Sohrab Sepehri (Iranian, 1928-1980)

Elements of Sepehri's work demonstrate the marked influence of Japanese prototypes. Sohrab Sepheri travelled to Tokyo in 1960 and was deeply impressed by Japanese Haikus, becoming the main translator for these into Persian. Equally his painting was affected by his exposure to the work Japanese Zen masters, including Sesshu Toyo and Hakuin Ekaku. Since that time his landscapes and still lifes became minimal, meditative and often abstracted. In the present example, the relationship between the Sepehri's gestural marks which describe the landscape and far Eastern calligraphy and painting is evident.