Ardeshir Mohassess

Ardeshir Mohassess (1938 to 2008) was an Iranian artist born in Rasht. He left Iran for New York in 1976 and lived there until his death. He worked mainly in pen and ink, later adding watercolour and collage, and made satirical drawings about political and everyday life in Iran.

Mohassess did not train formally as an artist. He graduated from the University of Tehran in 1962 with a degree in political science and law. His drawings were printed in the satirical journal Towfiq and in the newspaper Kayhan, and his first solo exhibition took place at Qandriz Gallery in Tehran in 1967. From 1973 he illustrated opinion pieces for The New York Times, and he continued to do so for the rest of his life.

After a diagnosis of Parkinson's disease in 1986 his drawings turned to colour and assemblage, combining earlier drawings, newspaper cuttings and photocopies with watercolour. Another Birth (Tavalodi Digar), made around 1985, is a pen and ink drawing in the Metropolitan Museum of Art. His solo exhibitions include Columbia University in 1974, Open Secret at Westbeth Gallery in 1993 and a show at Asia Society Museum in 2008. He died in New York on 9 October 2008.