Charles Hossein Zenderoudi | "Le Coran": Dastan +2

TEHRAN – April 27, 2016. Dastan +2 is pleased to announce the opening of “Le Coran” an exhibition of book design and screen-prints by Charles Hossein on April 29, 2016. The exhibition will be open for public viewing through May 21.

The Quran presented in this exhibition was published in 1970 by “Club du Livre, Paris" (Paris Book Club) (ed. Philippe Lebaud) in limited numbered editions. This four-volume set is a unique endeavor with several historical, artistic, and academic aspects. The boxset contains Jean Grosjean’s French translation of the Quran in two volumes, which feature 42 illustrations by Charles Hossein Zenderoudi and are preceded by a study by the French Islamic scholar and sociologist, Jacques Berque. A separate canvas box includes a facsimile reproduction of the unique manuscript of the Quran by Ibn Bawwab, and a booklet of commentary on the manuscript by D. S. Rice. 373 of the sets include a box of serigraphs by Charles Hossein Zenderoudi and Adrian Frutiger. The box contains 20 signed screen-prints, 13 mono-color unsigned screen-prints by Zenderoudi, and two sets of 21-sheet serigraphs showing the process for creating two of the multi-color works. In addition, 7 unsigned screen-prints of Frutiger-designed symbols are included in the box.

This Quran, due to the collaboration of writers, artists, designers and artisans on a fundamental text, was specially designed to represent the French Art Book at UNESCO’s International Book Year in 1972.

Charles Hossein Zenderoudi (b. 1937, Tehran) is one of the members of “Saqqâ-Khâna” school of art and leading figure in Iranian contemporary painting. Works from his six decades of artistic career have been acquired by numerous prestigious museums, including the Museum of Modern Art in New York, Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris, the British Museum in London, the National Center of Contemporary Art in Paris, Tehran Museum of Contemporary Art, and other private and public collections.

Abolhasan Ali Ibn Helal Abdelaziz (d. 1022 or 1031AD in Baghdad), better known as “Ibn Bawwab”, was one of the most important calligraphers in the Islamic civilization. His innovations and the new principles he devised in calligraphy, have continued to influence both the art of calligraphy and modern typeface design in Arabic and Persian languages. Ibn Bawwab’s Quran presented in this show is an exact printed copy of his handwritten version finished in 1001AD which is part of the collection of Chester Beatty Museum in Dublin, Ireland.