Lot 541: A Window Through The Life

A Window Through The Life photographic print on canvas, framed signed, dated "2007" and numbered "1/1" (on the reverse), executed in 2007, the present work is unique 140 x 220cm (55 1/8 x 86 5/8in).

140x 220cm

: Property from a private collection, Dubai

'Why are we always trying to define cinema separately from photography and music - they are connected, they mingle and they are interwoven. Why do we like to have something very specific and defined? If that was the case, then the person who likes cinema shouldn't go to the gallery or vice versa. We have to have them all together.' - Abbas Kiarostami "Auteur, poet, photographer, cultural icon. Abbas Kiarostami's position as one of Iran's pre-eminent cultural statesmen has escalated over the decades, ever since he began his film career working with the famed children's workshop Kanoon in the 1960s. Today, his work is known and celebrated worldwide. His films have gathered some of the highest accolades in global cinema – Jean-Luc Godard, Akira Kurosawa, Michael Haneke and Martin Scorsese are just a few cinema luminaries who have paid tribute , the latter quoted as saying 'Kiarostami represents the highest level of artistry in the cinema.' In 2006, The Guardian's panel of critics ranked Kiarostami as the best contemporary non-American film director. Kiarostami's initial forays into photography came from a hiatus in his filmmaking, around the time of the Iranian revolution of 1979. Uncertain, unsure of his surroundings and social context, he sought to reconnect with the country beneath the turbulent political and social ructions taking place and began shooting the images that became part of his initial photographic series, the monochromatic 'Snow White' series. Like many respected directors, such as Kiarostami, along with Cocteau, Ray and Jarman, photography gave Kiarostami an outlet informed by his cinematic vision and rich in allusion and metaphor. '1979 was when I started taking photographs,' Kiarostami says. 'We couldn't make films and we were very depressed. So we took ourselves out of the town to deal with our depression. I had this camera, a Yashica and started shooting. It was a cheap camera...' Window demonstrates Kiarostami's deep and intensely personal relationship with nature, a Persian characteristic that informs much of his poetry, film and photography. This is a perfect example of the photographer's trademark visual minimalism and penchant for essential, elemental composition. A typical Kiarostami trait is to provide a strong framing device – he is known for his fondness for doors – and here, the quiet formal elegance and contrasting textures imbues a sense of peaceful serenity and calm, contrasting with the dank, crumbling concrete window which frames it. A perfect moment, captured and preserved makes for a cathartic and spiritual moment from a master." - Arsalan Mohammad