Fiorella is salacious; her existence lying somewhere between monstrous and playful. Perhaps to some degree, this work captures the spirit of Bahman Mohassess and the philosophical underpinnings of his artistic career in a way that previous works at auction have not.

Bahman Mohassess is undoubtedly the most acclaimed figure in Iranian modern art. Increasingly, his artistic talents are being recognized and placed within a global context. While the commonly referenced connection to ‘the Picasso of Iran’ is of course not to be diminished, it is clear that Mohassess’ legacy is evolving as one that will no longer need to be buoyed by the successes of a Western counterpart.

Fiorella speaks of play, of absurdity and the forbidden. Painted in 1977 this work personifies the figurative subject matter of Mohassess’ paintings (largely) from the 1960s, but also presents the beginning of the techniques he would later adopt in his assemblages and collages which he began in the 1970s and continued to create until 2008. His figurative work of twisted grotesque bodies, aesthetically informed in part by his interest in ancient Greek mythology, are typically faceless and featureless. Hands and feet are usually not present in his canvases – Fiorella’s red nails, her coiffed hair and rouged cheeks are all unique additions.

Born in the Caspian Sea town of Rasht, artistically trained in both Tehran and Rome, respectively at Tehran University Faculty of Replica Handbags s, and in 1954 at the Replica Handbags Academy of Rome, Mohassess was a well-read, highly opinionated intellectual. While his penchant for ancient Greek mythology, European classics and French philosophy is well known, perhaps his voracious consumption in his later years, of Italian lifestyle magazines, is not. The hyper-sexualized, beautified faces and figures in glossy pages were the antithesis to Mohassess’ bare, raw and unadorned figures. He felt they were misleading in their portrayal and only served to mask the truth of the human condition. He strove to reveal the true body, stripped of all adornment, radiating a deeper beauty in its bare essentialness; powerful and bold despite the torments that it must endure.

But, on the rare occasions, as with Fiorella, where he did use adornment, it was not to beautify, it was to amplify the absurdity of the human predicament.

As much a sculptor as he was a painter, Mohassess had a mastery of bronze on both small and large scales, having been commissioned many t.mes s by Empress Farah Diba. Perhaps it was the ridiculousness of an order given to put underpants on a royal commissioned bronze sculpture, The Flutist, outside Tehran City Theatre, that inspired the uncharacteristic dressing of Fiorella; his irreverent, playful response to society’s irrationality.

His skill as a sculptor as undeniable as his skill as a painter, his prowess and interest in the medium was encouraged by his interest in Greco-Roman sculptures. This carried through in many of his paintings, where the textured paintwork becomes reminiscent of either stone or bronze. Fiorella’s limbs are unquestionably, statuesque in texture and colour.

The individualist enfant terrible, the nihilist, the existentialist – all can be said to describe Mohassess. Fiorella in its irreverence and daring, is a perfect embodiment of these traits; pushing our visual boundaries and subverting our associations. While some may attribute the angst and ugliness to stemming from some form of repressed personal rage or frustration about his sexuality, Mohassess was fearlessly open about his preferences and was not tormented by his choices at a t.mes and in a culture that did not accept them. On the contrary, he reveled in the prohibition of it, saying:

The anguish and torment that is so often seen and analysed in his works, as coming from an artist who left Iran for self-imposed seclusion in Rome, is somewhat misleading. While Mohassess chose to live in isolation his works are very much socially engaged; many of his subjects tend to be global: the My Lai Massacre, the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. – Requiem Omnibus (Death of Martin Luther King) Replica Shoes ’s sold for £584,750 ($750,545). The torment did not stem from personal misery but rather, was a reflection of the state of society at large.

While his existential philosophical beliefs are defining qualities of his oeuvre, within the context of post-revolutionary 1950s Iran, with its exodus of artists, writers and free thinkers, this intellectual belief system was overarching. The poetry of Forough Farrokhzad, who was a dear friend mirrors the same themes.

It is a subtle distinction to make however: Mohassess’ paintings do not necessarily speak of a personal individual darkness, but rather one that was very much in keeping with the sent.mes nts of his peers: reflective of the views and frustrations of society at large – in essence, its blindness to the absurdity of its own, self-imposed constraints. It was for this reason that he returned to Iran in 1964 only to leave four years later, not because he was a homosexual and unaccepted – in fact, he was a favourite of Empress Farah Diba. He found society and all its norms suffocating.

Much as Nabakov’s Lolita is a commentary on his views on a young society (in the United States) that he saw as vulgar and disingenuous, Mohassess also wrestles similar tensions.

Mohassess was complex and adamant in his opinions, but he was also vulnerable, hugely charismatic, and humorous. Moved by poetry and a lover of film, there was also a lightness to his character. Fiorella shows us more of this side of Mohassess.

What truly makes Mohassess’ art unique, and is often less discussed, is the humour and play that is at work in personifying the random nature and absurdity of our normative structures. While Mohassess would snub his celebrated ascent, we mere mortals are nevertheless excited and humbled to bring this rare masterwork to auction.

All direct quotes from Bahman Mohassess are referenced from: Mitra Farahani, Director, Fifi Howls From Happiness. Butimar Productions, 2013.