Youssof Kohzad (

Dari Dari (; endonym: ), Dari Persian (, , or , ), or Eastern Persian is the variety of the Persian language spoken in Afghanistan. Dari is the Afghan government's official term for the Persian language;Lazard, G.Darī – The New Persian ...

: يوسف كهزاد; also spelled Youssef Kohzad; 1935–2019) was an

Afghan Afghan or Afgan may refer to: Related to Afghanistan *Afghans, historically refers to the Pashtun people. It is both an ethnicity and nationality. Ethnicity wise, it refers to the Pashtuns. In modern terms, it means both the citizens of Afghanist ...

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painter Painting is a Visual arts, visual art, which is characterized by the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a solid surface (called "matrix" or "Support (art), support"). The medium is commonly applied to the base with ...

playwright A playwright or dramatist is a person who writes play (theatre), plays, which are a form of drama that primarily consists of dialogue between Character (arts), characters and is intended for Theatre, theatrical performance rather than just Readin ...

artist An artist is a person engaged in an activity related to creating art, practicing the arts, or demonstrating the work of art. The most common usage (in both everyday speech and academic discourse) refers to a practitioner in the visual arts o ...

poet A poet is a person who studies and creates poetry. Poets may describe themselves as such or be described as such by others. A poet may simply be the creator (thought, thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems (oral t ...

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, and art consultant. He was an ethnic Tajik who immigrated to the United States in 2000. He was married to Zakia Kohzad and resided in

Tracy, California Tracy is the second most populated city in San Joaquin County, California, San Joaquin County, California, United States. The population was 93,000 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. Tracy is located inside a geographic triangle form ...

, until his death in 2019.

Background

Youssef Kohzad was born in 1935 in the Chendawol district of

Kabul Kabul is the capital and largest city of Afghanistan. Located in the eastern half of the country, it is also a municipality, forming part of the Kabul Province. The city is divided for administration into #Districts, 22 municipal districts. A ...

, Afghanistan. During his high school years, he wrote plays and created artwork for Kabul Theater. Kohzad graduated from Nejat (Amani) High School in Kabul in 1953. He finished his formal art education from the Academy of Art in

Rome, Italy Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...

in 1965. After returning from Italy, he traveled to the former

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India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

, and former

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to exhibit his art along with other contemporary Afghan artists. Many of his works are showcased in the Middle Eastern Studies museums in

Moscow Moscow is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Russia by population, largest city of Russia, standing on the Moskva (river), Moskva River in Central Russia. It has a population estimated at over 13 million residents with ...

. From 1966-1969 he held executive positions in the Ministry of Media and Culture, in which he was the head of the Fine Arts Department. In 1971, he became the art consultant of Kabul Theater. He wrote eight dramas and all were played on stage. In many of the plays, he played the lead role. In 1975, he returned to the Ministry of Media and Culture and held the position of president of the ministry until 1992. In 1976, he founded the National Gallery in Kabul, which included 700 paintings, and some work dating back a hundred years. Unfortunately, out of the 700 works of art, only 30 remain today. From 1992 until August 2000, Kohzad became a

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along with his family and was forced to immigrate to India. In August 2000, he moved to the United States, settling in Tracy, California. His first art exhibit in the United States was held in August 2001 in

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. Kohzad died on 1 February 2019 at his home in Tracy.

Education

* 1965: Academy of Art (Rome, Italy)

Online Poems

*Black Pearls

Works

* '' List of Afghan films, Mojasema Ha May Khandand (1975)'' as an actor *''Aspects of Beauty in Art'' *''Kohzad: A collection of Poetry'' *''When God Created Beauty''

References

*CBS Radio Network. ''Afghan Art in Exile.'' February 4, 2002. *Youssef Kohzad Profile

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kohzad, Youssof 1935 births 2019 deaths Afghan male actors Afghan expatriates in India Afghan expatriates in Italy Afghan emigrants to the United States Afghan novelists 20th-century Afghan poets Tajik poets 20th-century Persian-language writers Entertainers from Kabul Writers from Kabul 20th-century Afghan male actors Afghan refugees 20th-century Afghan writers 21st-century Afghan writers