TEHRAN -- The English and Arabic book “Parviz Tanavoli: Monograph”, the most extensive catalogue raisonné on the artist, was unveiled during a ceremony at Tehran’s Mah-e Mehr Gallery on Sunday.

Published by Art Advisory Associates Ltd in November 2009, the book contains over 250 color plates displaying sculptures by Tanavoli from the early 1960s to his most recent work.
It also includes essays in English and Arabic by leading academics and figures from the Iranian and international art world, exhibitions and reading lists, and rare photographs from the artist’s archive.
The book was unveiled in the presence of the artist and cultural figures including the former curator of the Tehran Museum of Contemporary Art, Alireza Sami-Azar and leading artist Aidin Aghdashlu.
“This is a remarkable achievement for our artistic society. This is the first time a comprehensive source on an Iranian leading artist has been published, indicating the significance of works by artist Tanavoli,” Sami-Azar told the participants.
Passages from Tanavoli’s memoirs have been translated into Arabic for the first time in this publication, allowing readers to engage with Tanavoli’s art through his own words and recollections.
“His major works are inspired by literature and architecture. He pays special attention to Iranian folklore and Shiite culture,” he added.
“I personally regard Tanavoli as an invaluable being for Iranian art and culture, and his works as the greatest achievement for Iran’s contemporary culture.
“The book covers four periods of Tanavoli’s works, his sculptures of poets, lovers, walls and Heech (Nothingness), Sami-Azar added.
Tanavoli next expressed his thanks to the organizer of the event, the Mah-e Mehr Gallery, and said that the book was published with the support of Abu Dhabi Sheikh (Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyani) and Meem Gallery in Dubai.
“The articles published in the books do not take an analytical approach, they only review different periods of my life. But the publisher has made praiseworthy efforts in searching, finding collecting and publishing my works I have created over the past years,” Tanavoli said.
“Gisela Fock, the German researcher whose article also appears in the book dedicated her doctoral thesis on my works, having reviewed my life in my 50s,” he added.
Articles by Tanavoli, and authors Alireza Sami-Azar, Kamran Diba, Siah Armajani, Shiva Balaghi, Tandis Tanavoli and Gisela Fock are included in the book.
Parviz Tanavoli (b. 1937, Tehran) is one of Iran’s foremost artists, considered as the country’s first significant modern sculptor. Tanavoli has created works in bronze, ceramic, fiberglass and scrap metal. His oeuvre displays a deep engagement with Persian folkloric traditions, poetry and literature, all expressed in a recurring series of subjects, including the calligraphic figure of Heech (Nothingness), Farhad the Mountain Carver, Lock, Poet, Lovers, Walls, Hand, Lion and Bird.
He is also a painter and created a series of gabbehs (a simple hand-woven tribal rug made by nomadic people in southern Iran) during the early 1980s. Additionally, Tanavoli is a prolific writer. He has authored numerous books and articles on the artistic culture of Iran.