Nasrollah Afjei

Iran | 1933
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About Nasrollah Afjei
Nasrollah Afjei was born in 1933 in Tehran. From a young age, he showed a keen interest and talent in calligraphy, painting, and music. He began his career at 15 in an atelier and, after a year, launched his own studio with a friend.

After finishing school, Afjei attended the Miniature Advertising Center, which he referred to as an art academy. This center, owned by Rassam Arabzadeh, provided him the opportunity to learn calligraphy from masters like Kimia Ghalam Zanjani and Ali Akbar Kaveh. After completing his military service in 1957, Afjei, along with friends Ali Akbar Sadeghi, Ali Reza, and Mahmoud Basiri, established "Atelier Seven" on Baharestan Street, Tehran. This studio became a hub for their ongoing artistic activities, attracting great artists such as Morteza Momayez, Parviz Kalantari, and Abbas Kiarostami.

Afjei's work first appeared internationally in 1974 at the International Painting Exhibition in Switzerland. Over the years, his calligraphic paintings have been exhibited in various countries, including France, England, America, and Germany. In 1993, Afjei received the first-class artistic award from the Ministry of Guidance and Islamic Culture. He has also been active in art education, teaching at the University of Tehran, Al-Zahra University, and Sooreh University.
In the 1960s and 70s, Afjei experimented with combining calligraphy and modern painting under the influence of neo-traditionalist art movements, particularly the Saqqa-khaneh movement. He showcased these works in an exhibition titled "Calligraphic-Painting" at the Seyhoon Gallery. "Calligraphic-painting" was an innovative term coined by Afjei, later used to describe works that combined painting and calligraphy.

In his calligraphic paintings, Afjei not only exploited the potential of calligraphy but also incorporated elements of the Iranian-Islamic tradition of calligraphy and page layout. Art critic Ruyin Pakbaz notes that: "Afjei's expertise in various traditional calligraphy methods has diversified his calligraphic paintings. In the 1970s, Afjei created Op Art-inspired works using Kufic-Bannai script and crafted deliberate compositions with Thuluth script features. Since the early 1970s, he has developed a more personalized style based on the Siyah mashq tradition, creating intricate combinations with hidden Nasta'liq intertwined letters."
The Most Expensive Artwork
ArtChart | Verse from holy Quran by Nasrollah Afjei
Verse from holy Quran
Realized Price
At Auctions
First Attendance
3 June 2008
# Attendance
73
# Artworks
93
Average Realized Price
60,950 USD
Average Min Estimate
43,066 USD
Average Max Estimate
59,712 USD
Sell-through Rate
76.923%
Average Growth of Artwork Worth
16.074%
Timeline
All Art Fairs Auctions Exhibitions
2024 2023 2022 2021 2020 2019 2018 2017 2016 2015 2014 2013 2012 2011 2010 2009 2008
Articles
تا ابد عاشقتم (1385-1386)، فرهاد مشیری
Market of Iranian Neo-calligraphers 15 August 2023
Neo-calligraphic style entered the modern Iranian art movement in 1964 with the efforts of the pioneers of the Saqakhaneh movement, namely Hossein Zenderoodi, Parviz Tanavoli and Faramarz Pilaram. From this movement, later, a trend called Calligraphy-Painting branched out, which, to some extent, adhered to the rules and style of traditional calligraphy. Since the the 2000s, with the...
The work of Sohrab Sepehri, the most expensive artwork of the 17th Tehran auction
۱7th Tehran Auction Sales Report 26 July 2023
The 17th Tehran auction: modern and contemporary, was held on Friday July 21st, 2023 at Parsian Azadi Hotel. This auction achieved a total sale of 214 billion tomans equivalent to 4.3 million dollars, which was a growth of 77.8% compared to the previous period. Artchart has observed the 17th Tehran auction in the upcoming report.