Houshang Seyhoun

Hoshang Sihun

Hoshang Sihun was born on August 31, 1299, during the reign of Ahmad Shah Qajar, in a family of artists and musicians. His grandfather, Mirza Abdullah Farahani, was the father of Iranian music. His mother was considered one of the best string and three-string musicians. He grew up in an artistic environment and turned to painting and drawing from his childhood.  He has described his childhood like this: “I was not more than two or three years old, without someone forcing me, I would pick charcoal and paint on the door and wall of the house. The work had reached a point where it was hard to find an empty space on the walls.” It was surprising for those around him that he is so interested in painting. He has stated in his memoirs that his father used to buy postcards from a famous European luxury store on Lalezar Street and brought them to him. He was impatiently waiting for the moment when his father would bring the postcards to him. But his father would show them and only give him one and ask him to draw on it. He used to paint regularly to get all the postcards, and he had no choice but to cover the door and the wall of the house.

Drawing, drawing and sketches

Architectural works

He said that during primary school, he wished to go to secondary school sooner because all subjects were taught in primary school except painting. Master Sihun’s father was friends with the late Hossein Behzad, master of miniature research. He was able to cope well with the teacher’s hard exercises (exercises such as writing the English letter s with a pen made of thin cat hair) soon realized that miniature was not his favorite style. After leaving elementary school and entering high school, he dreamed of having a painting class in school. The teacher’s name was Ali Akbar Khan Najmabadi, he was one of Kamal Mulak’s students. With the support and encouragement of his teacher Hoshang Sihun, he turned to oil painting. After finishing high school, he was very hesitant in choosing a university course because he was fond of visual arts, but there was no university in this field. He was thinking about the fields of literature and agriculture, until in the summer of 1319, a college named Honar Kode was established to teach painting, sculpture and architecture, and finally he chose the field of architecture. Three professors taught architecture classes, two were French and one was Iranian. in the names of Maxim Siro, Ronald Dobrill and Engineer Foroughi. Master Hoshang Sihun worked with motivation, interest and love from the very beginning and soon became famous and was able to be the first person to get an honors diploma and no one could get this title until years later. Professor Sihoun’s student days coincided with the Second World War, and after the end of the war, the Minister of Culture of the French government asked its embassies from all over the world to identify the elite and the most talented and invite them to France to continue their studies. The person responsible for the selection was Andre Godar, the head of the University of Visual Arts, and he was undoubtedly chosen by Professor Sihun. At the same time, the Association of National Artifacts started its activity and decided to celebrate Ibn Sina’s Millennium. In the competition, Hoshang Sihun’s design was accepted and he decided to continue this project in the university as a graduation project so that he could participate in the university and complete the project. The interesting thing about Ostad Sihoun’s studies in France is that when he started his studies, due to the fact that the University of Iran was not recognized in France, Hoshang Sihoun was asked to participate in the first year class, but he was not willing to do so, and for this reason, he did not present any plans and only helped the students of the upper year, until a project for “Grand American” was presented and everyone could send their designs for the competition, and Ostad Sihoun’s design was among the first 30 designs and since then Not only did they allow him to sit in the second cycle class, but from now on any student from Tehran University of Architecture will be accepted by them. Professor Hoshang Sihun is the creator of many shrines and monuments in Iran. He paid special attention to famous people to design the tomb. He designed symbolic buildings for Iranian celebrities and used the signs and symbols from the lives of these great people so that the created work represents the personality of each celebrity. For example, the fences around Nader Shah’s tomb are in the form of a row of Tabrizin, and in fact they are like rows of Tabrizin. He said this about the symbolism of his designs: “In architecture, horizontal lines mean peace, vertical lines indicate stability and stability, and diagonal lines symbolize movement and mobility. Now, if you look at the base of the statue in the tomb, the diagonal rises on one side, and in addition, the statue of Nader Shah and the head Its legs are placed diagonally on top of the column. That is, both the base and the statues are subject to the diagonal line. With this, my intention was to show that this is the tomb of a man whose life was full of movement and effort. Also, mathematical and astrological symbols were used in Omar Khayyam’s tomb, and considering that the number 10 is the first important two-digit number in mathematics, ten bases were chosen. Master Sihun has said this about this building: “Nizami, a prosodie of Samarqandi, has a story about Omar Khayyam in his book Four Essays, in which he narrates the prophecy that May my grave be in a position where the north wind will blow flowers on it every springIn order to ensure that the wind can pour the flowers of the garden around the tomb on the grave of this scientist, I placed an open space between the blades of the wall of his tomb and seven basins to symbolize the sky and seven stone triangles in the shape of a tent because Khayyam’s father was a tent maker and that is why he was called Khayyam (tent maker). In the Faculty of Architecture, Professor Sihon added courses such as the field of ancient architecture identification and urban planning, scientific music and performing arts to the fields of the Faculty of Architecture. In addition to the design of the mausoleums, Ostad Sihoun has a large number of residential and office buildings, factories, Hamidi Pharmacy, the central branch of Sepeh Bank, a part of the Amir Chakhmaq market in Yazd, the Amerzashi Institute in Yahchi Abad, Tehran, and many valuable buildings designed by Ostad Sihoun in Iran. As mentioned before, his other successful field is painting, among all the styles, he was particularly interested in watercolor and oil. During his teaching and presidency of Tehran University, he would take students to different villages and draw sketches with them. He held an exhibition of his works in France, which was very well received, and the editor-in-chief of the French Architect magazine asked him to publish his works, and this book is taught at the Iranian University of Architecture. Another type of his artwork is a special type of painting with a combination of lines that twist in space. He has stated that the beginning of these designs started from boring office meetings. In 1972, he received a letter from the University of Massachusetts and he was asked to send them two designs, but he sent them 16 scroll type works for them to choose according to their taste, and then he received a letter that the works were very popular and they have decided to hold three booths, one of Picasso’s works, one of Picasso’s works. Salvador Dali and Hoshang Sihon. This exhibition was held in the last year of Picasso’s life. Among his other initiatives, we can mention designing on felt and inventing work with cloudy paper. In his paintings, the painting of horses is very visible. He said, “The horse is a very strong animal, and the softness of the lines and the beautiful curves of the body are more beautiful than any other animal.” Currently, some of Master Sihoun’s works are exhibited in the Sihoun Gallery, managed by the master’s daughter, Maryam Sihoun, in Los Angeles. Also, some of his works are permanently exhibited in universities such as Harvard, Washington and MTZ. Master Hoshang Sihun passed away outside Iran on the 5th day of June 1393. The architect whose designs became the tomb of famous Iranians, remained far away from his homeland without a tomb.

Buildings designed by Master Sihon

  • Ferdowsi Tomb 1347
  • Tomb of Nader Shah 1337
  • Bu Ali Sina Tomb 1330
  • Tomb of Kamal al-Mulk 1342
  • Khayyam’s tomb 1338
  • Tomb of Colonel Pesian
  • Tomb of Abbas Mirza and some Qajar men
  • Sepe Bank building in Tehran
  • Tus Museum building
  • Yazd Cultural Center

Books

  • A look at Iran (black pen paintings)
  • Sihon architecture
  • Half a century of Sihon’s architectural and painting works

Galleries

  • University of Massachusetts in 1972
  • MIT University (a collection of his works is collected and kept permanently)
  • Harvard University
  • University of Washington
  • Sihun Gallery – Tehran
  • Sihon Gallery – New York