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Lot description
(Rascht, Iran 1932 – 2010 Rome) Untitled (Head), 1966, signed and dated; signed, dated and dedicated Per caro amico Ugo Sterpini, 1968 on paper mount; signed and dated on the reverse, oil and mixed media on thin cardboard, 30 x 20 cm, framed Provenance: Ugo Sterpini Collection, Rome European Private Collection Note: Mohasses made a series of works in the late 1960s while he was living in Iran. These works are characteristic of his preoccupation with sculptural forms, organic shapes and human figures, elements he explored across a range of media. In each drawing a singular abstracted head, painted without any recognisable traits and only hints at facial features, emerges from a stark background. The heads resemble carved sculptures and merge characteristics of Western European traditions with elements from non-iconic Eastern and Asian cultures. After the Iranian Revolution Mohassess’ artworks were extensively censored by the Iranian state and most of his public sculptures were destroyed. Some works from the same series are currently held in the collection of Tate Britain in London www.tate.org.uk/search?aid=18838&appt=prints_and_drawings&type=artwork In the mid-1960s Mohassess’s works were characterised by a strong dramatic tension, often of tragic irony. His anonymous male figures, ‘hominids’, were imbued with a material force, clearly influenced by the tradition of the informel, and depicted in a state of basic deformation, aimed at emphasising their essentially atemporal nature and at the same time acting as a violent declaration of existential force. These are anonymous and common human images, figures that in some cases have mythical references. Enrico Crispolti