TEHRAN -- Tehran Municipality’s Beautification Organization has announced that a team of professional sculptors have begun restoring works by sculptor Ali-Akbar Sanati (1916-2006) kept at the Red Crescent Museum in Tehran.

“The team supervised by veteran Hamid Shans is working on restoring and renovating about 200 sculptures mostly made of plaster and other various materials,” director of the organization Issa Alizadeh has said in a press release published on Wednesday.

He added that based on the agreement with the Red Crescent Society, the Beautification Organization has begun restoring the museum located on Imam Khomeini Square (Tupkhaneh) and the sculptures also need to be restored as well.

According to Mojtaba Musavi, the director of the Art and Cultural Department of the Organization, the paintings kept at the museum also have been collected for restoration by a team under the supervision of artist Javid Ramezani.

However, he said that the paintings are less in need of restoration as compared with the sculptures.

Sanati was born in 1916 in Kerman. He lost his father at an early age and his mother was forced to send him to an orphanage. His talent in painting was evident in childhood, and the director of the orphanage sent him to Tehran to continue his studies. 

Sanati studied at the Kamalolmolk School. He established a museum in 1946 at Imam Khomeini Square and transferred it to the Red Crescent Society Museum.

Creations by Sanati consist of over 1,000 paintings and 400 sculptures, some of which are kept in Tehran and some remain in Kerman.  

Photo: Sculptures by Ali-Akbar Sanati

RM/YAW
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