Closed Circuit History

This is a record of Iran's eternal landscape of the past and a retrospective of an important Iranian artist. Ardeshir Mohassess is an artist of the first order, and as with all true artists he is an antenna and decoder of the society in which he lives. With rare skill and insight, using a few strokes, he communicates the truth of our experience. He has been drawing since the age of three, and although he received his degree in political science and law from the University of Tehran, his real interest was to draw his field, rather than practice it. His drawings were first published in Iran in the early 1960s and have continued to appear since, both in Iranian and Western newspapers, including The New York Times, The New York Review of Books and Graphics. Today, besides many private collectors and museums, The Library of Congress is also collecting Ardeshir's drawings. In a perceptive and culturally sensitive forward, former US Attorney General and advocate of constitutional rights Ramsey Clark sets the historical background enabling the unfamiliar Westerner to appreciate Ardeshir's art. Ali Banuazizi, professor of social psychology and modern Iranian history at Boston College, with brilliant simplicity and deep understanding, introduces us to Ardeshir Mohassess, the artist, his life, and work.