Bahman Mohasses

Bahman Mohassess
Born	(1931-03-01)1 March 1931 Rasht, Iran
Died	28 July 2010(2010-07-28) (aged 79) Rome, Italy
Nationality	Iran, Italy
Known for	painter, sculptor, translator, theatre director
Website	http://bahmanmohassess.com/

Bahman Mohassess (Persian: بهمن محصص) (March 1931 Rasht, Iran-28 July 2010 Rome, Italy), dubbed by some as the "Persian Picasso", was an Iranian painter, sculptor, translator, and theatre director. His oeuvre comprises paintings, sculptures and collages. He was also a celebrated translator of literary works.

Early life

In his youth he learned painting from Habib Mohammadi (who had studied in Moscow Academy of Arts) and moved with his family from Rasht to Tehran, where he attended Tehran's Faculty of Fine Arts. During the same period he joined the "Cockfight" art and culture society (Anjoman-e Khorous Jangi), established by Jalil Ziapour, and was, for some time, the editor of the literary and art weekly "Panjeh Khoroos" (Rooster Foot).^[1] Through this society he was part of an avant-garde artistic movement, which included his good friend Nima Yooshij, the father of modern Persian poetry and Sohrab Sepehri, Houshang Irani and Gholamhossein Gharib, all progressive artists of their time.^[2] In 1954 he moved to Italy to study in the Fine Art Academy of Rome.^[3]

Activities

He returned to Iran in 1964 and participated in Venice, São Paulo and Tehran Biennales. Mohasses directed plays, including Pirandello's Henry IV at Goethe Institute and Ghandriz Hall in Tehran. He also translated books of a number of authors, including Eugène Ionesco, Malaparte and Pirandello.

He stayed in Iran until 1968, before returning to Rome, where he received commissions for statutes to be placed in Tehran. Some of his public works in Iran were destroyed or damaged after the Islamic Revolution, with the artist subsequently destroying all his remaining works in Iran.^[4] He occasionally travelled to Iran and died in self-imposed seclusion in Rome in 2010.

Artistic legacy

"Irreverent and uncompromising, a gay man in a hostile world, Mohassess had a conflicted relationship with his homeland—revered by elites in the art scene and praised as a national icon, only to be censored later by an oppressive regime. Known for his iconoclastic art as well as his scathing declarations, Mohasses abandoned the country over 30 years ago for a simple, secluded life in Italy."^[5] Mohasses, unlike many of his contemporaries, did not make references to Persian artistic traditions and had a modern outlook. His paintings and sculptures depicted mythical Minotaurs and creatures out of nightmares in vast deserts of hopelessness.^[6]

A 2012 documentary, "Fifi Howls from Happiness" by Mitra Farahani, shot shortly before the artist's death and finished after it, explored the enigma of this provocative artist. The film presents a "final biography, in his own words and on his terms."^[7]

Personal life

Mohasses was a cousin of Ardeshir Mohasses, the celebrated Iranian illustrator and cartoonist, residing in New York.

In the media

In 2013, Mitra Farahani wrote and directed the documentary Fifi Howls from Happiness (original title: "Fifi az khoshhali zooze mikeshad") in which she interviews Bahman Mohasses in the room of the hotel he had been living at.

References

External links

• Fifi Howls from Happiness at the Internet Movie Database
• Fifi Howls from Happiness at Rotten Tomatoes
• "Ibrahim Golestan, Bahman Mohasses and Fifi Howls from Happiness" (in Persian)
• "Biography of Bahman Mohasses" (in Persian)
• "Mohasses, Progressive and Recluse" (Mohasses' obituary on BBC Persian) (in Persian)