Ahmad Esfandiari (; May 22, 1922 – March 19, 2012) was an Iranian painter and teacher. He is a pioneer of modern Iranian painting.

Early life and education

Ahmad Esfandiari was born on May 22, 1922, in Tehran. He father was , a

Kerman Kerman (; ) is a city in the Central District (Kerman County), Central District of Kerman County, Kerman province, Kerman province, Iran, serving as capital of the province, the county, and the district. History Kerman was founded as a def ...

statesmen during the

Qajar The Guarded Domains of Iran, alternatively the Sublime State of Iran and commonly called Qajar Iran, Qajar Persia or the Qajar Empire, was the Iranian state under the rule of the Qajar dynasty, which was of Turkic origin,Cyrus Ghani. ''Iran an ...

and

Pahlavi era The Imperial State of Iran, officially known as the Imperial State of Persia until 1935, and commonly referred to as Pahlavi Iran, was the Iranian state under the rule of the Pahlavi dynasty. The Pahlavi dynasty was created in 1925 and lasted ...

s, and he was born into the Persian noble Esfandiari family whom originated from the

Mazandaran province Mazandaran Province (; ) is one of the 31 provinces of Iran. Its capital is the city of Sari. Located along the southern coast of the Caspian Sea and in the adjacent Central Alborz mountain range and Hyrcanian forests, it is bordered clockw ...

. In childhood, he studied art under . Esfandiari graduated in 1947 with a B.A. degree from the

College of Fine Arts The School of Fine Arts or College of Fine Arts is the official name or part of the name of several schools of fine arts, often as an academic part of a larger university. These include: The Americas North America *Alabama School of Fin ...

at the University of Tehran.

Career

In the early 1950s, Esfandiari's artwork was influenced by

Impressionism Impressionism was a 19th-century art movement characterized by visible brush strokes, open Composition (visual arts), composition, emphasis on accurate depiction of light in its changing qualities (often accentuating the effects of the passage ...

. By the late 1950s, he shifted his work towards rhythmic line work, and by the 1960s he started working primarily with blue and green colors. His first showing of work was in a group exhibition at the Tehran Fine Arts Exhibition in 1946. In 1949, Esfandiari participated in the group exhibition of the Iran-France Cultural Association along with Hossein Kazemi, Mahmoud Javadipour, and Mehdi Vishkaei, and they collaborated in the founding of the first private gallery in Iran, the Apadana Gallery in Tehran. He participated in the first Tehran Biennial in 1955. Esfandiari worked for many years for the

Ministry of Education An education ministry is a national or subnational government agency politically responsible for education. Various other names are commonly used to identify such agencies, such as Ministry of Education, Department of Education, and Ministry of Pub ...

, teaching painting at a girls school until his retirement in 1975. During the

Iranian revolution The Iranian Revolution (, ), also known as the 1979 Revolution, or the Islamic Revolution of 1979 (, ) was a series of events that culminated in the overthrow of the Pahlavi dynasty in 1979. The revolution led to the replacement of the Impe ...

, and the subsequent

Iran–Iraq war The Iran–Iraq War, also known as the First Gulf War, was an armed conflict between Iran and Iraq that lasted from September 1980 to August 1988. Active hostilities began with the Iraqi invasion of Iran and lasted for nearly eight years, unti ...

years, he did not create many artworks. He continued painting afterwards, and up until his death. Esfandiari died at age 89 after an illness on March 19, 2012, in Tehran.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Esfandiari, Ahmad 1922 births 2012 deaths 20th-century Iranian painters 21st-century Iranian painters University of Tehran alumni Iranian modern painters