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| Sohrab Sepehri | |
|---|---|
| Name | Sohrab Sepehri |
| Native name | سهراب سپهری |
| Birth date | 7 October 1928 |
| Birth place | Kashan, Isfahan Province |
| Death date | 21 April 1980 |
| Death place | Tehran, Iran |
| Occupation | Poet, Painter |
| Notable works | The Sound of Water, The Footsteps of Water |
Sohrab Sepehri
Sohrab Sepehri was an Iranian poet and painter whose work bridged modern Iranian literature and visual arts, engaging with Persian classical tradition, Sufism, Surrealism, and contemporary world literature. Born in Kashan in Isfahan Province, he studied at institutions in Tehran and traveled to Paris, where encounters with European painting and poets shaped his aesthetic. His oeuvre influenced generations across Iran, Turkey, Afghanistan, India, and the broader Persian-speaking world.
Born in Kashan, Sepehri spent childhood years amidst the architectural heritage of Isfahan, the caravanserais near Qom pilgrimage routes, and the bazaar culture linked to Tehran's modernization. He attended primary and secondary schools administered under ministries associated with Reza Shah Pahlavi's era reforms, later enrolling at the School of Fine Arts, Tehran and the University of Tehran's extension programs. Influences during his schooling included exposure to works by Hafez, Rumi, and Saadi Shirazi alongside translations of Rainer Maria Rilke, Paul Valéry, Arthur Rimbaud, and Walt Whitman. A scholarship facilitated study trips to India, Japan, and France, where Sepehri visited the Louvre, the Musée d'Orsay, and studios associated with Pablo Picasso, Henri Matisse, and Paul Klee.
Sepehri’s entry into modern Persian poetry occurred amid debates alongside contemporaries such as Forough Farrokhzad, Nima Yooshij, and Mehdi Akhavan Sales about formal innovation and vernacular voice. Early publications appeared in literary journals connected to Tehran University, Kayhan cultural supplements, and magazines influenced by editors who had contacts with Ezra Pound's circle and T.S. Eliot's modernist critics. His poetry collections were published by presses associated with Amir Kabir Publishing and later by avant-garde imprints that also produced works by Sadegh Hedayat, Jalal Al-e-Ahmad, and Ebrahim Golestan. Sepehri experimented with free verse informed by Nima Yooshij's reforms, while drawing on imagery resonant with Rumi and Hafez.
As a painter, Sepehri trained in techniques linked to ateliers frequented by students of École des Beaux-Arts principles but synthesized those with Persian miniature traditions traceable to Behzad and the Safavid atelier culture of Shah Tahmasp. Exhibitions in Tehran galleries associated with curators from Iran Modern Art Society and shows in Paris connected him with networks tied to Salon d'Automne and private collectors linked to Peggy Guggenheim-era patronage. His canvases—their texture, color fields, and meditative landscapes—were discussed in the same critical forums that addressed work by Sohrab Sepehri's contemporaries in painting such as Ali Akbar Sadeghi and Parviz Tanavoli. Sepehri participated in exhibitions alongside artists from India's Progressive Artists' Group and engaged with printmakers linked to Tokyo School traditions during visits to Japan.
Sepehri’s themes fuse mystical introspection rooted in Sufism with ecological attention to rivers, gardens, and deserts associated with Persian garden symbolism exemplified by Shah Abbas I's city plans. Stylistically, his verse uses succinct imagery, zen-like pauses reminiscent of translations of Dogen and Basho, and allusions to texts by Rumi, Hafez, and Attar. Critics compared his concision to fragments by Heraclitus and aphoristic turns found in Blaise Pascal and Kierkegaard while noting affinities with Surrealism and the visual poetics of Paul Klee. His paintings mirror poetic minimalism through color fields recalling experiments by Mark Rothko and spatial decisions akin to Abstract Expressionism dialogues in galleries frequented by Jackson Pollock’s circle, yet grounded in Persian calligraphic aesthetics associated with Mir Ali Tabrizi.
Sepehri’s principal poetry collections include The Sound of Water (Ava-ye Ab), The Footsteps of Water (Pa-ye Ab), and Green Volume (Hasht Ketab), works published alongside editions that placed him near the literary movements represented by Nima Yooshij and Forough Farrokhzad. His visual catalog includes series of landscapes and gouaches exhibited with monographs in Tehran libraries connected to Iranian Academy of Arts and holdings later acquired by the Golestan Palace museum and private collections linked to patrons from Tehran and Paris. Collaborative projects and translations brought his poems into anthologies edited by translators associated with Penguin Books-era Persian selections and academic presses at Harvard University, University of California, Berkeley, and SOAS University of London.
Sepehri’s reception spans literary criticism in periodicals such as Kayhan and scholarly analysis in journals tied to University of Tehran and Tehran University of Art. Poets and painters across Iran, Turkey, Afghanistan, India, and diasporic communities cited his influence alongside figures like Mehdi Akhavan Sales, Forough Farrokhzad, and sculptors connected to Iran Modern Art Society. Internationally, translations placed his work in conversations with translators and scholars linked to Edward Said's discourse on cultural translation and postcolonial studies at Columbia University and Oxford University. His minimalism informed contemporary Iranian songwriting and cinematic adaptations by directors associated with Iranian New Wave cinema, including filmmakers who worked within festivals like Cannes Film Festival and institutions such as International Film Festival of India.
Sepehri led a life interwoven with friendships among intellectuals who frequented salons in Tehran and studios linked to expatriate communities in Paris and Tokyo. He remained private, resisting formal positions offered by bodies connected to Ministry of Culture and Arts and opting for independent exhibitions and readings in cultural centers tied to University of Tehran and the Iranian Writers Association. His death in Tehran prompted retrospectives at venues associated with the Tehran Museum of Contemporary Art and publications by presses linked to Sokhan and Nashr-e Ney. Today his manuscripts and paintings are studied alongside archives maintained by institutions such as National Library and Archives of Iran and incorporated into curricula at art faculties in Isfahan University of Art and University of Tehran.
Category:Iranian poets Category:Iranian painters Category:20th-century poets Category:20th-century painters