Mohasses, Farmanfarmaian Artworks Under the Hammer at Sotheby’s London

Sotheby’s London held an auction titled ‘20th Century Art / Middle East’ on April 24 concluding an exhibit of ‘Orientalist and Middle Eastern Art Week’, launched April 20. In the sale, out of 60 introduced lots 32 works went to new owners, of which 16 works were by Iranian artists.

According to the official website of the event, ‘The Minotaur Scares the Good People’, a work by renowned contemporary Iranian painter and sculptor Bahman Mohasses (1931-2010), was ranked the second highest-selling lot in the sale fetching $765,306, following the work of Egyptian artist Mahmoud Said ‘Adam and Eve’ which was sold for $882,402.

Describing Mohasses’ lot, the website wrote, “it is an iconic work from the artist’s most sought after period to date. In it, the artist shows monstrous creatures of his nightmares - half-human, half-beast, missing extremities that symbolize the powerlessness of humans in an existence full of fear - rare are the works by Mohasses that hold this many figurines in them. The composition brings to mind Picasso’s renowned ‘Minotaur With Dead Mare in Front of Cave’ (1936)”.

Mohasses had four other works at the auction including ‘Sitting Minotaur’, a bronze sculpture that went under the hammer for $52,275.

The lot fetching the third highest price at the event was a mosaic mirror work of nonagenarian Iranian artist Monir Farmanfarmaian. The work went under the hammer for $330,378.

Farmanfarmaian is the first artist to achieve an artistic practice that weds the geometric patterns and cut-glass mosaic techniques of her Iranian heritage with the rhythms of modern western geometric abstraction.

“Farmanfarmaian is considered as one of the most celebrated and revered contemporary artists of our time. With a style that recalls Iran’s past and her own nostalgia of this ancient culture alongside her western education and exposure, she is inimitable among her peers,” the event’s website wrote.

Manouchehr Yektaei, Rokni Haerizadeh and Farshid Maleki were other Iranian artists whose works were sold at the event.