German Artist Holds ‘Homage to Hafez’ Exhibition in Iran

The renowned German sculptor and painter has created his works of art by drawing inspiration from the ghazals -lyric poems with a fixed number of verses and a repeated rhyme- written by universally acclaimed Iranian poet Hafez.

The Homage to Hafez exhibition, which has been already staged in various parts of the world, has opened in the Central Hall of Rasht on November 21 and will run for a month.

Speaking to reporters on the sidelines of opening of the exhibition, the curator of Tehran’s Museum of Contemporary Art said Guenther Uecker has paid visits to the cultural and religious sites of Iran.

“After visiting those sites, he (Uecker) said that if the global art is presumed to be a ring, the Persian art will be its gemstone, and such description provided by a world-renowned artist is so attractive to an Iranian,” Ehsan Aqaee said.

Aqaee also noted that every single work of the German artist costs thousands of euros.

“Guenther Uecker has been charmed by the ghazals of Hafez, and some of those ghazals have been so deeply imprinted on his mind that impressed him and made him create more than 40 works of art on the basis of ghazals od Hafez,” the Iranian official added.

An exhibition of works of Guenther Uecker inspired by the ghazals of Hafez was staged in Iran for the first time in the city of Shiraz back in 2016, Aqaee added, noting, “This exhibition was also unveiled in Germany; thereafter, the sale of Divan of Hafez soared in Germany, and arrangements were made to hold a world tour and an exhibition of works of art from Guenther Uecker all over the globe.”

The exhibition in Rasht displays 42 works of art created by Uecker, including 31 reticular printed works, six sand-printed paintings on a special cardboard and white patina color, as well as five items created with raised printing method on handmade calendar tablets.

The exhibition was earlier held in the Iranian cities of Tehran, Mashhad, Isfahan and Shiraz.

The following are photos of the Homage to Hafez exhibition in Rasht, released by IRNA and Tasnim: