Parviz Tanovoli is the father of modern Iranian sculpture – and there’s currently a groundbreaking retrospective in the Davis Museum including many of his Heeches (Heech means ‘nothing’ in Persian). Hear more in /see some images from the show here.
As Tanavoli says: ““Heech has multiple layers of meaning – in Persian Sufism it has a great meaning: God created the universe out of nothing, so if the universe is made of nothing then nothingness is everywhere, in every part of the universe, in all creatures. That’s one way of looking at it, and the other is that as a physical shape it has an appealing volume to me; it has a head, eyes and a very beautiful body. So, from both angles it was a perfect word for me to choose and work on.” Read more about Tanavoli in the Sufi Journal here.
One of the Davis curators says: “You can really teach a seminar in modern Iranian history through [Tanavoli’s] artwork …You see the common art of the streets of Tehran represented in his work, you see Iranian folklore, ancient Persian myths …But you also see that within Iranian society and culture there is this sense of humor that withstands regardless of the day-to-day political situation.”
Tanavoli also explores more brutal, confining imagery of cages, locks and jail cells, as shown in the image showing the British Museum piece here.
Unfortunately – because of the sanctions – the Davis exhibition includes none of Tanavoli’s rugs. So I’ve included two images of his lion rugs. And a link to the iranica article about lion rugs in general.
As all of my regular readers knows, I’ve got a real interest in Iranian lions. But if you’ve not been reading my blog for long, you might want to check out how to tell the difference between (merciful) Muslim lions and the (ruthless) Kaffir ones. Layard suggests that if you are “attacked by a Musulman lion [you] must take off [your] cap and very humbly supplicate the animal in the name of Ali to have pity… The proper formula to be used on the occasion is the following: ‘O cat of Ali, I am the servant of Ali. Pass by my house (or family) by the head of Ali.’ The lion will then generously spare the suppliant and depart. Such consideration must not, however, be expected from a Kaffir lion”. For more details, click here
