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Lot Essay
Iranian poet and painter, Sohrab Sepehri, was a pioneer in exploring the aspects of the art of modernity. Born in 1928 in Kashan, Sepehri spent his childhood in the gardens of his family home, the memories of which permeate through his paintings and poetry. Melding folklore with abstract expressionism, Western with Eastern concepts, he sees everything in the world as equals. In the summer of 1948, he met the poet and painter Manučehr Šeybāni (1923-1991) who had a pivotal impact on Sepehri, ultimately inducing the artist to quit his job and enroll at Tehran University’s Faculty of Fine Arts. Manučehr introduced him to the works of Van Gogh (1853-1890) and Nimā Yušij (1897-1960). The latter was one of the frst Iranian poets to successfully break the boundaries of traditional imagery imbedded in Iranian poetry.
Learning about all these diferent Iranian poets and artists, and even making friends with many of them, allowed Sepehri to expand his practice beyond the limitations of classical prosody. Between 1950 and 1960, Sepheri published multiple books including translations of foreign poetry as well as some of his own. In 1960, he made a brief voyage to Japan to expand his knowledge on lithography and woodblock printing. Soon thereafter, he traveled to India to learn about Buddhism, and to Paris to study further the technique of lithographs. Sepehri combined the minimalist approach of Japanese prints and characteristic of Buddhism, with Western modernity, therefore achieving a ‘layered sensibility’ through his abstract compositions. In 1964, he embarked on an expedition to India, Pakistan and Afghanistan to research and understand diferent elements of their culture in view of applying them to his work.
Furthermore, his muted palette and uninterrupted brushwork echo Zen philosophy that so influenced him in both his poetry and paintings. Beyond this, his work shows his great admiration and humility toward nature. He was said to be a gentle, tranquil, and curiously delicate introvert, qualities that could be also attributed to his paintings. He always had a touch of sensibility even in his most explosive paintings, as depicted through the present lot dating from the 1970s. In this delightful masterpiece in which the trees are simply suggested and the palette is unconventionally vibrant for the artist, Sepehri invites the audience to explore the dynamics between the divine and the natural. To him, trees represented benevolence in a world polluted with malevolence. Their trunks served as representations of ample forte: ‘His fascination in depicting sections of the trunk, rather than the entirety of the tree, was intentional and draws on Taoist principle of absolute truth. In his works, it is the imagery that is not depicted which alludes to the mystery of a unifed cosmos while refecting the limits of our perception’.
Learning about all these diferent Iranian poets and artists, and even making friends with many of them, allowed Sepehri to expand his practice beyond the limitations of classical prosody. Between 1950 and 1960, Sepheri published multiple books including translations of foreign poetry as well as some of his own. In 1960, he made a brief voyage to Japan to expand his knowledge on lithography and woodblock printing. Soon thereafter, he traveled to India to learn about Buddhism, and to Paris to study further the technique of lithographs. Sepehri combined the minimalist approach of Japanese prints and characteristic of Buddhism, with Western modernity, therefore achieving a ‘layered sensibility’ through his abstract compositions. In 1964, he embarked on an expedition to India, Pakistan and Afghanistan to research and understand diferent elements of their culture in view of applying them to his work.
Furthermore, his muted palette and uninterrupted brushwork echo Zen philosophy that so influenced him in both his poetry and paintings. Beyond this, his work shows his great admiration and humility toward nature. He was said to be a gentle, tranquil, and curiously delicate introvert, qualities that could be also attributed to his paintings. He always had a touch of sensibility even in his most explosive paintings, as depicted through the present lot dating from the 1970s. In this delightful masterpiece in which the trees are simply suggested and the palette is unconventionally vibrant for the artist, Sepehri invites the audience to explore the dynamics between the divine and the natural. To him, trees represented benevolence in a world polluted with malevolence. Their trunks served as representations of ample forte: ‘His fascination in depicting sections of the trunk, rather than the entirety of the tree, was intentional and draws on Taoist principle of absolute truth. In his works, it is the imagery that is not depicted which alludes to the mystery of a unifed cosmos while refecting the limits of our perception’.