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Asian Art > Iran Parviz Tanavoli: Sculpted Poetry The recent retrospective exhibition of one of Iran’s most famous sculptors has helped to broaden the scope of contemporary entire ensemble appears as a shy little Iranian art for art historians around the world. In exploring the work of Parviz Tanavoli, I hope to illuminate his sculptural creature, looking out into the world intersections of Persian tradition with contemporary form. with sad eyes, as it huddles into the chair. By Nina Cichocki ily feature, except for a generic faucet taneously revealing and obscuring Another literary convention exem- on the front (symbolizing the freedom emerges not only in poetry, but also in plified in Heech and Chair II is that of n 26 January 2003, the contem- that water in an arid country like Iran other dimensions of Persian culture, the metaphor. If viewed in the most Oporary Iranian art world was affords), and is, therefore, devoid of most notably in the architecture of the superficial manner, the sculpture is a enriched by a long-awaited event in the emotional gesture. ubiquitous shrines, the grilles of which charming image of a cat sitting on a Tehran Museum of Modern Art: the Lyric Persian poetry, and particularly obstruct view and access, but simulta- chair. In the same vein, a poem about opening of a retrospective exhibition of the form of the ghazal (a short poem neously render the grave inside visible. the beauty of a beloved can be reduced Parviz Tanavoli, modern Iran’s leading with a monorhyme, seven to twelve Both the shrine’s grille and the poem to the evocation of a charming image, sculptor. Although a world-class sculp- verses long, usually about worldly and draw an artful circle – consisting of as in Hafiz’s ghazal Radiance: tor in the 1960s and 1970s, Tanavoli divine love), features some general metal rods and words, respectively – has remained lesser known to Western characteristics that also help to eluci- around their essential content, be it a The radiance of thy body’s gleam audiences and even art historians. date the qualities of this sculpture. grave or the feeling of happiness. The moon doth far exceed; There are a number of factors that According to Annemarie Schimmel, a Along the same lines, Tanavoli Before thy face the rose doth seem account for his undeserved obscurity: noted scholar on mystical poetry, the reveals his emotions and ideas merely Lack-lustre as a weed scholars of modern art still concentrate ghazal is not ‘meant to describe exactly by creating his sculptures and exhibit- mainly on developments within their this or that state of mind or to tell of the ing his inner world. Yet, at the same The corner of thy arched brow own European or American cultural poet’s personal situation in such a way time he hides these revelations behind My spirit doth possess, horizons and are seldom familiar with that one can speak of a unique experi- the veil of abstraction. He reduces pos- And there is not a king, I vow, the ideas underlying Tanavoli’s oeuvre, ence. […] the ghazal is not meant to sibly telling elements to simple geo- Dwells in such loveliness which is rooted in the cultural heritage explain and illuminate the poet’s feel- metric forms that give few clues to the (Arberry 1948: 135) of Islamic Persia. Scholars of Islamic ings: on the contrary, it is meant to veil viewer, just as Hafiz reduces his idea of art, on the other side, focus on the past them’ (Schimmel 1992: 3). This ten- happiness to an indefinite ‘phoenix of Underneath all this charm, however, rather than the present. Here, I will dency to veil rather than to explain emo- felicity’. we can uncover a deeper meaning. discuss the relationship of Tanavoli’s tions can be found in the first two lines Metaphors centring on the beloved or oeuvre to Persian classical poetry, using of the ghazal entitled Happiness, writ- Heech and Chair II, 1973 love are employed particularly in the as examples one early work as well as ten by Hafiz (1330–1389): Heech and Chair II operates as a visu- poetry that grew out of the mystical his most famous sculpture. al pun. The word heech (nothing) branch of Islam, Sufism. In Sufi poet- The phoenix of felicity appears here in the shape of a cat sit- ry – Tanavoli’s favourite poet Rumi is Poet with the symbol of Shall fall into my net at last ting huddled on the chair’s surface. The its greatest exponent – the love for a freedom, 1962 If e’er the blessed shade of thee cat’s head consists of the letter ha. Two human being stands for the love of Although many of Tanavoli’s bronzes Should rest upon me riding past holes stand for two eyes, and the top God, the beloved is God himself, and depict humans, as we can gather from part culminates in a little peak that can the beloved’s beauty is a reflection of both their statuary forms and their Like bubbles rising in a glass be seen as an ear. Calligraphers call the the beauty of God. The word heech titles, he obliterates distinct facial fea- I’ll throw my cap into the air initial shape of the letter ha, as it (nothing) in Tanavoli’s sculpture works tures, poses, or hand gestures, all of If by my goblet thou dost pass appears here, wajh al-hirr (cat’s face) in similarly, as attested by the sculptor which carry the expression of senti- And lettest fall thy image there Arabic. Also, traditional calligraphic lit- himself: ‘“Nothing” is an aspect of God. ment. The Poet with the Symbol of Free- (Arberry 1948: 131) erature often plays with imagery of the God is in all things and therefore in dom sports a box-like shape with a per- ha as a weeping face. Therefore, everything. The “nothing” is not God, forated front where we would imagine Hafiz does not expound on the Tanavoli’s interpretation of the heech as but is a place where God could be in his the head to be. The perforated front, immediate feeling of happiness, or a cat builds upon a traditional metaphor purest state’ (Morrison 1971: 10B). reminiscent of the grilles on the shrines closely describe the cause of it. Instead – and even elaborates it by giving the Thus, both the poem and the sculpture Tanavoli has visited since his childhood, he hides behind metaphors (‘the cat a body. The top of the letter djeem is can express the presence of God acts like a veil: it hides the poet’s face, phoenix of felicity shall fall into my fashioned to evoke a cat’s back and through the same means, that is, the bans all details and specifics, and, there- net’) or makes a side step by describing thigh, while its down-stroke literally metaphor. In the case of the poem, it is

Parviz Tanavoli fore, renders the poet’s feelings abstract the actions resulting from happiness becomes a tail. The sadness that calli- the beloved that is a metaphor for God: Parviz Tanavoli, Poet with the Symbol of and generalized. The cylindrical body (‘like bubbles rising in a glass I’ll throw graphic literature and poetry attribute in the case of the sculpture, it is the Freedom, 1962 is devoid of arms and hands or any bod- my cap into the air’). This idea of simul- to the letter ha also finds expression: the heech. <

References Parviz Tanavoli - Arberry, A.J., Immortal Rose: An Anthology of Persian Lyrics, London: Luzac & Co. Born in Tehran in 1937, Tanavoli benefited from Reza Shah Pahlavi’s quest for (1948). modernization/westernization. After Western-style art education had been intro- - Morrison, Don, ‘Iran’s “first sculptor” duced to Iran, Tanavoli graduated as the first student from the new sculpture pro- back with unique works’, The Minneapolis gramme at the Tehran School of Arts in 1956. Subsequently he went to Italy in order Star (1 April 1971), p.10B. to study under the well-known sculptor Marino Marini (1901–1980). Marini’s aware- - Parviz Tanavoli: Fifteen Years of Bronze ness of the past traditions of his native country, and their incorporation into his Sculpture, (exhibition catalogue) New contemporary work, led Tanavoli to explore his own cultural heritage and to search York: New York University Press (1977). for a style suitable to express Persia’s past achievements in a modern way. How- - Schimmel, Annemarie, A Two-Colored Bro- ever, due to religious prescriptions against the creation of images, Iranian sculp- cade: The Imagery of Persian Poetry, Chapel tural production ceased with the advent of Islam in the eighth century. Thus, the Hill: The University of North Carolina only way to integrate Persia’s Islamic heritage into his works was to look at arts Press (1992). other than sculpture, such as Persian classical poetry, considered to be the epito- me of Iranian-Islamic cultural production. Nina Cichocki, MA After several successful years abroad, Tanavoli returned to Tehran to teach at the is a Doctoral Candi- College of Decorative Arts. He also established his first studio, the Atelier Kaboud, date in art history at a meeting place for artists. In 1962, Tanavoli was invited to the Minneapolis Col- the University of lege of Art and Design as a visiting artist. During the early sixties, his pieces were Minnesota. Her exhibited at the Minneapolis Institute of Art and the Walker Art Center, poets and main interests are prophets being his main subjects. Ottoman architec- When Tanavoli returned to Iran in 1964, he helped with the establishment of the ture, heritage poli- Sculpture Department at the University of Tehran. A major turning point in tics, and contempo- Tanavoli’s career was a show at the Galerie Borghese in Tehran in 1965, where his rary Iranian visual culture. works addressed the modernization of Iranian lifestyle and the combination of new [email protected] technological phenomena with traditional culture. This exhibition marked the arrival of the heech (nothing) in Tanavoli’s oeuvre, a theme that would occupy him for the following nine years and become his trademark. The Revolution brought Tanavoli’s career in Iran almost to an end, since he pro- duced objects considered to contradict the precepts of Islam. Tanavoli retired from Parviz Tanavoli, his position at the University of Tehran and is now an independent artist and author. Heech and Chair II,

1973 Parviz Tanavoli

42 IIAS Newsletter | #30 | March 2003