TEHRAN – Veteran calligrapher Keikhosro Khorush, who is mostly known for calligraphy works on Persian classical literature, was honored with a lifetime achievement award during a ceremony held at the Calligraphy Museum of Iran in Tehran on Thursday.

The ceremony attended by veteran painters Habibollah Sadeqi and Enayatollah Nuri, Tehran City Council member Ahmad Masjed-Jamei and a large number of calligraphers and literati was organized in collaboration with the Iran Calligraphers Association

Speaking at the ceremony, director of the museum, Hooman Yusefdehi, said that the calligraphers and painters have beautifully recorded the feelings and desires of Iranians and added, “These artists possess a special status in Iranian society and we must always honor and appreciate them.”

Nuri next talked about Khorush and said, “Master Khorush has had great masters in life but good nature has been his best master. He has been able to throw away hatred and pessimism with the help of love and that is why his words are all filled with love and his art is respected. Master Khorush is a chapter of Iran’s history of art and will be remembered forever.”

Masjed-Jamei called Khorush the symbol of Iranian’s sophistication and said, “Master Khorush has represented calligraphy at its highest level.”

“He has mastery over both calligraphy and painting but has not mingled them together, and has followed their rules separately; this is actually protecting Iranian traditional art,” he concluded.

Khorush painted a portrait of the founder of the Islamic Republic of Iran, Imam Khomeini, in the early years of the 1979 Islamic revolution that has been republished many times.

A copy of the Divan of Hafez inscribed by Khorush has been one of the top-selling books over the years.

The Calligraphy Museum of Iran is home to a rare collection of Persian calligraphy. 

The building was a historical house in Tehran formerly owned by Gholamreza Fuladvand, a senator during the reign of Iran’s last monarch, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi.

The house was converted into a museum under the auspices of Tehran Municipality’s Beautification Organization in 2017 and is located on Hoquqi Alley off Somayyeh Street in downtown Tehran.

Photo: Calligrapher Keikhosro Khorush in an undated photo. (Mehr/Shahab Qayyumi)

RM/MMS/YAW