Mehdi Sahabi was a painter, sculptor, photographer, writer, translator, and journalist; a faceted prism of Iran’s art and culture. He was a national asset who opened glorious windows to literature and the visual world for Iranian audiences. It is not far from truth to say that finding a multidimensional person like Sahabi, whose different aspects are indistinguishable from one another, is not an easy task. He was like an encyclopedia all in one, as if seven forms of art had each taken up a corner of his life.

Sahabi shined brightly in every profession he chose to the extent that his colleagues in each field believed he belonged entirely to that profession, and then he would move on to another field. It is like Sahabi was a painter who in search of new visual layers, turned to writing, translation, and journalism. Photography was a continuation of painting, while painting was a brush he used for making his photographs and sculptures.

To Sahabi everything around him was merely raw material to create a piece of art, each medium a separate vessel, and the final artwork the content of these different vessels. He saw the world as a patchwork and was always eager to find a new language. Sahabi mastered the art of connecting the different layers of his art.

From the outside it seemed as if he was constantly abandoning one profession for another, but in fact without cutting ties with his previous profession, he was repeating the same experience in different ways, each time making it purer and more original. Like a beautiful lining he preserved the layers of his previous experiences in the background of his later creations, even if that previous layer was only a hint, a subtle component, or a small act of playfulness.

Sahabi was a modern artist who always went a few steps beyond his time. It could be said that he was a modernist by nature and was sincerely immersed in this belief because he never had any painting, writing, or language lessons and had not been taught by a teacher. The title of defender of Iranian modernism truly befits him. Sahabi’s artworks always make viewers think; tickling them and throwing stones in front of their feet.

Artistic living in a sahabi’s Way

Saadat Afzood

First Chapter: Birth until 1963

Mehdi Sahabi was born in January 1944 in the “Rah-e Kooshk” neighborhood of Qazvin, in one of four interconnected houses that had access to each other from within. It was a house with “stained glass windows that inspired the imagination and carried the child’s mind beyond the borders of sleep to a place of wonder.” (Haddad, 2008 p.48) At the age of ten he moved to Tehran with his family and this change marked a new chapter in his life.

From the beginning of his childhood he was observant and alert and in his own words: “It was clear to me from childhood that I was not a person who climbs trees and I don’t know, throws stones at sparrows and fights with other children my age and so on. I was the type who instead of running around and causing trouble, sat and watched, played with flowers, caught butterflies, and these types of activities.”(E’tesam, 2013, p.13)

The first visual image that was etched in Sahabi’s mind as a child was a colorful picture of Rostam (a mythical Iranian character) that his father drew with pencil on the cover of a notebook and gave to him. His father was a driver by profession and had been educated in a traditional school, but he had a beautiful handwriting and a treasury of poetry in his mind. Sahabi says, “As the French say, my father had not been artisticized.” (E’tesam, 2013, p.20)

From early childhood Sahabi was immersed in tinkering with objects, making drawings, and building things. He was tempted by objects used in Ashura ceremonies and thought they were the most beautiful things in the world. The first object or so-called volume he made was a traditional Ashura Alam (banner) made from cardboard. And he made these objects all year round. (E’tesam, 2012, p. 19)

He instinctively began using colored pencils and watercolors as a teenager, and later even experimented with wall paint. Sahabi says,”I started a lot of things by myself, so I sometimes made a lot of big mistakes. I was not in a position to ask anyone because there were no artists around in our family. And at that time it didn’t occur to anyone to find me an art teacher, and even if it had, they probably wouldn’t have done it.” (E’tesam, 2012, p. 19)

From childhood Sahabi turned everything that happened around him into an opportunity for creativity. For instance copying his father and uncle, both of whom were drivers, he would turn wooden boards into buses and drive his playmates around. Using red tulips, he painted dashboards and fuel tanks on the wooden boards. He was also interested in literature from early on, and in his own words, “Like any genuine Iranian, I used to recite poetry as a child.” (E’tesam, 2012, p. 28). This dual tendency for visual arts and literature was with him from childhood until…

In 1963, he received a diploma in mathematics from Alborz High School and was accepted in the field of painting at the Faculty of Decorative Arts in Tehran.

In 1964, he had his first and only acting experience in the play “Iron” directed by Khojasteh Kia. It is worth noting that Sohrab Sepehri was the stage and poster designer for this play.

In 1965, he left his studies at the Faculty of Decorative Arts and signed up for military service in order to be able to leave for Europe after completion. After military service he presented an idea about the history of Iranian art to National Television, but at that time he did not find the environment at Iranian radio and television compatible with his character.

Second chapter: 1967 -1990

In search of a new career, in 1967 Sahabi left Iran for Italy to study cinema. He says, “In practice I realized it was not possible to enter the field of cinema – maybe it wasn’t for me, if it were I would have entered it already. This was the reason I focused on painting, which was more natural to me and made me happy.”(E’tesam, 2012, p.8) And this is how he gave up studying cinema.

He began to study painting at the Academy of Fine Arts in Rome in 1968. To make a living, he restored old paintings. He soon settled in a workshop in Rome, gradually restoring works by famous artists such as Lucio Fontana. He later regretted not continuing this profession. At the end of the year, he left the Academy of Fine Arts in Rome, in order to complete the collage of his life.

In 1969 Sahabi left for France. There he met Eveline his French wife. The result of this marriage is three sons: Kiumars, Sohrab, and Kaveh.

In France, he made a living by making and selling leather goods and necklaces on the streets of Saint-Germain. Somewhere he says, “I always did what I loved, this is the reason everything I did, I did well and didn’t do out of boredom. Whenever the purpose was to make a living, money itself was not the main issue. The quality of the work and the work that needed to be done was important, even if I sold necklaces on the street I cared about what I made.” (E’tesam, 2012, p.32)

In 1972 Sahabi returned to his homeland and tried his luck at entering the profession of cinema for the second time, but it didn’t work out and he put this idea away forever. He had a special talent for learning languages, and because of having lived in Europe for several years, he was fluent in three languages: Italian, French and English. So he started working as a translator in the international section of Kayhan Newspaper. The time constraints of working as a translator for Kayhan Newspaper would only allow him to translate each text once, so Sahabi delivered everything he translated as the final version with no later revisions.

During the time he worked as a journalist (when he did not make any drawings or paintings for four or five years) Sahabi always carried a camera and recorded every single moment of his life. “I did journalism and worked in the field of advertising, which of course, was directly related to drawing and painting. Everything I did, either the work itself had something to do with visual arts, or I stayed closely connected to visual arts alongside my job.” (E’tesam, 2012, p.20)

In 1973 he began his first translation of Italian literature with Mario De Micheli’s “Mural Painting and the Mexican Revolution” (Golshai Publications).

In 1977, Sahabi published his first translation of Russian literature with the book “Death of the Vazir-Mukhtar” by Yuri Nikolaevich Tynyanov (Amir Kabir Publications).

In 1978, after a 64-day strike of the press, Sahabi, Rahman Hatefi ”Heidar Mehregan”, Mohammad Bolouri, Houshang Asaadi, and Mojtaba Raji became members of Kayhan Newspaper’s editorial board. He was forced to leave Keyhan three months later along with twenty members of the editorial board.

In 1979 Sahabi and some of his colleagues from Kayhan published the newspaper Kayhan Azad. After ten issues Kayhan Azad was shut down. After the closure of Kayhan Azad, he and his colleagues founded “Alphabet Publications” and published six issues of “Piroozi” monthly.

In 1980 Sahabi published the book “Conquest of Kayhan” under the pseudonym Younes Javanroudi. The book was a description of the events at Kayhan Newspaper.

In 1981 he began painting his collection of “Junkyard Cars”. In this year Sahabi chose translation as his full-time profession and published a translation of the book “The Young Guard” by Alexandrovich Fadeyev (Negah Publications) under the pseudonym of Sohrab Dehkhoda. Sahabi also began working with Transportation Industry Monthly as editor of the review and critique section.

In 1982 Sahabi published translations of the books “The Seed Beneath the Snow” by Ignazio Silone (Amir Kabir Publications) and “Reunion” by Fred Uhlman (No Publication).

In 1983 he published a translation of the book “Mazdak” by Moris Simashko (Shabahang Publications) under the pseudonym of Sohrab Dehkhoda. This book was reprinted in 2002 by Negah Publications, this time under the name of Mehdi Sahabi. In the same year the first edition of the books “All Men are Mortal” by Simone de Beauvoir (No publication) and “Emergency Exit” by Ignazio Silone (Damavand Publications) were also published. Sahabi believed that “All Men are Mortal” was one of his best translations.

In 1984 Sahabi’s translations of Italo Calvino’s “The Baron in the Trees” (Negah Publications), Ignazio Silone’s “The School of Dictators” (No Edition) and Salman Rushdie’s “Midnight’s Children” (Tondar Publications) were published.

In 1985 the translation of the book “The Death of Artemio Cruz” by Carlos Fuentes (Tondar Publications) was published.

In 1986 the translation of “The Council of Egypt” (translated by Sahabi as “Storm in the Swamp”) by Leonardo Sciascia (Nima Publications) was published.

In 1987 the book “Shame” by Salman Rushdie, translated by Mehdi Sahabi, won the award for Best Book of the Islamic Republic of Iran. In the same year translations of the books “The Vatican and Italian Fascism” by John Francis Pollard (Markaz Publishing) and “My Father, My Master” by Gavino Ledda (Babel Publications) entered the publishing market.

In 1989 two new things happened in Sahabi’s career: the publication of his first story titled “Sudden Flood”, and the display of one of his works in a group exhibition at Tehran Museum of Contemporary Art.

Third Chapter: 1990 – 1998

In 1990 Sahabi held his first solo exhibition of the “Junkyard Cars” collection at Golestan Gallery. Lily Golestan says about this exhibition, “Not so large artworks on paper and cardboard, with diluted colors that are often monochrome, with saturated and unsaturated ranges of a single hue. Bright greens, beautiful pinks, dignified grays, and a range of luxurious blacks … His junkyard cars, which were supposed to be scrapped, were not scrapped. They were delicate. He had made them delicate. They were poetic. I called them lyrical scraps and he laughed and laughed and said you’ve put us on… but he liked the name.” (Sahabi, 1391, p.25).

In the same year Sahabi began translating Marcel Proust’s “In Search of Lost Time”. In 1988-89, a rumor was spread that “In Search of Lost Time” is untranslatable. The rumor of the untranslatability of this voluminous book rolled like a heavy snowball and was made bigger and bigger with each new layer of snow. But Mehdi Sahabi shone on this snowball like the warm rays of the sun and refuted the belief that it was untranslatable. The translation took up a quarter of his professional life.

“In Search of Lost Time” brought with it a new perspective and worldview. Proust’s innovation could not be summed up in form alone. What distinguished this author from others was his understanding of the course of his worldview, which opened a corridor to the depths of human existence that was unprecedented.

In the year he began translating “In Search of Lost Time”, Sahabi surveyed Italian literature and also published a translation of Ruth Whitehouse’s “The First Cities” (Faza Publishing). Meanwhile his visual activities were not neglected either. In November of the same year one of his artworks was exhibited in a group exhibition at Tehran Museum of Contemporary Art.

In 1991, while translating Proust, Sahabi’s focus on his collection of figures and portraits became stronger. As a result, it could be said that some of the portraits from this collection are related to the characters in Proust’s book; portraits that are sometimes distorted and sometimes dark. In the same year, Sahabi held another exhibition at Golestan Gallery of his collection of “Junkyard Cars” to which figures were added.

For Sahabi a collection never ended. From the time he began his professional painting career with his “Junkyard Cars”, to his final collection, “Murals,” he always included motives and symbols from each collection in subsequent collections, sometimes as a lining behind his subtle mischiefs.

Abbas Mokhber says in a note about Mehdi Sahabi, “In this cultural famine, how lucky we are that Sahabi lives with us and next to us, while he could have turned into a perfect French or Italian citizen. We respectfully take off our hats and wish him good health. ‘Mr. Sahabi, bravo!’” (Mokhber, 2007, p.75)

In 1993 Sahabi began his collaboration with Payam-e-Amrooz magazine. In this year, he held two painting exhibitions at Golestan Gallery. The first was called “Figures” and the second, “Junkyard Cars”. This time the figures were more prominent than the scrapped cars in the “Junkyard Cars” collection, but crashed and scrap cars were still visible, sometimes flying and sometimes in place of the figures’ faces in the background.

In 1994 Sahabi held an exhibition of his book covers at Seyhoun Gallery. Translations of the books “Dante Alighieri” by Mark Musa (Kahkeshan Office), “David Copperfield” by Charles Dickens (Markaz Publishing and Maryam Books), and “Robinson Crusoe” by Daniel Defoe (Markaz Publishing) were also published that year.

In 1995 he held a solo exhibition of his paintings at Aria Gallery. This year the translation of the books “Pleasures and Days” by Marcel Proust (Markaz Publishing), “Around the World in Eighty Days” by Jules Verne (Markaz Publishing and Maryam Books), and “The Industrial Revolution and the Middle Ages” by Jean Gimpel (Markaz Publishing) were also published.

In 1996 a collection of Sahabi’s volumes, which included wooden collages, boxes, birds and columns, was displayed in Aria Gallery for the first time. These were artworks with random textures, sometimes with neutral and sometimes with vivid colors, and subtle references to previous collections. The signs that can be seen as fragments in his volumetric artworks in fact form a coherent whole. With a little attention, a common perspective can be found in all of them. They are ideas that have evolved, and been joined to previous elements and perspectives with the addition of new elements. In the same year Sahabi published the translation of the book “Symbolism” by Charles Chadwick (Markaz Publishing).

In 1997 he held another solo exhibition of his volumes and wooden wall collages at Aria Gallery.

Fourth Chapter: 1998 – 2009

In 1998 a solo exhibition of his “Little Man” series was held at Aria Gallery. He also finished his translation of Proust’s novel. In an interview with Mehdi Sahabi on the occasion of this exhibition, Parviz Kalantari asked about the reason for the thematic and technical differences in the different periods of his work. Sahabi responded, “I believe these differences are a reflection of the multifaceted nature of reality, and more importantly, a sign of dynamism and mobility in the process of art creation. A reality that is constantly changing in time and space (both external and internal).” (Kalantari, June 1998, No. 75). In October of the same year Sahabi held another exhibition of his paintings at Aria Gallery.

In 1999 Sahabi participated in a group exhibition in Russia, the subject of which was artworks of Iranian modernist painters. Iraj Eskandari, Minoo Asaadi and Mehdi Hosseini, accompanied him in this exhibition supervised by Morteza Momayez.

A report on the exhibition, titled “A Journey Nobody Knew About” states, “Russia hosted a group of Iranian artists last month. An exhibition was held to introduce modern Iranian paintings. It was considered the first, and in fact most important step, in the beginning of cultural-artistic exchanges between Iranian and Russian artists. This exhibition was organized in cooperation with the House of Friendship, the Russian International, Scientific and Cultural Conference Center (which is one of Russia’s most important cultural relations centers), and with the efforts of Tehran Museum of Contemporary Art, the Iranian Embassy in Russia, and the staff of House of Friendship […] One of its most important achievements was to consolidate Iran’s fledgling cultural movement worldwide. Morteza Momayez, who was the group’s secretary and speaker, surprised everyone with his speech on modern Iranian painting. Russian artists, who expected to see an exhibition of realist paintings, were amazed by the forty-six works of modern art that were displayed on the opening day of the exhibition.”(Azad Newspaper, October 5, 1999, No. 152). The year 1999 was a fruitful year for Sahabi on the international realm, because in this year one of his pieces was also displayed at the first international exhibition of contemporary design in Tehran, held at Tehran Museum of Contemporary Art.

In 2000 he held two exhibitions at Aria Gallery; one was a solo exhibition of his paintings from the collection of “Portraits”, and the other was a group exhibition of handmade prints with several other artists, including Ebrahim Haghighi, Gizella Varga Sinai, Samila Amir Ebrahimi, and others.

In a conversation that Banafsheh Sam had with Sahabi about this exhibition, he said in response to Ms. Sam’s description of the coldness and uniformity of his masks, “Mask is a very suitable title for this collection. When I made them, I was thinking of a mixture of faces and masks. That is, not so much a portrait, or a person’s face, but a sign of a face, a kind of reference to a person as a general concept. What you call “cold and uniform” stems precisely from this feature, meaning that these faces are all in fact a general, symbolic, and using a western term “stylized” form of the human face. It was not my intention to show this or that particular person in a descriptive manner. I intended to include elements of a “person” as components of visual composition within this combination.”(Sam, 2000, p. 9).

In the same year an artwork from Sahabi was exhibited at New York International Art Expo’s “Contemporary Iranian Art” section, while his translation of the book “Sociology of Art” by Jean Duvignaud (Markaz publishing) was also published.

In 2001 he held a solo exhibition of the “Instant Photos” collection at Aria Gallery. Mentioning this exhibition a year later in an interview with Tayebeh Mokhtari, Sahabi says, “In this collection the number of faces was limited to four, which were placed 2×2 in a square frame and were reminiscent of old passport photos. The most interesting feature of these types of photos, which were used for many years if you remember, was that they stopped time in a moment that the person in the photograph would later dream about and wish back with the passage of life. My exhibition last year was about the fact that even in those four similar photos the same thing is not happening, and the passage of time points out in a bold way that both time and man have the ability to change.” (Mokhtari, February 29, 2001).

Sahabi also published a translation of Gustave Flaubert’s book “Sentimental Education” (Markaz Publishing) in this year. The book “Daftar-e Eshgh”, which included short poems from Iran and around the world, was compiled by Sahabi and published by Markaz Publishing.

In 2002 Sahabi held a solo exhibition of his “Birds” collection at Aria Gallery. Barbod Golshiri wrote about this exhibition in December of that year, “In Sahabi’s artworks, accidents, courage, and even mischief are always present. He does not remain static and does not repeat himself like many of his contemporaries do, but is alive. […] The obviousness of the process of making an object, their simplicity, and being experimental are all characteristics of Sahabi’s work that are present in his various artworks. More than representing a bird or referring to an object, these volumes depict the essence of a bird or of flight. So in these artworks we are faced with a lack of representation. […] These birds are static, like a taxidermied animal. This collection of Sahabi’s sculptures do not have a dynamic form, for example they do not cut through space. So it does not cross our minds that they might take flight at any moment. Additionally, unlike bronze where the playfulness of light creates a sense of dynamism and speed on a polished surface, wood is dry, unchanging, and still. Sahabi’s cut shapes also exacerbate this. So it is a summary of flight, but more or less static.”(Golshiri, December 2, 2002, p. 29).

In the same year Sahabi’s translation of Alain Fournier’s book “Le Grand Meaulnes” was also published.

In 2003 Sahabi held an exhibition of the “Achaemenid” collection at Aria Gallery, as well as an exhibition of his photomontages at Silk Road Gallery.

He stated about his photo exhibition, “The way my photos are created is that I take the film out and put it back again. I look for accidents, which are often coincidental. I only have a general idea of what might happen. Very vague. I’m always looking for an accident, where out of 500 photos that I have taken, five may end up the way I want. As simple as that.”(E’tesam, 2012, p. 5).

In this year, after a fourteen-year hiatus in Sahabi’s story-writing, two books, “The Ivy of the Paper Garden” (Markaz) and ”Number 110 Margota Street“ (Markaz) were published. His translation of the book “Montedidio: God’s Mountain” by Erri De Luca (Markaz) was also published.

In 2004 the translation of the book “Louis-Ferdinand Céline” by David Hayman (Maahi) was published.

In 2005 Sahabi participated in a group exhibition with several artists at Homa Art Gallery, including Farideh Lashai, Yaghoub Emdadian, Ali Golestaneh, and Bahram Dabiri. In December of the same year his artwork was exhibited in the “Modern Art Movement” exhibition at Tehran Museum of Contemporary Art. Translations of his books “The Division” by Piero Chiara (Markaz) and “Death on Credit” by Louis-Ferdinand Céline (Markaz) were also published.

In 2006 Sahabi held a solo exhibition at Aria Gallery titled “Mehdi Sahabi’s Birds”. The attribute of ownership to these birds was very accurate and appropriate because they were truly Mehdi Sahabi’s birds; static birds with pure and clear colors, where each piece of their body is a random piece of wood. He said about these birds, “I found the wood in the rubble. These recycled pieces of wood almost have a form, and the wood that comes from the sea brings with it its time and history. Most of the work has been done by nature and you just need to have eyes to see them.”(Motalebzadeh, 2009, p. 8). In this year Sahabi also published “Excerpts from In Search of Lost Time” by Marcel Proust (Markaz).

In 2007 Sahabi had his first solo exhibition of the “Graffiti” collection at Aria Gallery. He said about this collection, “[…] You can say about this kind of painting that it is never done. Whatever you do on the wall will be followed by someone else doing something else the next day. This is a feature of the wall. In my opinion, it is experimental as it should be…”(Motalebzadeh, 2009, p. 8). He also took part in a group exhibition with several artists, including Farideh Lashai, Mohammad Ali Targhijah and Mehdi Hosseini in “Dey Gallery”, as well as a group exhibition titled “Stories” with Yasmin Sinai, Alireza Mirassadollah and Mehta Moieni at Aria Gallery. His translations of Louis-Ferdinand Céline’s “Guignol’s Band” (Markaz), and Flaubert’s “Madame Bovary” (Markaz) were also published.

In 2008 Sahabi held the second solo exhibition of his “Graffiti” collection at Golestan Gallery, and participated in two group exhibitions. One was titled “Van Gogh’s Ear” in Gallery Ten, and another was organized by Dey Gallery in the Blue Hall of Niavaran Palace to benefit Mahak Charity. The book “Ceramics / Parviz Tanavoli” (Bongah Publications) was published this year with an introduction by Sahabi. In addition, the translations of “The First Snowfall and Other Stories” by Guy De Maupassant (Markaz), and “The Red and the Black” by Stendhal (Markaz) entered the publishing market.

2009 marked the end of Mehdi Sahabi’s presence in the field of visual arts with his solo exhibition at Dey Gallery titled “Mehdi Sahabi’s Birds”, and his last group exhibition at Golestan Gallery titled “Roosters and Pomegranates”. Sahabi was always an active and concerned member of the Iranian visual art scene, and his sudden loss is still unbelievable to the family of Iranian art and literature.

Mehdi Sahabi went to Paris in the summer of 2009 to visit his family. He passed away two months later in Paris, far from the homeland he loved. Sahabi was a prolific creator, and worked hard for the art and culture of this region, opening up very valuable windows to literature and visual arts for the Iranian audience he left so soon.

But Sahabi remains alive, on the wings of his colorful wooden birds, in the Proustian worldview he conveyed to Persian speakers, in the slogans he engraved on his “Graffiti” series, in the mischiefs behind his cardboard “Masks”, and in the “Junkyard Cars” that he turned to beautiful still lifes for the first time; no doubt his vision of modernism will forever remain in the history of the art of this region.

Sahabi was asked, “What is the purpose of the quantity and variety of colors in your paintings?” He replied, ”Maybe its because I have a young spirit. Why did I use so many colors? Why not? Both nature and life are full of color.” (Iranian Art Magazine, in Search of the Language of Painting, p.12) Sahabi departed this colorful world in November 2009 and left parts of it in black and white forever.

Resources

1. Haddad, Ali Asghar (November 2007). “Mehdi Sahabi’s Brilliant Record”, Tehran: Negah-e No. No. 75.
2. E’tesam, Houri (2012). “Interview with Mehdi Sahabi”, Tehran: Markaz Publishing.
3. Sahabi, Sara and Sahabi, Majid (2012). “Mehdi Sahabi: Selection of Works”, Tehran: Nazar Publishing.
4. Mokhber, Abbas (November 2007). “Bravo Mr. Sahabi”, Tehran: Negah-e No. No. 75.
5. Azad Newspaper (October 5, 1999). “A Journey Nobody Knew About”, Tehran: No. 152.
6. Sam, Banafsheh (June 8, 2000). “Captivity in the painter’s imagination”, Tehran: Bahar Newspaper.
7. Kalantari, Parviz (June 1998). “Turbulence is a feature of the sea”, Tehran: Jame’e Newspaper. No. 75.
8. Mokhtari, Tayyebeh (February 29, 2001). “Frozen Faces”, Tehran: Iranian Art Magazine.
9. Golshiri, Barbad (December 4, 2002). “Familiar Birds”, Tehran: Hamshahri Newspaper.
10. Motalebzadeh, Ali (May 10, 2009). “You do not look at it simply and sincerely”, Tehran: Etemad Newspaper.
11. Iranian Art Magazine. “In search of the language of painting”