54    Abolghasem Saiedi (b. 1925)

In this work, which is a remarkable example of the most typical period of his career, Abolghasem Saiedi is using a creative language to paint a unique Iranian modern landscape. The slant composition of trees and a balance between color planes comprise the main framework of such works of the artist. In other words, the painting possesses a viable composition which is produced by the juxtaposition of horizontal and vertical lines with circular forms and curves.

A great chapter of modern landscape painting in Iranian art can be rightly dedicated to Abolghasem Saiedi. In addition to a perfect choice of color, Saiedi often has a keen interest in the connection of color forms and a philosophical study of nature. As in other well-known works of the artist, tall trees are dancing in the wind, while their branches sway from side to side. In fact, the artist’s magnificent treatment of nature is a result of his accurate interpretation of landscape as well as his interaction with such a beguiling vista.

Formal painting and an attention to cubist geometric forms that constituted the main framework of many modern art movements across the world in the early 20^th century was confined to western works and usual geometric forms in Iran – with no really indigenized identity – before the experiments of Abolghasem Saiedi. However, the cubist treatment of Saiedi that gave way to geometric abstraction over time is glittering in intertwined color circles and a cascade of strata and planes. The contrastive blue, green, and orange in Saiedi’s works enhances their vivacity and green nature. Saiedi’s paintings breach any conventional definition of nature, initiating a new, different way of studying landscape painting in Iranian modern art.

Experimenting with figurative and somehow popular painting during the 1960s, Saiedi started a meditative phase in his artistic career. He gradually developed a fascination for dazzling colors, and inspired by the milieu in which his mind and spirit had been developed, started an important and lasting period of his work – creating lush green and colorful natural landscapes. “Iran’s blazing sun is omnipresent in his work, sometimes appearing in a red and yellow flaring circle, and at times being absent, unsparingly emanating a vivid light through thick leaves and flowers. Looking at such a landscape, one can observe the Oriental sun passing beyond it. In these works, Saiedi portrays the lost Persian gardens in Kashan, Shiraz, and Arak; a paradise of tranquilizing and disengaging colors that are born in the gardens of the mind just in the same way they are found in the design of Persian rugs and miniature paintings of antique books as well as painted beakers of Rey and Nishabur.”[1]

During this significant chapter in the history of Iranian modern art, Abolghasem Saiedi has for a long time been living in Paris. Nevertheless, devotion to Iranian culture can be traced even in his recent work. He admires colors and is deeply devoted to the Iranian fine nature. According to Aydin Aghdashloo, “The world of Abolghasem Saiedi is the world of a vivacious garden, a garden of poplars and beautiful flowers that give meaning to that.”

Abolghassem Saeedi was awarded the grand prize of the Fifth Tehran Biennial of Painting in 1966. A similar example of work by the artist was sold for $146,500 at the Christie’s Dubai auction in 2009.

[1] Mojabi, Javad, Pioneers of New Art, Beh Negar, 2014, 67