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Lot Essay
Christie's is proud to offer the present work, a delicate composition by the acclaimed artist Sohrab Sepehri, a pioneer of Modern Iranian art equally famous for his poetry as well as his paintings.
A constant traveler, Sepehri, who was born in the Iranian city of Kashan in 1928, settled in Paris in 1957 and enrolled in the Académie des Beaux-Arts, dedicating his life to the arts. After a long journey across Western Europe, Sepehri travelled to Japan and it is in Tokyo in 1960 that he studied the techniques of wood engraving and lithography. He also developed his passion for Zen philosophy and the related art movements led by the Masters Sesshu Toyo and Hakuin Ekaku, thus taking his art towards a new direction. Inspired by the Far-Eastern traditional arts and by haiku in particular, Sohrab Sepehri depicted forms, either attenuated or broad, resembling calligraphy and are reminiscent of the misty landscapes of Japanese hand-painted scrolls, referencing Persian literary sources and fusing his many inspirations. As such, his compositions, with their soft brushstrokes and delicate palette of colours, are often minimal, in a timeless manner and resemble a meditative landscape that leaves space for the viewer's imagination.
In the present composition, an outstanding example from the late 1960s, early 1970s, of which a sketch has been published in a monograph of the artist by Pirouz Sayar, Sohrab Sepehri depicts a semi-abstract still-life with simplified geometric forms, rendered in a minimalist abstract expressionist style, earthy tones and rapidly drawn lines that undeniably reveal his Far-Eastern influences. Moreover, the sense of depth is defined by heavy black outlines rather than classical perspective, light or shadow. Within the composition, what appears like a mere abstraction of a flower pot becomes a reflection of the Taoist principle of inexpressibility of an absolute 'truth' that can only be suggested through elusive images and as such, there is a sense of aspiring silence and simplicity that embarks the viewer on a journey of contemplation and discovery.
A constant traveler, Sepehri, who was born in the Iranian city of Kashan in 1928, settled in Paris in 1957 and enrolled in the Académie des Beaux-Arts, dedicating his life to the arts. After a long journey across Western Europe, Sepehri travelled to Japan and it is in Tokyo in 1960 that he studied the techniques of wood engraving and lithography. He also developed his passion for Zen philosophy and the related art movements led by the Masters Sesshu Toyo and Hakuin Ekaku, thus taking his art towards a new direction. Inspired by the Far-Eastern traditional arts and by haiku in particular, Sohrab Sepehri depicted forms, either attenuated or broad, resembling calligraphy and are reminiscent of the misty landscapes of Japanese hand-painted scrolls, referencing Persian literary sources and fusing his many inspirations. As such, his compositions, with their soft brushstrokes and delicate palette of colours, are often minimal, in a timeless manner and resemble a meditative landscape that leaves space for the viewer's imagination.
In the present composition, an outstanding example from the late 1960s, early 1970s, of which a sketch has been published in a monograph of the artist by Pirouz Sayar, Sohrab Sepehri depicts a semi-abstract still-life with simplified geometric forms, rendered in a minimalist abstract expressionist style, earthy tones and rapidly drawn lines that undeniably reveal his Far-Eastern influences. Moreover, the sense of depth is defined by heavy black outlines rather than classical perspective, light or shadow. Within the composition, what appears like a mere abstraction of a flower pot becomes a reflection of the Taoist principle of inexpressibility of an absolute 'truth' that can only be suggested through elusive images and as such, there is a sense of aspiring silence and simplicity that embarks the viewer on a journey of contemplation and discovery.