Hossein Kazemi (Iranian, 1924-1996)

Beginning his career by focusing on figurative art, prominent Iranian artist Hossein Kazemi was heavily inspired by portraits of popular figures. Following his move to Paris in 1953 and his consequent enrolment in the Ecole des Beaux Arts, his artistic style began evolving and he started to experiment with Cubism as a result of his fascination with Western Modernism.
Aware of his Iranian heritage, Kazemi was determined to devise a style that would be simultaneously modern whilst incorporating Persian elements. As his work became more and more abstract, his interest in stylised forms from Persepolis and Ancient Persia, along with miniature paintings, ceramic tiles and manuscript illuminations remained an integral part of his canvases. Using a wide range of blues and violets, Kazemi arrived at his desired level of composition and form developing his now signature style by incorporating variations of semi-abstract objects such as stones and flowers into his thick layers of pigment.
The present lot strikingly indicative of this period; in its scarcity compositionally, Kazemi manages to instil a sense of balance and harmony that references the Sufi meditative qualities of the tradition of Rumi that the artist revered, whilst incorporating a modern complexity that is akin to the likes of Paul Klee and others of the 1950s Paris art scene.