Ardeshir Mohassess,A Retrospective

A book by

Ardeshir Babaknia

Ali Banouazizi

Published by

UCI/Jordan Center for Persian studies

Over the past few decades, the Western World has become increasingly aware of the vibrancy, variety, and high caliber of contemporary artistic productions in Iran.

The works of Ardeshir Mohassess, Iran’s foremost contemporary cartoonist, graphic artist and painter, have undoubtedly played a key in propelling Iran’s art scene onto the world stage. Winner of numerous awards, widely exhibited in Europe and America, and published in numerous art journals, magazines and newspapers, Mohassess’s brilliantly-executed line drawings, biting cartoons, and brilliant colorful drawings have presented his piercing, and at the same time deeply humanistic, vision to the Western world. The present volume chronicles the evolution of Mohassess’s work over several decades and in different cultural contexts. Each chapter presents a particular phase in his extraordinarily productive lifework-from his early satirical simple line-drawings in Iran, to drawings and paintings after his first direct exposure to Western art and culture in the early 1970s, to his images of the 1979 Iranian Revolution, and finally his more abstract and colorful paintings that he created in the last three decades of exilic life in America. The book also includes a section of powerful drawings and paintings on the horrific events of the Holocaust. This collection of Ardeshir Mohassess’s works, introduced by Professor Ali Banuazizi with brief introductory comments at the beginning of each thematic section, stands out as the most comprehensive and diverse presentation of the artist’s prolific creative output. It is a treasure-trove of comic, disturbing, and thought-provoking drawings and paintings that are to be discovered and rediscovered for years to come.

Foreword

As a long-time admirer of Ardeshir Mohassess’s satirical works and drawings beginning in the 1970s when I was a student at Tehran University, I was not only delighted, but most fortunate to have this ex- traordinary artist as a guest in my home in Southern California in 1986. Over several months of his stay at my home, we had the opportunity to talk about his work, his artistic vision and world view, and to develop a close and lasting friendship.

In our conversations, we often discussed his sensibilities and perceptions—the way he saw the world and the manner in which he conveyed what he saw, be it through simple line-drawings or elaborate tableaux. He perceived himself as a “reporter-artist” who was deeply committed to uncovering the truth beneath conventional façades of daily life and of exposing reality no matter how dark or horrifying it might be. In the course of these discussions, I told Mohassess of my plans to write a book in Persian on the Holocaust (published years later as Humanity, Not, 2014). Knowing of his exceptional sensitivity to injustice and human suffering, I asked Ardeshir if he would be willing to do a series of drawings and paintings that could accompany the text. The question seemed to strike a sympathetic chord in him, and over the next two years (1987-1989), Ardeshir worked tirelessly and produced nearly 300 drawings and paintings that powerfully captured the emo- tions and ethics—or lack thereof—of this horrific human tragedy.

Over the following two decades, I was fortunate to be able to acquire numerous other works by Mohassess, covering the period from the early 1950s to the year 2000. Ardeshir’s minimalist style, economy in the use of lines, and his skillful craftsmanship enabled him to produce an unusually large number of powerful drawings and paintings over the years of his artistic life. At the same time, his attention to details, his mischievous and playful look at his subjects—even when he was depicting dark and somber themes—and his ability to readily transform his thoughts and ideas into images enabled him to create a treasure trove of delightful and thought-provoking artworks for us to discover and rediscover for years to come.

“In his drawings,” as Ali Banuazizi has put it, “be they simple, primitive sketches or detailed tableaux, Mohassess quite literally dis

sects his characters with his pen and then peels away the conven- tional façades to expose the underlying reality of their world—a world of injustice and anguish, of domination and subjection, of pettiness, gluttony and arrogance, and of tyranny and cruelty…. His sharp and critical eye and his often grotesque and always satirical articulations make us wince in recognition of the terrifying and pervasive meanness that lurks beneath the surface.” He claimed—or boasted—that “with a minimum of available means, I could draw any number of them any- where.” He refused to fall victim to the idea of “pure aesthetics.” With rare skill and an astonishingly minimalist graphic style, every single line drawn by his pen serves a purpose. His art is brutally direct, yet over time it unveils layers of new meaning hidden below the surface. As he once said: “There are principles by which I am deeply bound, and I follow them in all of my works. Naturally these principles, whether I want them to or not—that is, unconsciously and inevitably—manifest themselves in my work.”

The drawings and paintings in this volume portray many aspects of the cultural, social and political life in Iran through the lens of an extraordinary artist in the second half of the twentieth century, includ- ing many works that have never been exhibited or published before. In designing the book, the artworks have been presented in chronological order to help the viewer appreciate the development of Mohassess’s drawing and painting styles over the years. The collection, I believe, stands out as the most comprehensive representation of his prolific life in the second half of the twentieth century.

Ardeshir Babaknia

February 2020

About athurs

Ardeshir Babaknia

Ardeshir Babaknia, MD is a Johns Hopkins trained physician, currently serving as a Health Sciences professor at Chapman University in Irvine, California. Renowned for pioneering work in minimally invasive surgery and laser-based medical treatments, he’s earned numerous honors such as the National Medical Research Award from the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists.    A prolific contributor to women’s health, Dr. Babaknia has penned several books and over 50 scholarly articles.
Beyond medicine, he is a champion of Persian culture and the arts. He founded the Persian Arts Foundation and holds positions on multiple cultural and scientific boards. His deep dive into Holocaust research resulted in a groundbreaking four-volume series in Persian, which won the Reference Book of the Year Award in 2013.
In the past decade, Dr. Babaknia has expanded his portfolio to include art, particularly in glass and ceramics, addressing themes of social justice and human rights, the richness of Persian culture and history, and the Judaic values and virtues. This endeavor earned him the Nowruz Award in art, in 2022. His 30-piece series “Par ē Simorgh,” inspired by the mythical bird from the epic Shahnameh, promotes a universal message of revival, freedom, peace, and prosperity.

Ali Banouazizi

Ali Banuazizi is Research Professor of Political Science at Boston College and Research Fellow at the Center for International Studies at M.I.T. After receiving his Ph.D. from Yale University in 1968, he taught at Yale and the University of Southern California before joining the Boston College Faculty in 1971. Since then, he has held visiting appointments at the University of Tehran, Princeton, Hebrew University, Harvard, Oxford University, and M.I.T. He served as the founding editor of the journal of Iranian Studies, from 1968 to 1982. He is a past president of the Association for Iranian Studies (AIS) and of the Middle East Studies Association in North America (MESA); associate editor of the Encyclopedia of Islam and the Muslim World; and currently editor of Freedom of Thought Journal.
Ali Banuazizi is the author of numerous articles on society, culture, and politics of Iran and the Middle East, and coauthor (with A. Ashraf) of Social Classes, the State and Revolution in Iran (2008) and coeditor (with M. Weiner) of three books on politics, religion, and society in Southwest and Central Asia.