Lot 5: Reza Mafi (Iranian, 1943-1982)

Reza Mafi (Iranian, 1943-1982)
Untitled
signed and dated in Farsi (lower left)
oil on canvas
43¼ x 59 1/8in. (110 x 150cm.)
Painted in 1974

Reza Mafi came from a family of calligraphers and was himself a teacher of that art. In his paintings he experimented with the expressive qualities of nasta'liq, a hanging script developed in Iran during the fifteenth century which subsequently became the script of choice in almost all Persian poetic manuscripts. By focussing on the hanging tails of the letters, he reduced the script to its essentials to create a variety of expressive abstractions which as his style developed became increasingly minimalistic and elegant.