Sirak Melkonian, (Iran, born 1931)

The Tower

The Tower
oil on canvas, framed
signed "S.Melkonian" and dated "63" (lower right and verso), executed in 1963
99 x 29cm (39 x 11 7/16in).

Provenance:
Property from the estate of a distinguished Iranian academic, California

Exhibited:
Modern Persian Painting, November 1968, Centre for Iranian Studies, Columbia University

Published:
Ehsan Yarshater, Modern Persian Painting, 1968 Center for Iranian Studies, Columbia University

The present work is an extremely rare and important composition from a crucial period in Sirak Melkonian's artistic development. Coming at the end point of his early practice of social realism and figuration, works like this from the 1960's are the earliest examples of the artists engagement with abstract compositions, and his crucial departure from the neo-traditionalist tendencies present in Iranian modernism at the time. Reminiscent of traditional Persian architecture, in particular medieval wind towers, the present work is a bold and striking example of the artist delving into the world of abstraction.