MANSOUR GHANDRIZ | Untitled

Collection of the artist, Tehran
Private Collection, Tehran (acquired from the above by the previous owner)                 
Private collection, London (acquired from the above in 1974 through Kamran Diba)

Condition: This work is in good condition. There is some very faint craquelure across the left and right corner edges. There are some signs of restoration under UV light across the upper right section of the painting and lower centre, most likely due to past water marks, all in line with the age of the painting and visible when viewed under the UV light. Colour: The catalogue illustration is accurate; although it fails to convey the pastel green background in the original work. The overall hues in the original work are less yellow and the pinks and purples tend towards a stronger brown and blue hue.
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“His heart always beat for that hidden gem in the clouds, and this longing, this search left its mark on all his canvasses. The rainbow with its full spectrum of seven colours is the showcase for the fleeting aesthetic desired by the artist.  If touching the rainbow was an impossibility for Ghandriz, it was from these very attempts at reaching it that give birth to his art, and always, art triumphs over death.” 
Karim Emami cited in: Exh. Cat., Tehran, Galerie Borghese, April 1966. Mansoor Ghandriz died at an early age, but in his short life came to be recognized as a leading artist who left an indelible mark on the modernist art movement in Iran. Ghandriz’s name is associated with a fruitful and productive lifespan that left an enduring legacy. His talent permeated a range of works that continue to appeal to and enthrall viewers, just as they informed and shaped the works of many ensuing artists of that period. Mansoor Ghandriz was born in 1935 in Tabriz, and died on 26 February 1966.  While still in high school, Ghandriz was drawn to the progressive realist paintings of Ilya Repin (1844–1930) and the Russian-Armenian seascape artist Ivan Aivazovsky (1817–1900). Later in college, and before turning to a paradigmatic exhortation of modernist language within local Iranian narrative in developing his own semi-abstract style, he was introduced to European modernism, where he delved into the tradition of Russian realists and European classical and figurative art. Incorporating the figurative techniques of old masters, he created his own figural abstraction, which also indicated a process of gradual formalization, progressing from free forms to a framework of order. Matisse, Picasso, and Persian miniature paintings were behind the inspirations for Ghandriz's early figurative work. He chose, as a critic commented, "mystical symbols to combine traditional and modern elements into his abstract designs."

He was one of the founders of the Saqqakhaneh School and became known as one of the leading figures associated with this movement. Ghandriz went through a process of academic experimentation as well as imitation of Impressionism and Post-Impressionism for a very short period. Although he paid attention to figurative works at the beginning, he gradually started drawing contour lines to separate the forms from the background. It could be said that a transition from past experience to reach this type of expressive output is a result of Ghandriz living in Tabriz, where he was inspired both by Persian painting and works of Henri Matisse. Flat, bright, colored planes as well as soft lines are distinct features of the oeuvre. A mythological approach and enigmatic subjects gradually found their way into his work. As Ghandriz shared the preoccupations of other Saqqakhaneh painters, early repeated patterns appeared in his work, but his painting rarely became pure abstraction. He always emphasized a spiritual quality, based on aesthetic values of traditional Iranian illustration, thus avoiding pure formalism.

Ghandriz and Morteza Momayyez played pivotal roles in the establishment of Talar-e Iran (Iran Gallery), which was founded in 1964, in collaboration with Sadeq Tabrizi, Faramarz Pilaram, and Masoud Arabshahi. The establishment of Talar-e Iran would have never been possible if it wasn’t for Momayyez, and the four-member group would have never joined the students at Tehran University if it wasn’t for Ghandriz. They organized one major exhibition at the space and later another show of several avant-garde artists including Sohrab Sepehri, Bijan Saffari, Marcos Grigorian, Parviz Tanavoli and Manuchehr Sheybani. After the first exhibition at Talar-e Iran, however, the group separated. After the untimely death of Ghandriz at the age of thirty, Talar-e Iran was re-named as Talar-e Ghandriz. The ten-year span of Ghandriz’s career coincided with the opening of the Tehran Biennials which, inspired by the Venice Biennale and supported by the Ministry of Culture, were organized in an attempt to promote contemporary arts, focusing on Persian heritage and civilization. Mansour Ghandriz exhibited extensively at several exhibitions, including the 3rd, 4th and 5th Tehran Biennials, The Collection of Modern Iranian Art, which toured the United States and Israel, the São Paulo Art Biennial, and The Iranian Contemporary Art Exhibition in Paris.

Ghandriz was among the first group of Iranian artists who focused on mythical motifs, tribal textile designs, and metalwork. In his various artistic efforts, he attempted to offer a modern language “to elaborate and define a truly Iranian style”. Imaginary elements and heavenly figures, reminiscent of spiritual quests, are characteristics of Qandriz’s early paintings. Although he started with nature scenes, his visual language was based in the visceral world. He inclined towards pure forms and a combination of imagery featuring pastoral scenes. Karim Emami once commented, “The evolution of Ghandriz’s work over the years could be described as one of absolute freedom from discipline. We are witnesses to his early ambitious endeavors. His brush knew no boundaries at this stage. A mythical world with no civilization, as it was initially created, as well as fluid dreams, all occupied the mind of this ambitious artist for some time.

In this work from 1959 which Sotheby’s is proud to present, we see the influence of miniature painting and mythical story-telling, as well as the interest in tribal settings alongside its textile and patterns. There is the freedom from constraints of realism, conveying above all the emotive power of the composition – typical of his earlier period before he experimented with the visual vocabulary of folkloric language. For him, it was imperative that an artist should know his heritage and cultural legacy before setting brush to paper. In this unequivocally Persian composition, Ghandriz points to the hunter’s story and brings to it a certain poignancy as well as a primitive expressiveness that harks to more traditional Persian painting.