Mohammad Ehsai, (Iran, born 1939)
Yazdan
Yazdan
oil and gold leaf on canvas, framed
signed "Ehsai" and dated "2019" in farsi and english (lower right), executed in 2019
175 x 175cm (68 7/8 x 68 7/8in).
Provenance:
Property from a private collection, Iran
"It is God who has made the earth a resting- place for you and the sky a canopy, and has formed you - and formed you so well - and provided for you sustenance out of the good things of life. Such is God, your Sustainer: hallowed, then, is God, the Sustainer of all the worlds!" - Quran, 40:64
Mohammad Ehsai is undoubtedly one of the most prolific and talented calligraphers of the modern era. Whilst his paintings display a level of technical proficiency on a par with the old masters of the kufic, naskhi and nasta'liq traditions, his depictions are stripped of the superfluous adornments of their older counterparts, giving them a boldness, purity and immediacy which affirms the relevance of calligraphy in a modern context.
In the Middle Eastern tradition, calligraphy has served as a crucial form of both religious and aesthetic expression since the advent of Islam. The use of Arabic script, the language of the Holy Qur'an, together with the beauty of Persian and Arabic letter forms, led to the development of a tradition which served at once as both art and worship. The restrictions in Islamic iconography led artists to channel their aesthetic impulses into calligraphy, embellishing the word of God itself, creating a divinely inspired amalgamation of art and religion.
Ehsai's monumental intertwining script not only contains an aesthetic curvilinear harmony, but in its tremendous intricacy, imitates the unfathomable nature of the divine. Ultimately, Ehsai's contorted letter-forms are not written to be understood, emphasising the ineffability of the deity itself. The word depicted in this painting is a repetition of the Persian "mohabat", meaning kindness, and is not only a quality of the pius man, but a characteristic of the divine. Through constant repetition, Ehsai transforms the written word into an iconic object of veneration, and by leaving his backgrounds barren and black Ehsai reminds us that when faced with the holy, all secondary considerations pale into obscurity.
A true master of his craft, Ehsai's bold, stunning calligraphy is the modern standard-bearer of an artistic tradition spanning one thousand years.
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Yazdan
Yazdan
oil and gold leaf on canvas, framed
signed "Ehsai" and dated "2019" in farsi and english (lower right), executed in 2019
175 x 175cm (68 7/8 x 68 7/8in).
Provenance:
Property from a private collection, Iran
"It is God who has made the earth a resting- place for you and the sky a canopy, and has formed you - and formed you so well - and provided for you sustenance out of the good things of life. Such is God, your Sustainer: hallowed, then, is God, the Sustainer of all the worlds!" - Quran, 40:64
Mohammad Ehsai is undoubtedly one of the most prolific and talented calligraphers of the modern era. Whilst his paintings display a level of technical proficiency on a par with the old masters of the kufic, naskhi and nasta'liq traditions, his depictions are stripped of the superfluous adornments of their older counterparts, giving them a boldness, purity and immediacy which affirms the relevance of calligraphy in a modern context.
In the Middle Eastern tradition, calligraphy has served as a crucial form of both religious and aesthetic expression since the advent of Islam. The use of Arabic script, the language of the Holy Qur'an, together with the beauty of Persian and Arabic letter forms, led to the development of a tradition which served at once as both art and worship. The restrictions in Islamic iconography led artists to channel their aesthetic impulses into calligraphy, embellishing the word of God itself, creating a divinely inspired amalgamation of art and religion.
Ehsai's monumental intertwining script not only contains an aesthetic curvilinear harmony, but in its tremendous intricacy, imitates the unfathomable nature of the divine. Ultimately, Ehsai's contorted letter-forms are not written to be understood, emphasising the ineffability of the deity itself. The word depicted in this painting is a repetition of the Persian "mohabat", meaning kindness, and is not only a quality of the pius man, but a characteristic of the divine. Through constant repetition, Ehsai transforms the written word into an iconic object of veneration, and by leaving his backgrounds barren and black Ehsai reminds us that when faced with the holy, all secondary considerations pale into obscurity.
A true master of his craft, Ehsai's bold, stunning calligraphy is the modern standard-bearer of an artistic tradition spanning one thousand years.
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Time, Location
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