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The powerful compositions of the Iranian artist Ardeshir Mohasses have hailed him to become the country’s leading caricaturist and graphic artist within Iran’s modern art history. Christie’s is excited to present a pair of abstract works painted by Mohasses from his later and matured stages of his life, given to the present owner in New York, where the artist had been living since 1977. Apart from his cartoons, his abstract paintings further showcase the breadth and complexity of the artist’s oeuvre, defining a man of psychological and artistic complexities, not far from his brother and pioneer Bahman Mohasses, as he exposes the bitter truths of Iran through humor.

Painted in the early 1990s, the two compositions represent a major shift in Mohasses’ style, shifting away from miniature illustrations and caricatures to large, abstracted landscapes with a bold emphasis of color and line. The works share a sensation of warmth and solace following a period of terrible economic and political turbulence in Iran. The solid forms of red and yellow, contrasted by the deep and darkened hues that surround the landscape, provide a powerful insight into Mohasses’ state of mind at this point in his life.