Charles Hossein Zenderoudi

Collection Michel Tapié de Céleyran, Paris (acquired directly from the artist in 1970)
Acquired directly from the above by the previous owner in 1984
Sale: Sotheby's, London, Contemporary Art / Arab and Iranian, October 04, 2011, lot 35
Acquired directly from above by the present owner 

Condition: This work is in a very good condition. Some very light scuffs alongside the corner edges. Some varnish remains are noticeable across the canvas, all inherent to the artist's choice of medium. The canvas is slightly slack towards the center-right section with some very faint hairline craquelure. No signs of restoration under the UV light. Colour: The colour in the catalogue illustration is accurate, with the overall whites tending towards an ivory white.
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

Charles Hossein Zenderoudi and Michel Tapié first made their acquaintance in the early 1970s at the renowned Stadler Gallery, Paris. Tapié was a renowned art critic, curator, and collector, active internationally. Heavily involved in avant garde European, Japanese and American art, he was an original and influential theorist and practitioner of Tachisme, a name given to describe the European equivalent of Abstract Expressionism in the United States. Tapié, a significant figure in the defining of a tendency within post-war European painting to promote a radical break with all traditional notions of composition, including those of Modernism, it was Zenderoudi’s work that opened Tapié’s eyes to a whole new appreciation for the Iranian avant-garde. 

In the present work, originally part of Tapié’s collection, Zenderoudi offers an intricate black and white composition, the plastic characteristics of the abstract forms, fading and losing their original meaning with a revolutionary gestural. His use of forms is altered as shapes takes precedence over meaning so that the carefully formed words assume a purely aesthetic and structural value, devoid of their literal meaning. This propels the work to a new universality within a contemporary context. Here, the symbols are arranged into a pulsating rhythm; commas, bows, and interlacing, interwoven lines are arranged into an orderly pattern, undulating like stormy ocean waves, removing all form of alphabetic letters or identifiable nouns, he obliterated the fact that a letter or a term acts as an echo in relation to a way of thinking attached to a cultural given. Lalm + Lalm amongst other works from the 1970s gave rise to a renewed, increasingly technical, cryptic form in Zenderoudi’s oeuvre. Rhythm pulsing across the composition which retains equilibrium, the current work is a leading example of this extraordinary artist’s practice of “controlled vehemence” from this period.