Hossein Nuri

Hossein Nuri
Hossein Nuri, Iranian Painter, Dramaturge and Filmmaker
Nuri in 2014
Born Gholam Hossein Nuri Nekah
1 July 1954
Mashhad, Khorasan, Iran
Status Married
Occupation Painter, Dramaturge, Filmmaker
Spouse(s) Nadia Maftouni
Children Abolfazl, Mahmoud
Website
www.nurigallery.com

Hossein Nuri (also written Hosein Noori or Hussein Nouri) (Persian: حسین نوری, born 1954 in Mashhad) is an Iranian painter, dramaturge and filmmaker.

Early life

Hossein Nuri was born in 1954 in Iran. He lost his father at the age of six and her mother raised him.[1] He showed his interest in painting at elementary school.[2] After finishing elementary school in Mashhad he gained a scholarship to continue studies in Farah Industrial School in Tehran.[3]

Torture and Disability

Farah Industrial School was deeply monitored by SAVAK. Along the nation's dissatisfaction with Shah's policies, Nuri wrote a play which was a political satire criticizing the system. Minutes after the play was staged, it was interrupted by military forces present at the school. Nuri was jailed and tortured severely and he was questioned repetitively mainly to confess if he ever had relations with opposition activists to which Nuri's answer was always negative. After a series of harsh tortures, Nuri lost his ability of moving hands and legs and his internal health started to deteriorate. So he was sent to hospital as he was still under control. Finally as the result of fatal damages to Nuri's body, SAVAK stopped its control and Nuri came back to his family who were then residing at Torbat-e Jam. It was there that he sat on wheelchair and started to hold the brush with his mouth and continued painting.[4]

Marriage

After revolution Nuri again decided to write plays and staged them in different cities. In a speech that he had for the students of Sharif University of Technology, Nadia Maftouni who was a student of Applied physics became interested in Nuri and proposed to him. Nuri accepted and she left her studies to live with Nuri in Torbat-e Jam. They have two sons; Abolfazl Nuri and Mahmoud Nuri. Later they moved to Mashhad and afterwards to Tehran.[5]

Painting Style

In 2004 Nuri introduced his new style in painting in an exhibition he held in Paris. It was based on the painter's intention to create a certain design out of an abstract process. Thus the outcome is a combination of improvisation and calculated design. French painters suggested the name "Reflection" (Réflexion) for the style and Nuri approved the name. Nuri does this process with materials such as oil-color and acrylic on large canvas and particularly the large scale of his works is one of his contributions to abstract painting.[6] The use of bright colors and recurrence of butterflies are among other characteristics of his style.[7]

References