Iranian teahouse painter Ali-Akbar Larni dies at 65

TEHRAN,Dec.25 (MNA) -- Another survivor of last generation of Iranian teahouse painters, Ali-Akbar Larni, passed away yesterday morning. He was 65. He has ended his struggle with colon cancer after eight months at his home in Karaj. He was hospitalized at Tehran’s Baqiyatallah Hospital for a number of days. He began learning teahouse painting from masters like Abbas Bolukifar and Hassan Esmaeilzadeh when he was 12. He painted over 200 paintings during his lifetime. In his interviews, he always lamented the negligence of officials toward this kind of art but his appeals have fallen on deaf ears. In one of his last interviews he talked about his wishes for teahouse paintings: “Our desires and wishes for passing on the art of teahouse painting for its fans was only for that time that we could work in this art form and not for now. We have been painting for some 40 years and have asked officials to give us a place to teach this art form to the younger generation. We requested this several times but apparently, the only listeners to our appeals were ourselves.” He also lamented that officials and modern artists do not consider them to be painters “since we do not possess academic credentials”. Some months ago, he faced financial problems covering the expenses for chemotherapy and his family asked cultural officials for help. “I wonder why an artist is obliged to sell his works to meet his medical expenses while there are only a few teahouse painters left in the country. “My brother always wanted to have a place of his own to teach teahouse painting where he could transfer his personal knowledge to the youth, but his wish never came true,” his sister Sakineh Larni lamented during an interview in June 2011. With their own unique perspective not used in other styles, teahouse painters draw motifs entirely based on their imagination. Religious stories and Iranian epic legends feature prominently in Iranian teahouse painting. However, this art seems to be fading into oblivion in this day and age. Unfortunately, Iranian artists and cultural officials have neglected Iranian teahouse painting over the past few decades and most of the masterpieces in this genre are not properly maintained by their owners. Many of the Iranian teahouse painters, such as Hossein Qollar-Aqassi, Modabber, Hossein Hamedani, Abbas Bolukifar, Mohammad Hamidi and Ahmad Khalili, died as unknowns. Teahouse painting now survives with only three artists: Mohammad Farahani, Mansur Vafaiei, and Seyyed Hassan Hosseini.