Ali Akbar Sadeghi
“The embodiment of a century” One Hundred Years of Visual Arts of Iran
(Part Two)
Image sources: Selected works of Ali Akbar Sadeghi, 1377.
Review of the works and life of Ali Akbar Sadeghi, 1396.
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 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
Ali Akbar Sadeghi is one of Iran’s distinguished artists, creating important and enduring works of art. He has continuously and tirelessly dedicated himself to his work and activities. He is the creator of some of the most Iranian paintings in contemporary Iranian art. As an artist, he has utilized the infrastructure of Iranian images to create images for children, adolescents, as well as philosophical, thoughtful, and social works.
Ali Akbar Sadeghi, a painter, animator, illustrator, graphic designer, sculptor, and gallery owner, was born on November 23, 1937, in Tehran. In 1938, he attended the Jam-e Gholhak Elementary School, which was built based on European educational models. This school was a place of education for some important cultural and artistic figures of Iran, such as Aidin Aghdashloo, Ali Golshan, Abbas Kiarostami, Faridoun Gole, and Bahman Farzaneh.
In 1957, he went to Tehran College of Fine Arts. His studies at the university lasted for 12 years. The reason for this lengthy period was his exemption from military service. However, he eventually graduated from university in 1969 and went to military service.
In 1965, when he was 28 years old, the Pardis Parvaz Cultural Center was established, which attracted many young people to create literary and artistic ideas in those years. In 1970, while serving his military service, he was invited by Abbas Kiarostami to illustrate the book “Pahlavan Pahlavanan” for the Pardis Center. This book received the Best Book Illustration Award in Asia that year, which was a special success for him.
Sadeghi illustrated 16 books during his seven years at the center, which are considered among the most important works in the history of Iranian illustration. In the same year, the animation section of the center was established. Artists such as Arapik Baghdassarian, Farshid Mesghali, Morteza Momayez, Nuraldin Zarrinkelk, and Ali Akbar Sadeghi created animations at the center. Sadeghi’s first animated film, “Haft Shahre,” was made in 1971 at the center. Until 1977, he made five more animations at the center, which received numerous international awards. His animations, like his paintings and illustrations, are influenced by Iranian paintings, miniatures, coffeehouse paintings, and lithographs. Seeing coffeehouse paintings installed in shops during his childhood and reading lithograph books at home had a great influence on him. The influence of these narrative and epic paintings can be seen in his busy and character-filled works. Whether in his paintings, animations, or illustrations for children’s books, he clearly demonstrates this influence. Another artist who has extensively used Iranian motifs in his works is Ardeshir Mohasses. Ardeshir, one year younger than Sadeghi, was born in 1938 in Rasht. He was greatly influenced by the paintings of Sani ol-Molk, lithographs, and Qajar photographs, and because of this attention to Iranian motifs, he became famous on the world stage.
In 1967, Rudaki Hall began its activities, and Sadeghi painted some glass or vitreous paintings for this hall. In the same year, he founded his own gallery, called Vitray Gallery, opposite Sa’ei Park on Valiasr Street. In 1977, he changed its name to the Green Gallery, and in 1989, he officially and professionally started displaying the works of important Iranian artists in the gallery.
In some of his works, Sadeghi portrays humans as lone warriors amidst abandoned, nested, and silent expanses. Sadeghi’s surrealist works reflect his philosophical view of life and death. In some of his works, using a playful and humorous approach, he portrays the most serious issues of human life, and while addressing questions about them, he also tackles life and death. War and peace, beauty and ugliness, old age and youth, loneliness and community, abundance and solitude are the two different sides of life that are well reflected in his works.
Ali Akbar Sadeghi’s paintings are works from the heart of the history of Iranian art that connect us to the glorious visual past of the land of Iran, so that the visual traditions of Iranians are not forgotten in the heart of modernism. Like the characters in his paintings, Ali Akbar Sadeghi is constantly at work. He can be seen throughout his paintings as he moves and fights, like an indefatigable knight, swinging his pen sword in the air, bringing down the darkness of oblivion and forgetfulness.
