Prominent figures of art, cinema and music attended a ceremony to honor veteran Iranian painter and illustrator Parviz Kalantari who was hospitalized in December 2014 due to a stroke, and is currently recovering at home.
The ceremony, organized “to uplift Kalantari’s spirits for speedy recovery,” was held at the Iranian Artists Forum (IAF) in Tehran, MNA reported.
The function opened with the screening of a video clip of the selected works of Kalantari installed on the walls of a charity for children.
Well-known musician Mohammad Sarir wished Kalantari was in their midst watching the video, which is “as eternal as his works.”
Praising his work, Sarir highlighted “the national identity cast on the canvas” which demonstrates his unique style of art. Referring to Kalantari’s paintings in school books, Sarir called them “a heritage of art for the coming generations”.
He said “Kalantari is a musician who has folklore motifs in his works,” and described him as “a man of purity and innocence who radiated positive thought.”
Iraj Kalantari, the younger brother of Parviz called for closer ties among figures of art. Iraj rued that artists and musicians of the day “are not as close as Parviz and his peers” were decades ago.
Nasser Fakouhi, head of Anthropology and Culture Institute, expressed his gratitude to Kalantari as his paintings depicting rural life and nomadic lifestyle shed light on many urban people’s understanding of rural people.
Parviz Kalantari was born in 1931 in Zanjan, Iran. He holds a bachelor’s degree in painting from the Faculty of Fine Arts, Tehran University where he became a professor later and was director of the Institute for the Intellectual Development of Children and Young Adults.
Exhibitions
He has participated in numerous individual and group exhibitions and seminars in and outside the country, including a seminar on ‘Preparation and Production of Textbooks,’ training at ‘Danrow Studio’ on ‘Book Illustration’ in New York, a course on the teaching of art to children at the Junior Art Center in California, a seminar on ‘Education through Art’ in Adelaide University in Australia, and a lecture on ‘Iranian Contemporary Painting’ at Berkley University in California.
Several of his paintings have been reproduced on UNICEF postcards, and one of them is a UN postage stamp. He has also written a number of articles on art and artists in Iran, published in various Tehran periodicals.
His last exhibition in Tehran was in 2013. Titled ‘The Nocturnals’, the collection was in two sections: the first reviewing the most important periods of his work, including desert architectural nostalgic spaces, relaxing atmospheres of Iran’s instinct villages and paintings of nomads and their migration celebrated as an ancient myth.
The second section showcased a totally different collection of works displayed in a special room, called the ‘Blue Room’ including seven paintings most likely reflecting the artist’s voice of protest.
