Monir Shahroudy Farmanfarmaian
Monir Shahroudy Farmanfarmaian | Iran b.1924 | Lightning for Neda (detail) 2009 | Mirror mosaic, reverse glass painting, plaster on wood | 6 panels, 300 x 200cm (each) | Commissioned for APT6 and the Queensland Art Gallery Collection. | The artist dedicates this work to the loving memory of her late husband Dr Abolbashar Farmanfarmaian. | Image courtesy: The artist and The Third Line, Dubai. Photograph: Mehdi Vosoughnia
b.1924 Qazvin, Iran
Lives and works in Tehran, Iran
Monir Shahroudy Farmanfarmaian is a senior figure in contemporary Iranian art, with a distinguished career spanning over 50 years. Farmanfarmaian spent many years living in New York as an art student and later as a fashion illustrator at department store Bonwit Teller, where she worked alongside Andy Warhol. She returned to Iran in the 1960s and established herself as an artist, holding major exhibitions in Tehran, Paris, Venice and New York. After the Islamic Revolution of 1979, she took refuge in New York, returning to Tehran in 2000 where she continues to work today. Her distinctive aesthetic translates Persian pictorial language into modern forms by combining mirror mosaic and reverse glass painting techniques with contemporary abstract styles. Her shimmering installations draw upon Islamic geometric patterning, Sufi symbolism, symmetry and traditional craftsmanship. Farmanfarmaian is creating a major six-panel mirror mosaic work for APT6, based on the form of the hexagon, reflecting the six virtues of generosity, self-discipline, patience, determination, insight, and compassion.
Exhibitions (solo): Leighton House Museum, London, United Kingdom, 2008; The Third Line, Dubai, United Arab Emirates, 2007; Victoria and Albert Museum, London, United Kingdom, 2006. Exhibitions (group): ‘East-West Divan’, 53rd Biennale of Venice, Italy, 2009; ‘The Power of the Ornament’, Belvedere, Vienna, Austria, 2008; Biennale of Venice, Italy, 1964 and 1958.
