Abbas Kiarostami (Iran, Tehran 1940 - Parigi 2016)Senza titolo dalla serie ‘Snow White’, 1978-2003Fotografia71 x 109 cm

Abbas Kiarostami has become internationally known thanks to his fruitful career as a filmmaker, but in reality he has been an all-round intellectual. Throughout his brilliant career, he has made deeply introspective films through which he has brought to light and analysed the contradictions of Iranian society and the need for Iran to take a new path. In an interview in 2003, Kiarostami spoke of how images had seduced him since his youth and how photography had always occupied a special place in his professional and personal life. The artist loved to spend time alone in the most remote and uninhabited places. His only companions were nature and his camera. In this work, Kiarostami captures the uninhabited landscape of the Caspian Sea coast. The photographs he took during solitary walks in search of the best locations for his films were not intended to be shared with the public. He wanted to capture rare snapshots of peace, beauty and harmony and keep them for himself as reminders of special and unique moments. Only at a later stage of his life did he decide to share them with the public.Trees and plants become symbols of life and continuity and emerge from the snow, showing a strong resilience.Kiarostami's photographs are held in several prestigious museums and collections including: the Centre Pompidou and the Los Angeles County Museum (LACMA); the Victoria and Albert Museum has a similar work to ours from the series ‘Trees in Snow’ (Acc. No. E.461-2011) and the Museum of Modern Art (MoMa, New York) paid tribute to the artist with a retrospective of his films and photographs entitled Abbas Kiarostami: Image Maker (2007).A photograph from the same series has recently been included in a Sotheby’s catalogue, London, Modern and Contemporary Middle East, April 2024, Lot 558. Provenance: the artwork was given to the present owner directly by the artist.