AN IMPORTANT GROUP OF WORKS BY ARDESHIR MOHASSES 


"""""" "I don't believe in an ideal society... as there is no need for me in such a society.""""" - Ardeshir Mohasses

Irans most accomplished and prolific cartoonist, Mohasses combines artistic ingenuity with political satire to create shrewd, gripping images that reference and scrutinize key episodes in Iran's turbulent past. Mohasses' professional background as a journalistic cartoonist shapes both the aesthetic and subject matter of his works. 

Depicted in the form of pictoral vignettes, the miniature size and simple format of his sketches present the viewer with clear, succinct commentaries on a personal scale.

Whilst the majority of Mohasses' work contains acerbic, alarming and often disturbing imagery chronicling the social and civil turmoil plaguing Iran throughout the 19th and 20th centuries, the present sketches are almost unique in Mohassess' oeuvre, depicting demure, sedate and thoughtful figures in somber repose. 

Ardeshir Mohassess was born in Iran in 1938 and began drawing early in his childhood. In the 1960s, after receiving a degree in political science from Tehran University, he worked as an illustrator for Iranian journals and newspapers. Soon after, his drawings began to appear in major international newspapers and magazines, including The New York Times. 

In 1976, Mohassess left Iran for what he planned as a temporary stay in the United States. However, with the outbreak of the Iranian Revolution in 1979 Mohassess chose to remain in New York, where he lived until his passing in 2008.