The Wall and the Script I

Details

Parviz Tanavoli (Iranian, b. 1937)
The Wall and the Script I
incised with the artist's signature, date and number 'Parviz, 05, 2/6' (on the lower left of the base)
polished bronze
25 7/8 x 16 3/8 x 7in. (65.8 x 41.5 x 18cm.)
Executed in 2005, this work is number two from an edition of six

Provenance

Acquired directly from the artist by the present owner.

Literature

C. Pocock (ed.), Parviz Tanavoli Monograph, Dubai 2010 (another from the edition illustrated in colour, p. 345).

Exhibited

Vancouver, Elliot Louis Gallery, Parviz Tanavoli: Recent Bronzes, 2006 (another from the edition exhibited).
Dubai, Meem Gallery, Parviz Tanavoli and Abbas Kiarostami, 2009-2010 (another from the edition exhibited).

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Lot Essay

'The first wall had to be built in commemoration of Farhad the Mountain Carver... Aside from Farhad being my predecessor in sculpture, he was the only sculptor who never made sculpture - or, at any rate, left any to posterity. All of this prompted me to build a glorious wall in his honour, with a tomb-like grillwork cage in the middle, with Farhad himself in the cage... All I needed to add to the work of these artists was Farhad's chest, which I would have to make broad enough to house a nightingale. Next, I had to portray the nightingale's silence as Farhad's mourning, which led me to hang a lock from his beak. Finally, I covered the wall containing Farhad with written eulogies to the master.'
(The artist, quoted in C. Pocock, Parviz Tanavoli Monograph, Dubai 2010, p. 93).

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