Aydin Aghdashloo (born on October 30th 1940) is an Iranian painter, graphist, writer and movie critic. His style follows detailing and mastery in classic painting. Aghdashloo received the Chevalier(Knight) award, by the French government for art and literature in 2015 at French embassy in Iran.
He is son of Mohammad Beyk Aghdashloo (Haji Auf) and Nahid Nakhjavan, and was born in Afkhrai neighborhood of Rasht city. His father was a Caucasian immigrant and a member of the Caucasian Equality Party. His family took their last name after the name of a small town of Aghdash. His mother was Bahman Mirza’s granddaughter, the son of Abbas Mirza.
Seeing his talent in painting, his father took him to Habib Mohammadi, a painter and a painting teacher from Rasht. He was 11 years old when he lost his father, after that he went to Tehran with his mother and entered Jam High School in Qalhak neighborhood in 1953. He enrolled in Monsieur Basile’s painting classes there. At the age of sixteen, he started working and learning graphic design at “Ashna” advertising agency with a salary of 300 tomans, and after a while, he started working in the advertising department of Etelaat newspaper.
At the age of 19, he went to the Faculty of Fine Arts at Tehran University after the entrance exam, but in 1967, he stopped studying. Shortly after that, he published his first art review in Andisheh wa Honar magazine – edited by Nasser Vatoghi. He also nicknamed to “Faramarz Khabiri”and criticized the poetry of prominent poets such as Ahmad Reza Ahmadi, Ahmad Shamlou, Akhwan Sales and Mohammad Ali Sepanlou. Aghdashloo was the first director of Tehran Museum of Contemporary Art for a short time after its opening.
Painting
In October 2014, he held his second solo exhibition at Asar Art Gallery in Tehran, after his first exhibition at the Iranian-American Cultural Association in 1975. The collection of Aghdashloo’s paintings, most of which are included in one of these collections, are as follows:
- Memories of destruction
- Years of fire and snow
- Apocalypse disaster
- Mystery
- Intercession of angels
- Bagh Malek notes
Aghdashloo’s paintings are kept in Tehran Museum of Contemporary Art and in some private collections. He also did paintings for some of Bahram Baizayi’s book volumes such as Ayyarnameh, the preface of Novin Shahnameh, and the scroll of Sheikh Sharzin.
Graphics
Aghdashloo’s graphic posters for exhibitions, books, and movies include:
- Nightly (2004); Directed by Omid Bankdar and Keyvan Alimohammadi – set and costume design
- Descent (1993); Directed by Ahmadreza Motamedi – poster design
- Mirza Nowruz shoes (1985); Directed by Mohammad Motevaslani and written by Dariush Farhang – poster design
- Haji Washington (1982); Directed by Ali Hatami – poster design