Jazeh Tabatabei (Iranian, 1931-2008)

Jazeh Tabatabei was one of the first generation of modern Iranian artists. Working both in paintings and sculpture, his work prefigured the Saqqa-khaneh movement of the late 1950s and early 1960s. His subjects were drawn from the motifs of traditional Iranian art, yet his works (especially his sculptures) are exceptional in their progressive treatment, formed from scrap metal parts from heavy machinery. They are among the first modern Iranian works to address a technological aesthetic, combining with it a quintessentially Iranian sense of humour.