Parvaneh Etemadi

Parvaneh Etemadi (b. 1945, Birjand, Iran) is a painter who has worked with various techniques for over more than five decades. She is best known for paintings lifeless nature. Born in Birjand she moved to Tehran with her family when she was six. When her high school teacher, the famous Iranian writer Jalal Al-e Ahmad, saw one of her sketches on the margin of a book, he introduced her to painter Bahman Mohassess. Etemadi is Mohassess's only direct student. She inherited her taste, she says, from Mohassess and her audacity from Al-e Ahmad.
Parvaneh Etemadi has depicted domestic scenes and ordinary objects from everyday life with a simple, concise, and sometimes poetic language. In her paintings, form supercedes narration and expression. Etemadi has the ability to discover beauty in things – bottles, wooden pestles, and vases – that may not appear beautiful at first glance . From simple colored pencils to hard cement, she makes use of a wide range of tools in her paintings. Her encounter with the canvas reflects her creative and daring spirit. In 1967, Etemadi enrolled in the School of Fine Arts but later withdrew. Less than two decades later, she joined the artists of the Qandriz Hall, where she was the only woman member. Her first exhibition at this venue took place in 1968. Transitioning toward formal experimentalism in the late forties, Etemadi created notable works — simple, abstract paintings of lifeless nature on a rough cement texture. "I turned to drawing lifeless nature", she says of this period, "polacing the painting in another layer under the figures and motifs, engaging the viewer with a familiar shape while adhering to my accepted principles". In the 1970s she established "Studio Parvaneh", where she held painting classes. She has influenced many artists, like Avish Khebrezadeh and Sadeq Tirafkan, with her unique teaching style. In the 1980s she experimented with colored pencils, forming her distinct identity by incorporating repetitive visual elements. In the first decade of the new millenium, she made use of collage techniques. This was her fourth artistic period. "Daughter of Shah Paryan" is one her series from this period. She also experiemented with ceramics in conjunction with calligraphy. In her latest artistic phase, starting with the exhibition "Once Upon a Time" (2004), she drew inspiration from Iranian myths, offering a critical perspective on contemporary society. She is artist who actively shapes her narrative through every evolutionary phase of her artistic life. She was the subject of a documentary film, "Parvaneh" (2019), by Bahman Kiarostami.