Ebrahim Haghighi
“The Embodiment of a Century” – One Hundred Years of Visual Arts in Iran
(Part Twelve)
Image Source:
A Selection of Ibrahim Haghighi’s Works, 2013
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
Ebrahim Haghighi was born on October 4, 1949, in Tehran. His father, Hashem Haghighi, was a well-known and reputable photographer in Tehran, the owner of the Zahra Photography Studio on Lalehzar Street. Working alongside his father led Ebrahim to learn the basic techniques of photography and photo coloring, which eventually led him into the enchanting world of imagery.
In 1946, he graduated from Babak National High School in the field of mathematics. The following year, he was admitted to Pahlavi University in Shiraz to study chemistry. However, shortly after, upon being accepted into the architecture program through the university entrance exam, he began studying architecture at the University of Tehran’s Faculty of Fine Arts. He officially started working in the field of graphics from 1969.
In 1970, at the age of 21, he directed his first film, “Chah,” based on a story by Gholamhossein Saadi, at the Azad Cinema. He produced three more films at the Azad Cinema, which won numerous international awards.
In 1965, the Institute for the Intellectual Development of Children and Young Adults was established. Haghighi engaged in various activities within this new artistic space during the 1970s. He produced four documentary films and designed title sequences and illustrations for a children’s book series. He graduated with a master’s degree in architecture in 1976 and held his first solo exhibition in the same year. The following year, he established the Amir Kabir Publishing Graphic Studio and illustrated two books by Ahmad Shamlou, titled “Baroon” (Rain) and “Ghesseh Darvaze Bakht” (The Tale of the Fate Gate). His collaboration with Shamlou continued, and he worked on the layout and illustration of the important literary magazine, Jom’e. Prior to Haghighi, Alireza Espahbod held this position. His collaboration with prominent literary and intellectual journals continued after the revolution. During the 1980s and 1990s, he designed various covers for literary magazines of that era, such as Adineh and Donyaye Sokhan.
In 1984, he completed ten episodes of the animated television series “Ali Kuchulu,” produced by Hassan Tehrani, which remains one of the most memorable television programs for the post-Islamic Revolution generation. He was also involved in designing the set for the series “Sarbaha Daraan” and the set and costumes for the series “Soltan va Shahban.”
Haghighi, who designed titles and posters in his own unique style, also created calligraphic paintings on large canvases. He highlighted his multifaceted approach in his calligraphic paintings; we encounter a duality in his calligraphy, which Ebrahim Haghighi skillfully blends together: the link between tradition and modernism, graphic design and painting, literature and imagery.
Haghighi, with his experience in making documentary films, designing cinema posters, set and costume design, producing film and series titles, and designing logos for institutions, associations, festivals, companies, and cinema publications, has a very impressive artistic record. In 2018, he was honored as one of Iran’s cinema luminaries at the thirty-seventh Fajr Film Festival and received the Crystal Simorgh award. The same Simorgh he had designed 32 years earlier for the Fajr Film Festival.
Ebrahim Haghighi is a memory-making illustrator. For years, he has been creating images for our memories. In other words, the images he has created have become the visual identifiers and markers for recalling the cultural history of the past fifty years. Many of the images we grew up with, such as the covers of important books in our libraries, or cinema, music, and theater posters we went to see, or the title sequences of films and series we watched, are the products of his creativity and unique perspective. In fact, Ebrahim Haghighi’s images have become the visual components of remembering the cultural history of the last fifty years.
