Reza Samimi (1919-1991)

Reza Samimi was born in 1919 in Meshed, Persia, and he almost immediately showed a flair for painting. Samimi was in particular a portrait painter, but he also painted still life, landscapes and flowers, all of which he immortalised by his extraordinary talent and mastery so rare in our epoch.

He studied locally and was very much influenced by Rembrandt and Wright of Derby. He took up portrait painting and at the age of 28 had his first important commission; a portrait of Princess Chamas Pahlair, sister of the Shah. After that time he had every success as a portrait painter; he painted nearly every Head of State, including the late President Eisenhower.

He showed in all his paintings the tradition of the Persian miniatures; placing colour on the canvas with a lithesome and gentle touch with razor edge fineness, in spite of which he modelled and formed with visible solidarity, thus he showed a nude feminine portrait with a realistic touch.

During his working lifetime Reza Samimi had many successful exhibitions of his work in Britain and abroad, and his work is in public and private collections all over the world.

Reza Samimi died in 1991.