Zaman Zamani’s Awesome Line-Drawn Nudes

Zaman Zamani’s art in this Iranian.com gallery is really, really amazing. First, his style has a really great range, from this lebas-mahali-with-attitude portrait to this cute plate of what look like dancing dervishes to this more illustration-like painting of a girl in a green chador. Ladies, check out the line drawing/painting of the woman above, with her miniatur-style elongated torso, and tell me that does not make you wish it was the 1970s right now, so you could tease your hair to that size and get away with it?

But wait, it gets better! There are totally awesome nudes.

See? So pretty! So sensuous, yet understated. I mean, she’s naked, but it feels like the focus is that she lounges around her apartment with artfully arranged pink flowers and perfect hair all the time, no big, and the nipple exposure ain’t no thang. It feels so free and nonchalant; I love it.

In fact, I really like how he treats his female subjects, which dominate the Iranian.com gallery. Some of the work is very provocative, but it feels like all the subjects of his paintings have a secret they are dangling before the viewer, and that they are very much in control of that and very dominant. See this girl with the pomegranates, for instance - there’s something so defiant about her, in the hand on her hip and the slant of her stance.

According to the bio on his website, Zamani is in his mid-80s and had a rather long and productive career in Iran, working for a couple of decades as a children’s book illustrator, which might be the most creative job on the planet. From the bio:

Best known for his watercolors and oil paintings, Zamani has demonstrated his expertise in various medias and is a well recognized and accomplished artist in photography, tile painting, ceramics, silkscreen, pen and ink illustration, and sculpture. He finds his favorite subjects in nature and is well known for his seascapes and snow scenes. He has created a delicate balance between traditional Persian painting and contemporary fine art.

Zamani illustrated Iranian textbooks in the 1960s and 1970s, so I wonder if his work is all over the same books that taught me to read “Baba aab daad” and the like. Apparently, Zamani is selling limited edition prints but the paypal address does not inspire my confidence and there’s no way (that I can find) to know what you are getting. Does anyone have any intel on this? I am now determined to hunt down more of his work. If anyone has links, please share!