are<br />
mentioned in this book. In the<br />
section on the Persian calendar ,<br />
he mentions Nowruz, Sadeh,<br />
Tiregan, Mehregan, the six<br />
Gahanbar, Parvardegaan,<br />
Bahmanja, Isfandarmazh and<br />
several other festivals.<br />
According to him: It is the belief of<br />
the Persians that Nowruz marks the<br />
first day when the universe st<strong>art</strong>ed<br />
its motion.The Persian historian<br />
Abu Saʿīd Gardēzī in his work titled<br />
Zayn al-Akhbār under the section of<br />
the Zoroastrians festivals mentions<br />
Nowruz (among other festivals) and<br />
specifically points out that<br />
Zoroaster highly emphasized the<br />
celebration of Nowruz and<br />
Mehregan.<br />
History<br />
Nowruz in Persia<br />
Persepolis all nations staircase.<br />
Notice the people from across the<br />
Achaemenid Persian Empire<br />
bringing gifts. Some scholars have<br />
associated the occasion to be<br />
either Mehregan or Nowruz.<br />
Shah Tahmasp I and Humayun<br />
celebrating Nowvruz festival, 16th<br />
century, Isfahan, Persia<br />
Although it is not clear whether<br />
proto-Indo-Iranians celebrated a<br />
feast as the first day of the<br />
calendar, there are indications that<br />
both Iranians and Indians may have<br />
observed the beginning of both<br />
autumn and spring, related to the<br />
harvest and the sowing of seeds,<br />
respectively, for the celebration of<br />
new year.
Boyce and Grenet explain the Hall,<br />
traditions for seasonal festivals were built for the specific purpose<br />
and comment: "It is possible that of celebrating Nowruz. Although<br />
the splendor of the Babylonian there may be no mention of<br />
festivities at this season led the Nowruz in recorded Achaemenid<br />
Persians to develop their own inscriptions (see picture),there is a<br />
spring festival into an established detailed account by Xenophon of a<br />
new year feast, with the name Nowruz celebration taking place in<br />
Navasarda 'New Year' (a name Persepolis and the continuity of this<br />
which, though first attested festival in the Achaemenid<br />
through Middle Persian<br />
tradition.in 539 BC the Jews came<br />
derivatives, is attributed to the under Persian rule thus exposing<br />
Achaemenian period). Since the both groups to each other's<br />
communal observations of the customs. According to<br />
ancient Iranians appear in general Encyclopædia Britannica, the story<br />
to have been a seasonal ones, and of Purim as told in the Book of<br />
related to agriculture, it is Esther is adapted from a Persian<br />
probable, that they traditionally novella about the shrewdness of<br />
held festivals in both autumn and harem queens suggesting that<br />
spring, to mark the major turning Purim may be a transformation of<br />
points of the natural year". the Persian New Year. A specific<br />
We have reasons to believe that novella is not identified and<br />
the celebration is much older than Encyclopædia Britannica itself<br />
that date and was surely<br />
notes that "no Jewish texts of this<br />
celebrated by the people and genre from the Persian period are<br />
royalty during the Achaemenid extant, so these new elements can<br />
times (555–330 BC). It was, be recognized only inferentially".<br />
therefore, a highly auspicious The Encyclopaedia of Religion and<br />
occasion for the ancient Iranian Ethics notes that the Purim holiday<br />
peoples. It has been suggested is based on a lunar calendar while<br />
that the famous Persepolis Nowruz occurs at the spring<br />
complex, or at least the palace of equinox (solar calendar).<br />
Apadana and the Hundred Columns
The two holidays are therefore<br />
celebrated on different dates but<br />
within a few weeks of each other,<br />
depending on the year. Both<br />
holidays are joyous celebrations.<br />
Given their temporal associations,<br />
it is possible that the Jews and<br />
Persians of the time may have<br />
shared or adopted similar customs<br />
for these holidays. The story of<br />
Purim as told in the Book of Esther<br />
has been dated anywhere from<br />
625–465 BC (although the story<br />
takes place with the Jews under<br />
the rule of the Achaemenid<br />
Empire and the Jews had come<br />
under Persian rule in 539 BC),<br />
while Nowruz is thought to have<br />
first been celebrated between<br />
555–330 BC. It remains unclear<br />
which holiday was established<br />
first.<br />
Nowruz was the holiday of<br />
Arsacid/P<strong>art</strong>hian dynastic Empires<br />
who ruled Iran (248 BC-224 CE)<br />
and the other areas ruled by the<br />
Arsacid dynasties outside P<strong>art</strong>hia<br />
(such as the Arsacid dynasty of<br />
Armenia and Iberia). There are<br />
specific references to the<br />
celebration of Nowruz during the<br />
reign of Vologases I (51–78 CE), but<br />
these include no details.Before<br />
Sassanids established their power<br />
in West Asia around 300 CE,<br />
P<strong>art</strong>hians celebrated Nowruz in<br />
Autumn and 1st of Farvardin began<br />
at the Autumn Equinox. During<br />
P<strong>art</strong>hian dynasty the Spring Festival<br />
was Mehragan, a Zoroastrian and<br />
Iranian festival celebrated in honor<br />
of Mithra.<br />
Extensive records on the<br />
celebration of Nowruz appear<br />
following the accession of Ardashir<br />
I of Persia, the founder of the<br />
Sassanid dynasty (224–651 CE).<br />
Under the Sassanid Emperors,<br />
Nowruz was celebrated as the most<br />
important day of the year. Most<br />
royal traditions of Nowruz such as<br />
royal audiences with the public,<br />
cash gifts, and the pardoning of<br />
prisoners, were established during<br />
the Sassanian era and persisted<br />
unchanged until modern times.<br />
Nowruz, along with Sadeh<br />
(celebrated in mid-winter), survived<br />
in society following the<br />
introduction of Islam in 650 CE.<br />
Other celebrations such Gahanbar<br />
and Mehragan were eventually<br />
side-lined or were only followed by<br />
the Zoroastrians, who carried them.<br />
It was adopted as the main royal<br />
holiday during the Abbasid period.
In the book Nowruznama drink immortality from the Cup of<br />
("Book of the New Year", which is Jamshid; and keep in solemn trust<br />
attributed to Omar Khayyam, the customs of our ancestors, their<br />
a well known Persian poet and noble aspirations, fair gestures and<br />
mathematician),<br />
the exercise of justice and<br />
a vivid description of the<br />
righteousness. May thy soul<br />
celebration in the courts of the flourish; may thy youth be as the<br />
Kings of Persia is provided: new-grown grain; may thy horse be<br />
“From the era of Kai Khusraw till puissant, victorious; thy sword<br />
the days of Yazdegard, last of the bright and deadly against foes; thy<br />
pre-Islamic kings of Persia, the hawk swift against its prey; thy<br />
royal custom was thus: on the every act straight as the arrow's<br />
first day of the New Year, shaft. Go forth from thy rich<br />
Now Ruz, the King's first visitor throne, conquer new lands. Honor<br />
was the High Mobad of the the craftsman and the sage in equal<br />
Zoroastrians, who brought with degree; disdain the acquisition of<br />
him as gifts a golden goblet full of wealth. May thy house prosper and<br />
wine, a ring, some gold coins, a thy life be long!"<br />
fistful of green sprigs of wheat, a Following the demise of the<br />
sword, and a bow. In the language Caliphate and the subsequent reemergence<br />
of Persian dynasties<br />
of Persia he would then glorify God<br />
and praise the monarch. This was such as the Samanids and Buyids,<br />
the address of the High Mobad to Nowruz was elevated to an even<br />
the king : "O Majesty, on this feast more important event. The Buyids<br />
of the Equinox, first day of the first revived the ancient traditions of<br />
month of the year, seeing that thou Sassanian times and restored many<br />
hast freely chosen God and the smaller celebrations that had been<br />
Faith of the Ancient ones; may eliminated by the Caliphate.<br />
Surush, the Angel-messenger, According to the Syrian historian<br />
grant thee wisdom and insight Yaqut al-Hamawi, the Iranian Buyid<br />
and sagacity in thy affairs. ruler ʿAżod-od-Dawla (r. 949-83)<br />
Live long in praise, be happy and customarily welcomed Nowruz in a<br />
fortunate upon thy golden throne, majestic hall,
wherein servants had placed gold and silver plates and vases full of fruit<br />
and colorful flowers.The King would sit on the royal throne (masnad),<br />
and the court astronomer came forward, kissed the ground, and<br />
congratulated him on the arrival of the New Year. The king would then<br />
summon<br />
musicians and singers, and invited his boon companions. They would<br />
gather in their assigned places and enjoy a great festive occasion.<br />
Even the Turkic and Mongol invaders did not attempt to abolish Nowruz<br />
in favor of any other celebration. Thus, Nowruz remained as the main<br />
celebration in the Persian lands by both the officials and the people.
11
Reza Khodadadi<br />
12
Dr. Reza Khodadadi<br />
born Ardabil,lives and works in<br />
Tehran. Iranian contemporary<br />
<strong>art</strong>ist, Academic, painter, sculptor,<br />
Urban <strong>art</strong>ist & Muralist Ph.d in Art<br />
Reseauch and Professor of Art,<br />
was born in 1961, Ardabil, Iran.<br />
Faculty member of Tehran<br />
University of Art.<br />
Author of "Mural techniques"<br />
book.<br />
Author of eight books in the field<br />
of Public <strong>art</strong> and murals Entitled<br />
"Rules and Regulations Urban<br />
Beautification".<br />
Authored several <strong>art</strong>icles and<br />
essays.<br />
Project study “ Murals of Tehran:<br />
musts and musts no<br />
Painting<br />
Perplexity by Lines<br />
The Works of Reza Khodadadi<br />
present various of aspects of<br />
assembling patterns and shapes<br />
alongside each other in mixed<br />
media. Continuity and colored<br />
material play an integral p<strong>art</strong> in<br />
his <strong>art</strong>. His love for Rumi′s poetic<br />
narrative to his paintings. in series<br />
'Heyrani'(Perplexity) the viewers<br />
face an abstract work which allows<br />
them to make a literal 'Reading' of<br />
visual expression.<br />
The Perplexity series is Created<br />
with carefully drawn overlapping<br />
lines. These lines stand out in the<br />
background even though they are<br />
at times diluted, and their<br />
resemblance to straw and hay gives<br />
the painting the feel of a landscape.<br />
These landscapes seem distant<br />
from eastern landscapes yet during<br />
his creative process Khodadadi<br />
distances his work from these<br />
familiar scenes. The over-stacking<br />
and criss- crossing of lines confer<br />
on the painting a feeling of pattern.<br />
Straight lines begin to curl and give<br />
a feel of wind and dishevelment<br />
that can be fathomed as<br />
tantamount to perplexity or<br />
bewilderment. The Contrasting<br />
lines play an integral p<strong>art</strong> in the<br />
aesthetics of this painting while the<br />
colors are form the same group<br />
(unless used for background<br />
spacing). Line segments are the<br />
simplest of visual ingredients yet<br />
the <strong>art</strong>ist,
Through detailed stacking and<br />
shading, has turned them into<br />
patterns.A sort of optical illusion is<br />
produced by this stacking that<br />
concentrates how they are viewed.<br />
This can clearly be seen in the<br />
works of Victor Vasarely (1906-<br />
1997) and Bridget Riley (b.1931)<br />
whose works stress<br />
the relationship of form and<br />
narrative. In fact Khodadadi<br />
endeavors to portray these<br />
accomplishments of modern<br />
painting on a few level in his<br />
work. The envisioning of either a<br />
waxing or waning process while<br />
looking at the<br />
Perplexity(Bewildered) series<br />
is an example of this <strong>art</strong>ifice. The<br />
relief-type textures Khodadadi<br />
also adhere to the amassing<br />
of one form and its<br />
transformations. By changing<br />
integral aspects<br />
of shapes, patterns and patina he<br />
creates diversity within the<br />
redundant rhythm of shapes. The<br />
painting of Khodadadi′s 'Perplexity'<br />
series focus on the flow of a<br />
landscape and its transformation to<br />
patterns and on how a chaotic<br />
atmosphere and immense and<br />
graduated space can be reproduced<br />
on canvas or vice versa.It is as if<br />
perspective appears and disappears<br />
through the brushing aside of the<br />
fields of straw. Simultaneously<br />
these are simply works of <strong>art</strong> with<br />
visual elements that under their<br />
own layers find connections to<br />
literary subjects.<br />
Exhibitions<br />
Several solo exhibitions in :Golestan<br />
Gallery, Barg Gallery, Haft Samar<br />
Gallery, Mah Art Gallery,Hoor Art<br />
Gallery and Boom <strong>art</strong><br />
Gallery.P<strong>art</strong>icipation in the<br />
collective exhibition of more than<br />
140 domestic and foreign
Alfred Basbous<br />
16
Alfred Basbous<br />
Born in Rachana in1924, three<br />
years following the birth of his<br />
brother Michael, Alfred Basbous<br />
spent a peripatetic childhood: In a<br />
family that has constantly to move,<br />
according to the mission of the<br />
father, who was a parish priest.<br />
The Basbous family regularly<br />
returned to Rachana, their home<br />
village, their indelible mark.<br />
As a child, Alfred Basbous was<br />
impressed by the feather reed<br />
used by his father to illustrate the<br />
Bible. Later, Michael proposed to<br />
his teenage brother to help him<br />
polishing the stone sculptures<br />
and working on the hardest<br />
stone blocks. This was the<br />
first step towards sculpturing.<br />
Alfred Basbous did not last long in<br />
the company of British Railways<br />
where he worked as a mason. By<br />
the late 1950s, he began carving<br />
works in wood, metal and stone,<br />
he first st<strong>art</strong>ed up reproducing<br />
animals - poultry, rabbits, reptiles -<br />
and nude females. Encouraged by<br />
Michel, Alfred exhibited in Beirut,<br />
at Alecco Saab gallery in 1958; this<br />
exhibition has shown a success and<br />
introduced him into the world of<br />
sculpture.<br />
In 1960, he received a scholarship<br />
from the French government and<br />
became a pupil of the sculptor<br />
René Collamarini at "The National<br />
Fine Arts School in Paris" (L'Ecole<br />
Nationale des Beaux-Arts in Paris).<br />
In 1961, his works included the<br />
International Sculpture Exhibition<br />
at the Musée Rodin, in Paris.<br />
Upon returning home, Alfred<br />
Basbous noticed his career<br />
exploding. He chose to settle in the<br />
village of Rachana that his brother<br />
was planning to rehabilitate. If one<br />
draws its inspiration from the<br />
modernism of Auguste Rodin,<br />
Henry Moore and Jean Arp, Alfred<br />
became impregnated with the<br />
nature of Lebanon and was<br />
passionate in the forms of the<br />
human body, especially the<br />
feminine curves.
The following years, he acquired an international reputation, and<br />
collaborated in international exhibitions:<br />
1961 - Superior National School Of Fine Arts, Paris.<br />
1961 - Rodin Museum, Paris.<br />
1971 -Halles Gallery, Paris. The three brothers displayed 101<br />
sculptures.<br />
Open air exhibitions in Faubourg of Saint Honoré, Paris.<br />
1974 -Collamarini workshop at Rodin Museum in Paris.<br />
- Biennial of Alexandria, Egypt.<br />
- UENO Museum, royal museum in the city of Tokyo, Japan.<br />
1982 -"Decoline" Gallery, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.<br />
1988 -Kuwait Hilton International Hotel, Kuwait.<br />
-"Platform International" Gallery, Washington,<br />
United States.<br />
1993 -"Shroder & Asseili" Gardens, London, England.<br />
1994 -The "Ashmoleum" museum in Oxford-England<br />
appropriated a sculpture of Alfred which is on permanent display.<br />
1998 -Abu Dhabi Cultural Center, Emirates<br />
Dubai Cultural Center, Emirates<br />
Oman Gallery, Oman.<br />
Throughout his life, Alfred won many awards including the "Prix de<br />
l'Orient" in Beirut in 1963 and the price of Biennale in Alexandria in<br />
1974.
In 1977, he got married to Marie<br />
Abi Saab with whom he has two<br />
children, Fadi and Zeina.<br />
Several galleries in his native<br />
country organized solo exhibitions<br />
of his works, which include:<br />
"Salle du Quotidien l'Orient"<br />
(1962), Gallery One (1963),<br />
Excelsior Hotel (1965), Phoenicia<br />
Gallery (1966), Amateur Gallery<br />
(1967), gardens of the Modern<br />
institute in Fanar (1967), Excelsior<br />
Hotel (1970), Contact Gallery<br />
(1972), Damo Gallery (1979),<br />
Gallery One (1982), gardens of<br />
Halate Sur Mer (1984), ELCIR<br />
Gallery (1984), Rimal La Toile<br />
Gallery (1985), SNA Tabaris (1996),<br />
Surface Libre Gallery (2005).<br />
the Municipality of Rayfoun, the<br />
Port of Beirut, Jdeit el Metn,<br />
Tabarja Beach, "House of the<br />
Future", the Municipality of<br />
Antelias, the Municipality of Zouk<br />
Mkayel, gardens of Halate Sur Mer,<br />
the Municipality of Tannourine.<br />
When his brother Michel passed<br />
away in 1981, Alfred Basbous<br />
collaborated with his younger<br />
brother Youssef to promote<br />
Rachana and cultivate the family<br />
heritage.<br />
From 1994 to 2004, Alfred<br />
organized the International<br />
Symposium of Sculpture in<br />
Rachana, where famous sculptors<br />
from around the world were invited<br />
to create, sculpt and exhibit their<br />
works with those of Basbous, at the<br />
sight of tourists and <strong>art</strong> lovers.<br />
The monumental works of Alfred<br />
Basbous are present in the public<br />
areas of Beirut and many<br />
Lebanese cities, acquired by<br />
municipalities and private projects,<br />
such as the Municipality of Zahle,<br />
In 1994 he was awarded the<br />
"Medal of the National Order of<br />
Cedar, order of Knight" by the<br />
President of the Lebanese Republic.
In 1998, he founded and chaired the "International Sculpture Park of<br />
Rachana" which included 72 sculptures by <strong>art</strong>ists who p<strong>art</strong>icipated in<br />
the Symposium of Rachana.<br />
In 2004, the President of the Lebanese Republic decorated him with the<br />
"National Medal of the Order of the Cedar, Officer<br />
Order ." ط When he died in 2006, the President of the Lebanese Republic, in order<br />
to honor him, awarded him the "Medal of the Lebanese Order of Merit<br />
in Gold."<br />
The works of Alfred Basbous are p<strong>art</strong> of the permanent family<br />
exhibition in Rachana, Lebanon, like those of Michael and Joseph<br />
Babous.
Marcos Grigorian<br />
21
Marcos Grigorian<br />
December 5, 1925 – August 27,<br />
2007 was a notable Iranian-<br />
Armenian <strong>art</strong>ist<br />
and a pioneer of Iranian modern<br />
<strong>art</strong>.<br />
Biography<br />
Grigorian was born in Kropotkin,<br />
Russia, to an Armenian family<br />
from Kars who had fled that city<br />
to escape massacres when it was<br />
captured by Turkey in 1920.<br />
In 1930 the family moved from<br />
Kropotkin to Iran, living first in<br />
Tabriz, and then in Tehran. After<br />
finishing pre-university<br />
education in Iran, in 1950 he<br />
studied at the Accademia di Belle<br />
Arti in Rome. Graduating from<br />
there in 1954, he returned to Iran,<br />
opened the Galerie Esthétique, an<br />
important commercial gallery in<br />
Tehran. In 1958, under the<br />
auspices of the Ministry of Culture,<br />
he organized the first Tehran<br />
Biennial. Grigorian was also an<br />
influential teacher at the Fine Arts<br />
Academy, where he disseminated<br />
his enthusiasm for local popular<br />
culture, including coffee-house<br />
paintings, a type of folk <strong>art</strong> named<br />
after the locations in which they<br />
were often displayed.<br />
He lived in the 1960s in the United<br />
States first moving in 1962 to New<br />
York City, and then moved to<br />
Minneapolis to work at Minnetonka<br />
Center for the Arts. In Minneapolis<br />
he st<strong>art</strong>ed Universal Galleries which<br />
became an influential center for<br />
Iranian <strong>art</strong> in Minneapolis, and it<br />
existed at the same time along with<br />
a quickly growing Modern Iranian<br />
<strong>art</strong> collection that could be found at<br />
<strong>art</strong>ist Abby Weed Grey's home.Grey<br />
went on to later become an <strong>art</strong><br />
dealer and gallerist and specialized<br />
in Modern Iranian <strong>art</strong> with her large<br />
collection and influencing many<br />
<strong>art</strong>ists.<br />
In 1975 Grigorian helped organize<br />
the group of free painters and<br />
sculptors in Tehran and was one of<br />
its founder members. Artists<br />
Gholamhossein Nami, Massoud<br />
Arabshahi, Morteza Momayez, Mir<br />
Abdolrez Daryabeigi, and Faramarz<br />
Pilaram were amongst the other<br />
members of the group. As a<br />
modernist pop <strong>art</strong>ist Marcos<br />
Grigorian turned to ordinary<br />
objects and popular ethnic forms<br />
and approaches.
He used ethnic food such as "Nan<br />
Sangak" and "Abghousht"<br />
to evoke authenticity in his work.<br />
Grigorian was a trend setter in<br />
experimenting with E<strong>art</strong>h Art, in<br />
Iran.<br />
Grigorian eventually moved to<br />
Yerevan, Armenia<br />
(which was then still a republic of<br />
the Soviet Union). In 1989, he<br />
traveled to Russia at the invitation<br />
of the Union of Russian Artists,<br />
visiting Moscow and Leningrad.<br />
He exhibited his clay and straw<br />
works in Yerevan in 1991. He later<br />
donated 5,000 of his <strong>art</strong>works to<br />
the government of Armenia. In<br />
1993 he founded the "Museum of<br />
the Middle East" in Yerevan: 2,600<br />
exhibits are on display,<br />
with most of them coming from<br />
his own collection.<br />
Some of his works are now on<br />
display at the Museum of Modern<br />
Art in New York City, the Tehran<br />
Museum of Contemporary Art, the<br />
Museum of Contemporary Art in<br />
Kerman, and the National Gallery of<br />
Armenia.<br />
On 4 August 2007 Grigorian was<br />
assaulted and beaten about the<br />
head by two masked robbers who<br />
had broken into his Yerevan home.<br />
It was speculated that the robbers<br />
believed, erroneously, that there<br />
was a large sum of money in the<br />
house, proceeds from the sale of<br />
Grigorian's summer residence in<br />
Garni. After an anonymous phone<br />
call to police, Grigorian was<br />
discovered injured and taken to<br />
hospital. He died of a suspected<br />
he<strong>art</strong> attack on 27 August 2007, a<br />
day after leaving the hospital
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