Iran Book News Agency (IBNA) - Aghdashloo's "The Other Half" unveiled

The unveiling session of Aidin Aghdashloo's "The Other Half" was held at Reza Abbasi Museum with the presence of a number of artists. The book includes Aghdashloo's collection of mended calligraphy.

IBNA: Shahram Heydar Abadian, director of Reza Abbasi Museum was the first speaker of the session: "Master Aidin Aghdashloo as a professional painter and graphist is a precious asset for Iranian culture, but his presence in this session is for his valuable endeavors in preserving and recreating a part of our cultural heritage."

He added: "Founding the Reza Abbasi Museum is but one of Aghdashloo's valuable acts. The museum owes much to the master and his personal collection is a valuable supplement to Reza Abbasi Museum. During this session the efforts of master Aghdashloo, Keyvan Haghighi and Ardeshir Abkenar will be praised. They have created an exquisite catalogue for the exhibition. Moreover, 'The Other Half' is published by them."
Then Aidin Aghdashloo made a speech, saying "this is my second solo exhibition in my life. The first one I held in 1974 and now after almost four decades my second solo exhibition is being held here."

Aghdashloo went on to state that Reza Abbasi Museum was inaugurated in 1978 in place of an old furniture store. The building was purchased and turned into a museum within four months. The showcases were ordered and installed and the items chosen in 40 days. And in the meantime the catalogue was released."

"The choice was made only on the best. The museum is a first-rate collection with the best works showing a quintessence of the seven-thousand-years of Iranian art and culture. The museum is also significant on the post-Islamic art of Iran, including the calligraphic section."

Aghdashloo then thanked two old curators of the museum, Mina Sadeq and Tehranchi, and added: "The works collected here are all mended examples of Iranian calligraphy. I have been purchasing calligraphic manuscripts since I was 18 and as I was not rich enough I only bought damaged but cheap manuscripts. All the purchased works had some kind of defects. The first piece I purchased was the work of Asadollah Shirazi, great calligrapher of Fath-ali Shah Qajar's period. Ever since then I have purchased and mended manuscripts and I am still too penniless to purchase expensive works. But this poverty had other advantages as I began to repair the damaged works. This helped me to learn calligraphy, illumination and gilding on my own."

Aghdashloo asserted that since he had no tutor on calligraphy, he had to learn from original Teimoori and Safavid art and this gradually added to his knowledge of these arts.

He then dedicated his exhibition to all restorers and revivers of cultural and artistic works that have remained anonymous.
Aghdashloo then called himself as a servant of Iranian culture and asserted: "The Great soul of Iran cannot be divided into pre- and post- Islam. The great art of calligraphy arrived in Iran along with the arrival of Islam. The name of this exhibition and the book' The Other Half' is also a witty choice. I am mostly known as a painter, researcher, writer, critic or even teacher. But I my mending work was private and now it has been revealed to the public."

The unveiling ceremony of Aidin Aghdashloo's "The Other Half" was held on Saturday evening (July 28) at Reza Abbasi Museum.
"The Other Half" is a collection of calligraphies mended by Aidin Aghdashloo and some of his own calligraphic paintings.