The Middle Eastern Art Sale organized by Bonhams was held on October 7 in London presenting modern and contemporary works from Muslim countries and India. Iranian artworks had a colorful presence with 34 creations from contemporary artists.
The late Iranian poet and painter Sohrab Sepehri’s work the ‘Hanging Clothes’ was regarded as one of the best pick at the auction fetching an above-estimated price of £ 146,500, a record price. In its grace, naturalism, and sophistication, the work is utterly faithful to the tenets of Sepehri’s oeuvre; demonstrating an almost perfect confluence of his strong representational impulse propelled by his love of the vernacular of Kashan and the more opaque abstraction inherited from the Eastern painting traditions he was so fluently versed in, Honaronline reports.
Birth Anniversary
The extraordinary sale coincided with the 86th birth anniversary of the late artist. The main rival for Sepehri’s work - L’Armonial by the Lebanese artist Ayman Baalbaki stood second fetching £104,500.
Other sales by Iranian artists included Hossein Zenderoudi, whose work sold at £98,500 and calligrapher Mohammad Ehsaee. The latter’s calligraphy on canvas called ‘Eshgh’ (Love) fetched £68,500.
At its inaugural sale of modern Middle Eastern art in Dubai in 2008, Bonhams broke 33 world records and witnessed the first Middle Eastern artwork to achieve an auction sale of over one million dollars; since then Bonhams has firmly established itself as one of the leading auction houses in the category, holding regular bi-annual sales first in Dubai and now in London, in recognition of the growing international market for art from the Middle East and surrounding regions.
