Faramarz Pilaram (1936-1983)
Faramarz Pilaram was an Iranian modernist painter and educator. He is famous for his abstract and calligraphy paintings. He was born on 10 April 1936 in Tehran, Iran. Pilaram was a pioneer within the Saqqakhaneh school, a neo-traditionalist art movement. There were three major periods in his artistic career: figurative, decorative and calligraphic.
Education
He studied at Jalil Ziapour‘s Tehran Boys’ Fine Arts Conservatory (honarestane honarhaye zibaye pesaran) from 1957-1960 under the supervision of Mahmoud Farshchian. Pilaram recieved his MA Interior Design and Decorative Painting from the Faculty of Decorative Arts (daneshka honarhaye tazini) at Tehran University (now University of Tehran) in 1966, where he studied under Shokouh Riazi, renowned Iranian modernist.
Career
Pilaram won the silver medal with his famous work “Tigheha” at the third Tehran Modern Art Biennial in 1962. Pilaram was among the first group of Iranian artists who focused on Iranian heritage and mythical motifs in their artwork, which makes him one of the founders of the Saqqakhaneh art movement. Other leading members of the movement included Massoud Arabshahi, Mohammad Ehsai, Parviz Tanavoli, and Hossein Zenderoudi. In 1963 Pilaram opened his first solo exhibition at the Farhang Hall in Tehran, Iran. Pilaram founded Iran Gallery (Talare Iran, later Talare Ghandriz) together with Mansoor Ghandriz, Rouin Pakbaz, Sadegh Tabrizi, Mohammad-Reza Jodat, Ghobad Shiva, Massoud Arabshahi, Sirus Malek, Farshid Mesghali, Parviz Mahallati, Morteza Momayez, and Hadi Hezareiy in 1964. In 1964 he established the Iran Hall in Qandriz. In 1967 he founded the Iranian Calligraphers Association, where he taught calligraphy. Pilaram was an assistant professor at the Faculty of Architecture of the University of Science and Technology in Tehran, where he taught design from 1972 to 1980. He was among the founders of the Saqakhaneh School of Art.
International career
After winning the silver medal with his famous work “Tigheha” at the third Tehran Modern Art Biennial in 1962, Tigheha was borrowed by the Venice Biennale and subsequently purchased by the Museum of Modern Art in New York. In 1965 he held his second exhibition at the fourth biennial in Paris. That same year he won the Grand Prize of Fine Arts at the fourth Tehran Biennial (1964). In 1971 he moved to Paris to study lithography. Further renowned critic Michel Tapié’s suggestion, Pilaram held a solo exhibition at the Cyrus Gallery in Paris.In 1974 he founded the “Group of Free Painters and Sculptors” (goruhe naqqashane azad) in Tehran together with Morteza Momayez and Marcos Grigorian. The Azad Group of Painters and Sculptors was active for four years and held several exhibitions of works by Iranian painters in different cities around the world. In 1974 he crafted his first sculptures, two wooden sculptures of calligraphy were exhibited at the Basel International Exhibition in Switzerland (1976) and the Wash Art in Washington (1977). He completed his last project in 1977, 80 works as part of illustrations of Quran stories. His famous Quran stories collection was symbolic for his artistic career because of the crystallization of his artistic ideas.