This March, Christie's Dubai brought together two compelling sales: Post-War and Contemporary Art and Important Watches. The Post-War and Contemporary Art auction offered important examples of 20th and 21st century Middle Eastern art, including works by distinguished Iranian artists like Sohrab Sepehri.
Works by other Iranian artists featuring in the sale from the 1960s through the 1990s included Massoud Arabshahi, Hossein Kazemi, Marcos Grigorian, and Sirak Melkonian, among others. Nine lots sold above $100 million, of which 5 were from Iran, with Sepeheri taking the top auction place, followed in second place by Fahr El-Nissa Zeid (Turkish-Jordanian, 1900-1991), Portrait of Clare Maria, price realized: USD 225,000, and in third place by Farhad Mohsiri and his Le Jeu est fini (Game is Over), price realized: USD 212,500.
All top prices below:
Sohrab Sepehri (Iranian, 1928-1980)
Untitled: USD 287,500
Fahr El-Nissa Zeid (Turkish-Jordanian, 1900-1991)
Portrait of Clare Maria: USD 225,000
Farhad Mohsiri (Iranian, b. 1963)
Le Jeu est fini (Game is Over): USD 212,500
Abdul Hadi El-Gazzar (Egyptian, 1925 - 1966)
Married Couple: USD 200,000
Parviz Tanavoli (Iranian, b. 1937)
The Wall and the Heech: USD 187,500
Huguette Caland (Lebanese, b. 1931)
Good Luck: USD 162,500
Charles-Hossein Zenderoudi (French, born in Iran 1937)
GAZBFAN: USD 118,750
Mohammed Ehsai (Iranian, b. 1939)
Untitled: USD 100,000
Safwan Dahoul (b. 1961)
Dream 26: USD 100,000
Hussein Madi (Lebanese, b. 1938)
Baghdad Landscape: USD 75,000
Mahmoud Said (Egyptian, 1897-1964)
Le Mex (Alexandrie): USD 75,000
Moustafa (Egyptian, b. 1943)
Excavation from the Twentieth: USD 75,000
Paul Guiragossian (Lebanese, 1926-1993)
Untitled: USD 68,750
Dia Azzawi (Iraqi, b. 1939)
Diary #3: USD 62,500
Fateh Moudarres (Syrian, 1922-1999)
Untitled: USD 62,500
Zeinab Abd El Hamid (Egyptian, 1919-2002)
Quartier Populaire: USD 58,750
Hamed Nada (Egyptian, 1924-1990)
Untitled: USD 56,250
Kadhim Haider (Iraqi, 1932-1985)
And a Horse is Selling: USD 50,000
Ramsès Younan (Egyptian, 1913-1966)
Composition No 3: USD 50,000
Parviz Tanavoli (Iranian, b. 1937)
Heech: USD 50,000
Nasrollah Afjehei (Iranian, b. 1933)
Calligraphy: USD 47,500
Timo Nasseri (Iranian, b. 1972)
Parsec #11: USD 43,750
Manoucher Yektai (Iranian, b. 1922)
Untitled (Still Life): USD 40,000
Sirak Melkonian (Iranian, b. 1930)
Untitled: USD 37,500
Hafidh Al Droubi (Iraqi, 1941 - 1991)
The Dancer: USD 35,000
Elie Kanaan (Lebanese, 1926-2009)
Untitled: USD 32,500
Samir Rafi (Egyptian, 1926-2004)
Untitled: USD 30,000
Dia Azzawi (Iraqi, b. 1939)
Standing Figure: USD 27,500
Massoud Arabshahi (Iranian, b. 1935)
Soleil d’Or: USD 27,500
At the end of the day, 79 lots went under hammer, of which 25 had no buyers – 8 lots from Iran. However, as mentioned earlier, with USD 1,226,250 for 15 lots, some 40 percent of sale total of USD 2,973,625 went to Iran. The premier auctions and private sales of the finest art from Iran that couldn’t find buyers included those of Gholamhossein Nami, Farideh Lashai, Reza Derakhshani, Shirin Neshat, and Farah Osouli.