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Lot Essay
With his works often described as poetry in bronze, Iranian master Parviz Tanavoli is as much a poet as he is a sculptor. He uses his sculptures to represent subtle mystic and enchanting undertones, materialising his appreciation of poetry and architecture into solid forms, marrying together his two true ideas of perfection. Some of the major themes of Tanavoli's works include poets and prophets that have been created since the early 1960s. The celebrated Persian poets such as Rumi, Hafiz, Omar Khayyam and Saadi were the greatest exponents of Sufism and mysticism in which the love for human beings represent the love for God. Tanavoli's sculptures express the presence of God through symbol and metaphor. The creation of Tanavoli's sculptures represents an unveiling of his emotions and ideas, while also hiding these emotions behind abstraction. As such, poets have become an important theme of Tanavoli's works that exemplify this sense of the free soul whereby he strongly believes he is in fact the Poet or Farhad the Mountain Carver who he often references in his works.
Among Tanavoli's creations, the most emotional are the series where a human-like figure carries what appears to be a dead and limp body of another smaller human-like figure with his hands. This image has reappeared in many variations throughout Tanavoli's artistic career, and is perhaps the most personal, if not autobiographical, motif in his works. These works are often called Poet and the Beloved or I Want My Beloved, a reference to a lover who has passed away. In several literary references, the present work is often entitled Oh Heech, Oh Darling, however in more recent references it has been entitled The Poet and Heech.
The motif of Heech embodies many definitions in Tanavoli's work; literally meaning 'nothing' it reflects the feelings of unworthiness, frustration and ineffectiveness which haunt modern man and renders in a single word the mystical belief that recognises that God is permanent, while everything else has no true substance, bound to vanish. In several sculptures of the series to which the present work belongs, Tanavoli uses the Heech to replace the body of his beloved.
In The Poet and Heech, Tanavoli incorporates many characteristics of his oeuvre namely that reference the Saqqakhaneh movement which he established. The word saqqakhaneh refers to traditional public watering fountains that are considered hallow ground and the cage form that Tanavoli has mastered emulates their shape. In the present work, Tanavoli references these fountains and scripts within the character of the Poet's head and body.
The horn-like form of hands entered Tanavoli's work during early 1960s. In The Poet and Heech they are ends of two round bars that move along the back of the torso of the main figure, the other ends are seen on top of the head and create the image of two mournful eyes. The Heech or Beloved dramatically emerges from a hollow space within the stomach of the main body, in a manner that is unique to this particular piece. This intertwined positioning exemplifies its belonging Poet's body, almost as if it is its offspring in a way that manages to render this work one of Tanavoli's most impressive and tragic pieces that dramatises deep sentiments for a great loss.
Among Tanavoli's creations, the most emotional are the series where a human-like figure carries what appears to be a dead and limp body of another smaller human-like figure with his hands. This image has reappeared in many variations throughout Tanavoli's artistic career, and is perhaps the most personal, if not autobiographical, motif in his works. These works are often called Poet and the Beloved or I Want My Beloved, a reference to a lover who has passed away. In several literary references, the present work is often entitled Oh Heech, Oh Darling, however in more recent references it has been entitled The Poet and Heech.
The motif of Heech embodies many definitions in Tanavoli's work; literally meaning 'nothing' it reflects the feelings of unworthiness, frustration and ineffectiveness which haunt modern man and renders in a single word the mystical belief that recognises that God is permanent, while everything else has no true substance, bound to vanish. In several sculptures of the series to which the present work belongs, Tanavoli uses the Heech to replace the body of his beloved.
In The Poet and Heech, Tanavoli incorporates many characteristics of his oeuvre namely that reference the Saqqakhaneh movement which he established. The word saqqakhaneh refers to traditional public watering fountains that are considered hallow ground and the cage form that Tanavoli has mastered emulates their shape. In the present work, Tanavoli references these fountains and scripts within the character of the Poet's head and body.
The horn-like form of hands entered Tanavoli's work during early 1960s. In The Poet and Heech they are ends of two round bars that move along the back of the torso of the main figure, the other ends are seen on top of the head and create the image of two mournful eyes. The Heech or Beloved dramatically emerges from a hollow space within the stomach of the main body, in a manner that is unique to this particular piece. This intertwined positioning exemplifies its belonging Poet's body, almost as if it is its offspring in a way that manages to render this work one of Tanavoli's most impressive and tragic pieces that dramatises deep sentiments for a great loss.