Parviz Tanavoli

Poet

Poets, along with prophets, lovers, wall, and Heech, are among the main series of Tanavoli’s sculptures, in which the artist has fully grasped the relationship between the aesthetic of poetry and the art, and has the genius to offer visual equivalents for literary concepts. He is, therefore, as much a sculptors a poet when, for instance, he uses a bird as the head of the poet or places a lock on the body of the prophet. His works have sometimes been described as “poetry in bronze,” since he believes that sculpture is a kind of poetry:” I wrote my poetry on the surface of the sculpture.” His dream of creating “sculptural poetry” is materialized predominantly through cast bronze as the most appropriate means for his creative impulses.

Many of Tanavoli’s sculptures represent semiabstract figures that hint at mystic love and lovers, symbolically revealed in Persian legendary tales such as Shirin & Farhad and Layla & Majnun. “In Islamic belief, love is something that you never reveal; you always talk about it symbolically,” says Tanavoli. “When the poets speak of love, they might talk about the love of a nightingale for a rose, for example, and the word ‘woman’ is never actually mentioned. “Hence, the lover is Tanavoli’s sculptural language is represented in the form of a poet, cypress tree, or nightingale. These figures somehow remind us of a human body, but do not resemble one. “From the very beginning, I felt that I did not want to create representational figures, although I like the life of humans and whatever is connected with man and woman, “says Tanavoli. “I never tried to represent people exactly as we see them. I always used my own imagination and interpretation.”

Poets and Prophets are among the major themes of Tanavolis work that have been created since early 1960s. Referring to Persian poets such as Rumi, Hafiz, Omar Khayyam, and Saadi were the greatest exponent of Sufism and mysticism, in which the love for a human being stands for the love for God and the beloved is indeed God himself. Thus, both the poem and the sculpture can express the presence of God through the same means of symbol and metaphor. 

Persian poetry is more concerned with subjective interpretation of reality than with its external manifestations. Consequently, It treats real objects not so much as entitles is themselves, but as abstractions of themselves. Hence, the Persian poet is not interested in individual traits, as he tends to deal with “types” rather than individuals. These types embrace a wide range: the Lover, the Beloved, the King, the Prophet, and the Poet that are the subjects of Tanavoli’s sculpture.

The poet in Tanavoli’s works appears to be the enunciator of freedom, peace, and love, while the prophet propounds invariable laws and principles. These two personalities perhaps represent the two faces of the same coin: the poet is concerned with inner freedom, with myths, poetry, serenity, and dreams, while the prophet preaches ritualism, advocating inner reform and the observance of social relationships.

In line with the concept of abstraction as veiling, Tanavoli reduces elements to simple geometric forms that give few clues to the viewer. Although many of Tanavoli’s bronzes depict human figures, as we can gather from both their statuary forms and their titles in works such as Prophet in love (1962), Poet with the Symbol of Freedom (1962) Poet in love (1962), and more recent works like Poet in Love (1998-2007), Standing Poet (2007), and The Poet and the Cypress Tree (2007), he obliterates distinctive facial features, poses, or hand gestures, all of which carry the expression of sentiment.

At early stages of his career, Tanavoli was both a painter and sculptor. But then increasingly he became known as sculptor who has gained international recognition and acclaim. He has had numerous solo and group exhibitions all around the world, including his retrospective held at the Tehran Museum of Contemporary Art in 2003. His works are in the permanent collections of major museums such as the British Museum, London; the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; the Museum of Modern Art, New York; the Ludwig Museum, Aachen; the Museum Moderner Kunst, Vienna; and the Museum of Contemporary Art, Tehran. He now lives and works between Tehran and Vancouver.