BIOGRAPHY OF OSTAD MAHMUD FARSHCHIAN
Ostad Mahmud Farshchian was born in the city ofIsfahan in the year 1929. His father, a rug merchant, was an art aficionado who instilled a love for the arts in his son. Young Mahmud showed an interest in studying art quite early in life and studied under the tutelage of Haji Mirza-AghaEmami and isa Bahadori for several years. After receiving his diploma from the Isfahan High School for the Fine Arts,Farshchian left for Europe, where he studied the works of the great western masters. Consequently, he developed an innovative artistic style with universal appeal.
Upon his return to Iran, he began to work at the National institute of Fine Arts (which later became the Ministry of Art and Culture) and, in time, was appointed director of the Department of National Arts and professor at the University ofTehran’s School of Fine Arts. All the while, word of his exemplary works spread far and wide beyond national boarders. He has been exhibited in 57 individual shows and 86 group shows nationally and internationally. His works are represented in several museums and major collections. He has been awarded eleven prizes by various art institutes and cultural centers, and is loved and admired by critics and art lovers everywhere.
Farshchian is the founder of his own school in Iranian painting, which adheres to classical form while making use of new techniques to broaden the scope of Iranian painting. He has brought new life to this art form and has freed it from the symbiotic relationship it has historically had with poetry and literature, to give it an independence it had not previously enjoyed. His powerful and innovative paintings are dynamic, expansive and vibrant canvases with an appealing fusion of the traditional and the modern, which are constituents of his unique style of painting.
Ostad Farshchian has played a decisive role in introducing Iranian art to the international art scene. He has been invited to speak and exhibit at numerous universities and art institutes. There have been seven books and countless articles published about his work.
The new Museum devoted to the works of Ostad Mahmud Farshchian, which has been set up by the Cultural Heritage Foundation in the Sa’dabad Cultural Complex in Tehran, and was inaugurated In 2001, is another building where the artistic genius of our nation is on display as exemplified by the magnificent works of one accomplished master. It is a place which should be visited by all artists and art connoisseurs alike.
The design of the sanctified zarih (the box-like latticed enclosure which is placed on top of the tomb) in the shrine of the 8th Shiite lmam, Hazrat Ali ibnMus’ar-Riza, and his membership in the committee supervising the construction of this glorious memorial, is a privilege that this distinguished painter has the honor of counting among his distinctions.
