Monir Shahroudy Farmanfarmaian facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Monir Shahroudy Farmanfarmaian
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| منیر شاهرودی فرمانفرمائیان | |
Young Monir, 1950s
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| Born |
Monir Shahroudy
16 December 1922 |
| Died | 20 April 2019 (aged 96) |
| Resting place | Behesht-e Fatemeh Cemetery, Qazvin, Iran |
| Nationality | Iranian |
| Education | University of Tehran, Parsons School of Design, Cornell University, Art Students League of New York |
| Style | Traditional Persian mosaic work related to contemporary abstraction |
| Movement | Geometric minimalism, Saqqakhaneh movement |
| Spouse(s) |
Manoucher Yektai
(m. 1950; div. 1953)Abol-Bashar Farmanfarmaian
(m. 1957; died 1991) |
| Children | 2 |
| Awards | Venice Biennale (1958) |
Monir Shahroudy Farmanfarmaian (Persian: منیر شاهرودی فرمانفرمائیان; December 16, 1922 – April 20, 2019) was a famous Iranian artist. She was also a collector of traditional folk art. She is known for being one of the most important Iranian artists of her time.
Monir was the first artist to combine old Iranian art styles with modern art. She used geometric patterns and a special cut-glass mosaic technique called Āina-kāri. She mixed these traditional ideas with modern Western art. In 2017, a museum called the Monir Museum opened in Tehran, Iran, to honor her work.
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Early Life and Education
Monir Shahroudy was born on December 18, 1922. Her parents were educated people living in Qazvin, a religious town in north-western Iran. Monir started learning art skills when she was very young. She had a tutor who taught her drawing. She also studied Western art from postcards.
In 1944, she studied at the University of Tehran. After that, she planned to study art in Paris. However, World War II changed her plans. Instead, she traveled to New York City by steamboat. In New York, she continued her studies at Cornell University and Parsons School of Design. At Parsons, she focused on fashion illustration. She also studied at the Art Students League of New York.
Monir's Art Career
Monir worked as a fashion illustrator. She had many freelance jobs, including working for Glamour magazine. Later, she got a job at the Bonwit Teller department store. There, she met a young Andy Warhol, who would become a very famous artist.
She learned a lot about art by visiting museums in New York. She also became part of the city's exciting art scene. She made friends with other important artists like Louise Nevelson, Jackson Pollock, and Willem de Kooning.
Returning to Iran and New Inspiration
In early 1957, Monir moved back to Iran. She was very inspired by the culture and history of her home country. She became fascinated with the traditional art of different tribes and folk artists. This led her to think about the past in a new way and find a new direction for her own art.
In the years that followed, she developed her unique style. She created beautiful mirror mosaics and abstract prints. Her work was shown at the Iran Pavilion in the 1958 Venice Biennale. She also had many exhibitions in places like Tehran University and the Iran–America Society.
Living in Exile
In 1979, Monir and her second husband, Abol-Bashar, went to New York to visit their family. While they were there, the Islamic Revolution began in Iran. Because of this, the Farmanfarmaians could not return home. They lived in exile for over twenty years.
Monir tried to continue her mirror mosaic work in America. However, it was hard to find the right materials and skilled workers. This limited her art. During this time, she focused more on other types of art. She took on special art projects, designed textiles, and created many drawings.
Final Return to Iran
In 1992, Monir Farmanfarmaian was able to return to Iran. In 2004, she settled in Tehran. She quickly became an important part of Iran's art community again. She gathered old and new employees to help her create her amazing mosaics. She continued to live and work in Tehran until she passed away.
Monir Farmanfarmaian died at her home on April 20, 2019. She was 96 years old.
Monir's Artwork
Besides her famous mirror work, Monir Farmanfarmaian also created paintings, drawings, textile designs, and monotypes (a type of printmaking).
Mirror Mosaics
Around the 1970s, Monir visited the Shah Cheragh mosque in Shiraz, Iran. This mosque has a tall, domed hall covered in tiny square, triangle, and hexagon mirrors. Many ancient Iranian mosques use similar mirror designs. This visit was a major turning point for Monir. It made her very interested in mirror mosaic artwork.
She worked with an Iranian craftsman named Hajji Ostad Mohammad Navid. Together, they cut mirrors and painted glass into many different shapes. Monir then put these pieces together to create new art. Her designs often showed ideas from Sufism and Islamic culture.
Āina-kāri is a very old art form. It involves cutting mirrors into small pieces and placing them in decorative patterns over plaster. This skill is traditionally passed down from father to son in Iran. However, Monir Farmanfarmaian was the first modern artist to use this traditional art in a new way.
She wanted to mix Iranian traditions with art styles from other parts of the world. She found new ways to look at ancient Iranian art elements. Her mosaics expressed ideas about spirituality, space, and balance.
Personal Life
Monir Farmanfarmaian first married Iranian artist Manoucher Yektai in 1950. They divorced in 1953. In 1957, she returned to Tehran and married lawyer Abolbashar Farmanfarmaian. Abolbashar passed away in 1991. Monir had two daughters, Nima and Zahra.
While living in Iran, Monir was also a passionate collector. She collected paintings behind glass, traditional tribal jewelry, and pottery. She built one of the largest collections of "coffee-house paintings" in the country. These were special paintings made by folk artists for coffee houses, often telling stories. Sadly, most of her artworks and collections were taken, sold, or destroyed during her time in exile.
Exhibitions and Collections
Monir Farmanfarmaian's art has been shown in many important museums around the world. These include the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) and the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York. Her work has also been displayed in London, Vienna, and Tokyo.
She took part in major art events like the Bienal de São Paulo and the Venice Biennale. In 1958, she won a gold medal at the Venice Biennale for the Iranian Pavilion.
In 2014-2015, a big exhibition of her work called Infinite Possibility: Mirror Works and Drawings was shown. It started in Portugal and then traveled to the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York City. This was her first large museum show in the United States.
Her art is part of many public collections worldwide. These include the Victoria & Albert Museum, The British Museum, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art. In December 2017, the Monir Museum opened in Tehran, Iran. It is dedicated to showing Monir's art. She donated 51 of her works to the museum, which is managed by the University of Tehran.
See also
In Spanish: Monir Shahroudy Farmanfarmaian para niños
