Ataollah Omidvar died at the age of 75

Iran’s prominent painter, visual artist, photographer, and vocalist Ataollah Omidvar died at the age of 75 after several months of disease. He was 75.

Iranart : Painter Ali-Akbar Sadeqi announced the death of the artist on his Instagram page.

Born in 1946 in Kerman Province, he was interested in music from his early age and achieved the first rank among high school students of the country.

In 1966, he entered the University of Tehran and was graduated in 1972 in architecture.

He had the experience of reciting azan in different dastgahs including Nava, Homayoun and Chahargah.

The word dastgah in the Persian language means “system”, as well as “equipment”. The suffix “-gah” signifies a place of doing something. Here, dastgah is used in two different senses: First, dastgah signifies the totality of melodies of a certain musical system, for example, dastgah-e Shur. Second, the word refers to the frets on a stringed instrument. Dast means “hand”, hence dastgah literally denotes “the place of the hand.”

He also made a number of short films which were screened at Tak Cinema in Tehran Museum of Contemporary Art and Iran’s Artists House.

Abbas Kiarostami said that “Omidvar’s works are up to date and those who do not want to understand his films are like those in the past who did not understand the printing industry.”

Omidvar began painting in 2000, and his artworks were displayed in several exhibitions in Iran and Paris.