Abbas Kiarostami (Iranian, 1940-2016), Untitled, print, 2012, from the Snow-White series, Unsigned artist proof, 60 x 90 cmAbbas Kiarostami studied at the College of Fine Arts of the University of Tehran, and originally worked as a graphic designer, book illustrator, and advertising filmmaker.In 1969, he co-founded the cinema division of the Institute for the Intellectual Development of Children & Young Adults (Kanoon) in Tehran. Since 1970 he has directed numerous films for which he has received important awards and prizes all over the world, among them the Prix Roberto Rossellini at the Cannes Film Festival (1992), the Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival for Taste of Cherry (1997), UNESCO’s Fellini gold medal (1997), the Konrad Wolf Preis of the Academy of the Arts, Berlin (2003), and the Praemium Imperiale (2004) awarded by the Japan Art Association. He remained an active screenwriter, film director, poet, and photographer throughout his career. Abbas Kiarostami observed his world closely, moving from one medium effortlessly into the next. Snow descendsfrom the black cloudswith the whiteness of snow His Snowwhite Series photographs show the winter landscape of Iran visited, photographed and revisited over many years. In the tradition of landscape photography, these are solitary explorations which describe the factual terrain but by their very repetition of the subject introduce subtleties and complexities which underlie the simple image. Kiarostami is not a traditional landscape photographer, but one whose photographic vision is part of the greater picture, a philosophy. Inside the shrineI thought a thousand thoughtsand when I leftit had snowed Each photograph from this series reveals the concentrated vision of the artist exploring the single motif of snow landscapes. The subject evokes an atmosphere of solitude and aloneness. Empty foregrounds allow the viewer to enter while shadows and snow drifts contribute to the breakdown of a sense of scale and perspective, creating instead an intensely meditative space. Kiarostami's films are acclaimed partly because of the way in which they challenge stereotypes, and their philosophical tone and poetic vision. In his films, he often uses a fixed position in which the camera does not move and the viewer is engaged through the untold or unexplained. Events unfold in front of the lens. In this way, his parallel practice of still photography is linked to his cinematic work and shares some of the same aesthetic and intellectual concerns. The Snowwhite Series are borne out of Kiarostami's long, solitary walks to search for film sets, sometimes covering thousands of miles in the Iranian landscape. Photographing these landscapes allowed him a spontaneous immersion in nature. They became the equivalent of emotional states and the trees almost human, echoing the saying of the Islamic mystic Muhyiddin Ibn 'Arabi (born 1165 died 1240): “the tree is the sister of man”. Kiarostami's photographs achieve their impact without the use of intricate lighting techniques or sophisticated equipment. He is not concerned with studied methods of technique or printing. A little patch of snow-souvenir of a long winterin early spring “Contemplating the cloudy sky and the massive trunk of a tree under a magical light is difficult when one is alone. 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 somehow to eternalize those moments of passion and pain.”(all poems quoted above are by Abbas Kiarostami) Abbas Kiarostami’s Snow-white Series photographs are in the permanent collections of the following museums: British Museum (London), Centre Pompidou (Paris), Los Angeles County Museum of Art (Los Angeles), MACBA (Barcelona Museum of Contemporary Art), Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York), Russian Museum (St Petersburg), San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (San Francisco), Tehran Museum of Contemporary Art (Tehran), Victoria and Albert Museum (London).Please refer to department for condition report