Iran Darroudi ( fa, ایران درودی; 2 September 1936 – 29 October 2021) was an Iranian contemporary artist. Her art consists of surreal paintings dealing with Iranian themed imagery and strong lighting. She lived between

Tehran Tehran (; fa, تهران ) is the largest city in Tehran Province and the capital of Iran. With a population of around 9 million in the city and around 16 million in the larger metropolitan area of Greater Tehran, Tehran is the most popul ...

and

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

for many years.

Early life

Born in

Mashhad Mashhad ( fa, مشهد, Mašhad ), also spelled Mashad, is the List of Iranian cities by population, second-most-populous city in Iran, located in the relatively remote north-east of the country about from Tehran. It serves as the capital of R ...

, Iran, to a family consisting of traders from

Khorasan Khorasan may refer to: * Greater Khorasan, a historical region which lies mostly in modern-day northern/northwestern Afghanistan, northeastern Iran, southern Turkmenistan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan * Khorasan Province, a pre-2004 province of Ira ...

on her father's side and on her mother's side the family were

Caucasian Caucasian may refer to: Anthropology *Anything from the Caucasus region ** ** ** ''Caucasian Exarchate'' (1917–1920), an ecclesiastical exarchate of the Russian Orthodox Church in the Caucasus region * * * Languages * Northwest Caucasian l ...

merchants who had settled in Mashhad. Her family moved to

Hamburg (male), (female) en, Hamburger(s), Hamburgian(s) , timezone1 = Central (CET) , utc_offset1 = +1 , timezone1_DST = Central (CEST) , utc_offset1_DST = +2 , postal ...

, Germany, for her father's business, in 1937, and by the early 1940s they were forced to leave because of the beginnings of

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. By 1945 her family returned to Mashhad. Darroudi studied at

École Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts The Beaux-Arts de Paris is a French ''grande école'' whose primary mission is to provide high-level arts education and training. This is classical and historical School of Fine Arts in France. The art school, which is part of the Paris Science ...

and the

history of art The history of art focuses on objects made by humans for any number of spiritual, narrative, philosophical, symbolic, conceptual, documentary, decorative, and even functional and other purposes, but with a primary emphasis on its aesthetic vis ...

at the

École du Louvre The École du Louvre is an institution of higher education and grande école located in the Aile de Flore of the Louvre Palace in Paris, France. It is dedicated to the study of archaeology, art history, anthropology and epigraphy. Admission is ...

, both in

Paris, France Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...

stained glass Stained glass is coloured glass as a material or works created from it. Throughout its thousand-year history, the term has been applied almost exclusively to the windows of churches and other significant religious buildings. Although tradition ...

at the Royal Academy of Brussels, in Brussels, Belgium, and television direction and production at the RCA Institute in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

Career

Darroudi’s paintings are defined as Surrealist works. She was able to combine the delicacy and romantic spirit of Persian paintings with the elements of

Surrealism Surrealism is a cultural movement that developed in Europe in the aftermath of World War I in which artists depicted unnerving, illogical scenes and developed techniques to allow the unconscious mind to express itself. Its aim was, according to l ...

. Darroudi's first solo exhibition was held in

Miami Miami ( ), officially the City of Miami, known as "the 305", "The Magic City", and "Gateway to the Americas", is a East Coast of the United States, coastal metropolis and the County seat, county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade C ...

Miami-Dade County Miami-Dade County is a county located in the southeastern part of the U.S. state of Florida. The county had a population of 2,701,767 as of the 2020 census, making it the most populous county in Florida and the seventh-most populous county in ...

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...

, in 1958 at the invitation of the Florida State Art Center. She wrote articles on the history of art and art criticism for the conservative Iranian newspaper, '' Kayhan''. In 1968, she made a 55 minute long documentary about the 1968

Venice Biennial The Venice Biennale (; it, La Biennale di Venezia) is an international cultural exhibition hosted annually in Venice, Italy by the Biennale Foundation. The biennale has been organised every year since 1895, which makes it the oldest of ...

. She was appointed an honorary professor at the Industrial University of Tehran, teaching art history. In 1969 the

ITT Corporation ITT Inc., formerly ITT Corporation, is an American worldwide manufacturing company based in Stamford, Connecticut. The company produces specialty components for the aerospace, transportation, energy and industrial markets. ITT's three businesses ...

commissioned her to paint ''Iranian Oil''. She held exhibitions in Paris and at the Atrium Artist Gallery,

Geneva Geneva ( ; french: Genève ) frp, Genèva ; german: link=no, Genf ; it, Ginevra ; rm, Genevra is the List of cities in Switzerland, second-most populous city in Switzerland (after Zürich) and the most populous city of Romandy, the French-speaki ...

, and a month later at Galarie 21,

Zürich Zürich () is the list of cities in Switzerland, largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zürich. It is located in north-central Switzerland, at the northwestern tip of Lake Zürich. As of January 2020, the municipality has 43 ...

. In 1976, she exhibited at the Mexican Museum of Art, where

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painter Antonio Rodríguez Luna praised her as one of the world's four greatest painters. In 1978, she moved to France. Later, she lived between Paris, France, and Tehran, Iran. In 2009, a documentary ''Iran Darroudi: The Painter of Ethereal Moments ''produced by

Bahman Maghsoudlou Bahman Maghsoudlou (born 1946) is a film scholar, critic, author and independent film producer/director. Maghsoudlou has, in the words of Cinema Without Borders editor-in-chief Bijan Tehrani, "dedicated his life orecording valuable information ...

, focused on the life and art of Darroudi.

Personal life and death

, she met and married Parviz Moghadasi in 1966, who was studying television direction. The couple worked at the newly established Iranian television organization as producer and director for six years. Her husband Parviz Moghadasi died in 1985. On 29 October 2021, Darroudi died in Tehran of cardiac arrest after a three-month battle with

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was COVID-19 pandemic in Hubei, identified in Wuhan, China, in December ...

at the age of 85.ایران درودی، نقاش نامدارِ معاصر ایران، درگذشت

Works

Select solo exhibitions

* 1958 - Florida State University, Miami, Florida * 1960 - Farhang Hall, Tehran, Iran

Bibliography

* * *

References

External links

Iran Darroudi's Official Website
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Darroudi, Iran 1936 births 2021 deaths Deaths from the COVID-19 pandemic in Iran 20th-century Iranian women artists 21st-century Iranian women artists Iranian painters People from Mashhad École du Louvre alumni Iranian biographers Iranian women painters