T he 20th Century Art / Middle East sale (20- 27 October) will feature a stunning selection of works from the most sought after artists from the modern era to the contemporary period. We are thrilled to present a carefully selected and diverse cohort of masterworks from the region, including works by formidable Iranian Masters, dynamic and exciting artists from the GCC, as well as powerful artistic voices from North Africa and the wider Middle East.
This sale offers a number of beautiful modern masterworks, including those by Monir Farmanfarmaian, Bahman Mohasses and Manoucher Yektai.
The inclusion of thirteen works from The Azari Collection make this offering of Iranian modern art one of our most exciting in recent years.
With a powerful vision and relentless dedication to collecting Sheila and Eric Azari played an invaluable role in the trajectory of the Iranian Modern Art movement.
Having met at university in Berkeley, California, Eric and Sheila moved to Tehran in 1959, remaining there for five years and becoming heavily steeped in the discovery of Iran’s heritage and past. Their home, covered wall to wall with art, became a salon where artists, socialites and foreign dignitaries would mingle, share ideas and talk freely. On their return to Los Angeles, the Azaris succeeded in bringing ancient Persian folklore to Hollywood, hosting events to benefit LACMA (Los Angeles County Museum of Art) and creating a synergy between the artists.
The ‘neo-traditional’ Saqqakaneh group was formed during this time, establishing a modernist approach to a national artistic identity that combined folkloric and religious idioms of their country within a forward looking, progressive movement.
Among these works are a zen-like, abstract watercolour by Sohrab Sepheri (est. £8,000-12,000), a spiritual metallic work on paper by Faramarz Pilaram (est. £60,000-80,000) alongside two pieces by Massoud Arabshahi (est. £12,000-18,000 and £6,000-8,000 respectively).
Two of the artists have never appeared at auction, their works largely unknown to the public until now: Hassan Ghaemi and Fereydoun Rahimi-Assa. Ghaemi was a raw, self-taught talent, who picked up a brush aged nine and never looked back, his mysterious trajectory feeding into his modern aesthetic narrative. Drawing on the traditional craft of his hometown in the Caspian region with a poet’s sensibility, his works seamlessly bring together the decorative design of woven rugs, the patterns of tiles in mosques and the colours of traditional dresses. Rahimi-Assa too drew on memory in his vivid canvases, but blended his Persian heritage with the influence of contemporary American society and secular themes.
We are proud to present seven works by artists from the GCC, three of whom are formidable women artists. We also include a painting by modern Saudi master, Abdulrahman Al Soliman. Timely and exciting is the news that Mohammed Ahmed Ibrahim has just been chosen to represent the UAE at the Venice Biennial in 2022 – we include three outstanding works in our sale.
Between the 1950s and 1960s the creative output in North Africa was significant; the caliber of artistic talent was sizable, diverse and united by an overarching sentiment that called for the reclaiming of a national narrative. The majority of countries in the region were historically rooted in a Euro-colonialist past, with traces of this influence still very much present today. These artists, many of whom we present in this sale, were striving to create a new vernacular and take ownership of their own cultural and artistic discourse. This in turn became an extension of the search to articulate and define a new sense of self-identity – one that shed the constraints or influences of their colonial histories. Through different styles, mediums and compositions these works all share the same thematic explorations.
We are proud to present one of our finest selections, to date, of Palestinian art at Sotheby’s, and are privileged to be able to bring together an important group of artists and some of their most significant works to auction. This grouping of works is a reflection of the depth of Palestinian art and the continual importance of articulating identity and self-expression.
