Ahmad Esfandiari
“The Embodiment of a Century”: One Hundred Years of Visual Arts of Iran
(Part Fifteen)
Image Source:
“Pioneers of Modern Iranian Art,” Ahmad Esfandiari, 2010
Writer and Director: Amir Soghrati
Research Assistant: Najwa Erfani
Motion Graphics: Masoud Talebani
Text Narrator: Amir Soghrati
Logo Design: Mohammad Fadaei
Editing: Mojtaba Fallahi
Project Manager: Harf-e Honar Studio
Producer: Institute for the Development of Contemporary Visual Arts
Supported by the General Directorate of Visual Arts, Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance, Islamic Republic of Iran
Ahmad Esfandiari, a prominent Iranian painter, was born on April 24, 1922, in Fakhrabad, at the Shahr-e Rey Gate of Tehran. Due to his Mazandarani ancestry, he was related to Ali Esfandiari, also known as Nima Yooshij. His mother was a student of Abolhasan Saba, and through his uncle’s friendship with Shariar, Ali Akbar Sanati, and Mohammad Ebrahim Bastani Parizi, he became interested in art early on. In 1941, he enrolled at the College of Fine Arts located on Mowlavi Street, Naser Khosrow, and studied alongside Lily Taghipour, Abdullah Ameri, and Mahmoud Javadipour.
Ahmad Esfandiari, Jalil Ziapour, Javad Hamidi, and Hossein Kazemi were among the first group of painting students to graduate from the College of Fine Arts in 1945. That same year, he exhibited his works along with Mahmoud Javadipour at the Iranian-French Cultural Association’s painting exhibition.
On February 5, 1946, the first Fine Arts Exhibition, organized by the Iranian-Soviet Cultural Relations Society, was held, showcasing the works of 125 Iranian artists including Hassan Ali Vaziri, Esmail Ashtiani, Abolhasan Seddighi, Hossein Behzad, Ali Rokhsaaz, Jamshid Amini, Javad Hamidi, Jalil Ziapour, Ali Karimi, Jafar Petgar, and Houshang Seyhoun. The following year, from June 25 to July 4, 1946, the first Congress of Iranian Writers was held by the Iranian-Soviet Cultural Relations Society, featuring speeches from 78 writers and poets. Alongside this congress, a second exhibition of Iranian painters’ works was held, in which Ahmad Esfandiari also participated. That same year, Ali Akbar Sanati held an exhibition in Toopkhaneh Square, which, due to overwhelming public interest, became a permanent museum of his works, now known as the Sanati Museum.
Esfandiari completed his six-year program at the College of Fine Arts in 1947, presenting his painting of the Officers’ Club as his final project.
In 1953, the Tehran School of Fine Arts was established, and Esfandiari, who had started teaching in 1948, began teaching at this school in 1955.
His works were displayed in five Tehran Biennials for Painting and Sculpture. In the first and second biennials, he participated with still life paintings, which were referred to as “object paintings” at the time.
From the third biennial onward, wavy lines and dynamic colors began to appear in his works. The simplified lines with colorful middles and the active, vibrant structure of his works became more prominent. The movement and dynamism of colors and lines in his works distinguished them from others, garnering critical acclaim.
Ahmad Esfandiari, Abdullah Ameri, and Mahmoud Javadipour, three contemporaries and university colleagues born in Tehran, focused in their paintings on the urban nature and life of the people of Tehran during the early period of Iranian modernism.
