• Snow White Series 1998
  • inkjet print on canvas
  • Photography
  • 257 * 164.5 cm
  • Editions: 1
  • Edition No. 1
  • Signed in Farsi and dated '98 lower left, numbered 1/1, framed 
    Each panel; 164.5 x 85 cm 
Sell at - Auction House
3 March 2008
Estimation
Realized Price
340%
Artwork Description

 "Not being able to feel the pleasure of seeing a magnificent landscape with someone else is a form of torture. That is why I started taking photographs. I wanted to eternalise those moments of passion and pain". – Abbas Kiarostami

Abbas Kiarostami's bold, thoughtful images of desolate natural landscapes represent a significant divergence from the anthropocentric, socio-political, urban aesthetic of his renowned cinema productions. In the Snow White series, Kiarostami makes a transition from the urban to the natural, and with it replaces political discourse with philosophical contemplation.

The photographs of the Snow White series were taken along Iran's Caspian coast during walks Kiarostami took in search of filming locations. The images he took were spontaneous and unplanned; immediate reactions to the stimuli of his surroundings, impulses catalyzed by feelings of awe and wonderment. Kiarostami himself states that his photographs were, "never produced to be shown". Yet once they were developed, the subjective significance of the instance they captured, their beauty and contemplative depth were far too profound to remain hidden.

The present image is an exemplary piece, reflecting all the crucial aspects of Kiarostami's agenda, and its philosophical significance rests both on its qualitative contrasts between man and nature, and also on Kiarostami's subjective interpretation of Iranian history. The tree, analogous to life and growth, is in symbolic conflict with the harshness and inhospitality of a snow-filled environment, but the resilience of the trees therein represents nature ability to harness opposing elements within a seemingly harmonious whole. The immediacy of nature, its self-regulating harmony, and its blind continuation are free from the mis-shapen flaws of a conflict ridden, dystopic, urban environment. Furthermore, the date during which Kiarostami's images were produced are highly significant: 1978-2006 spans not only Iran's turbulent Islamic Revolution, but the consequent war with Iraq and two further decades of political repression and civil unrest. Yet Kiarostami's calm, peaceful landscapes show no sign of this bloody legacy, a testament to natures indifference towards mankind.

An artist known foremost for his cultural scrutiny, in Snow White, Kiarostami urges us to transcend the blinkered realm of material, human concerns, and embrace the majesty and permanence of nature; a force which outlives our fragile and ephemeral lives. 
More lots by Abbas Kiarostami

ArtChart | moonlight From the Snow White Series by Abbas Kiarostami
moonlight From the Snow White Series
Estimation
 
Realized Price
6.25%
Sell at
Sale Date
Auction House - 29 May 2015
ArtChart | Untitled (from the Snow white series) by Abbas Kiarostami
Untitled (from the Snow white series)
Estimation
4,000,000,000﷼
36,364 USD
-
6,000,000,000﷼
54,545 USD
Realized Price
4,200,000,000﷼
38,182 USD
16%
Sale Date
Tehran - 17 January 2020
ArtChart | Untitled by Abbas Kiarostami
Untitled
Estimation
£1,000
1,163 USD
-
£1,500
1,744 USD
Sale Date
Rosebery's Auction - 28 October 2022
Artist Performance at Auctions

Realized Price 23,123 USD
Min Estimate 13,817 USD
Max Estimate 19,302 USD
Average Artwork Worth
+34.059%
 
Average Growth of Artwork Worth
Sales Performance Against Estimates
Average & Median Sold Lot Value
2020 - 2024
Performance vs. Estimate
2020 - 2024
Sell-through Rate
2020 - 2024
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