A Celebration of Iranian Art

by Lincoln Patience, Staff Writer

Photo by Lincoln Patience

Ovissi Boutique, an art shop honoring the work of Iranian-American painter Nasser Ovissi, opened at Reston Town Center on Oc. 19. The boutique’s debut featured many of Ovissi’s celebrated paintings alongside works by several other Iranian artists, curated by his daughter, Maryam Ovissi.

“This is in celebration and honor of him as a living legend,” she said.

Now 91, Nasser Ovissi served for more than a decade as a diplomat and cultural attaché for the Iranian government, frequently traveling to Rome and Madrid. He reached the height of his artistic fame in 1977, when he exhibited alongside Salvador Dalí. While in Madrid during the Iranian Revolution, Ovissi chose to leave his diplomatic career behind to dedicate himself fully to art. Soon afterward, he moved to Reston, where he has lived and painted ever since.

Ovissi is best known for his stylized depictions of women, horses, and pomegranates. His works blend traditional Persian symbols and geometric motifs with a modern focus on the strength and vitality of women. He is widely regarded as a pioneer of the Saqqakhaneh movement—a grassroots and highly personal artistic trend that reinterpreted traditional Persian imagery in a contemporary light. Many of its artists, including Ovissi, drew on international experiences to inform their work.

Photo by Lincoln Patience

Proceeds from the boutique benefit the Ovissi Foundation, a family-run nonprofit supporting Iranian artists such as award-winning ceramicists Delaram Pirooz and Behzad Eslami. The shop’s opening also showcased creations by designer Sarah Barzmehri and jeweler Azar Delaimi, a metalsmith who crafts contemporary heirlooms inspired by Persian traditions.

“I think we all need a little writing, art, and poetry in our lives,” Delaimi said. “It reminds you of a culture that you’re used to—a culture that’s part of me.”

“It’s very authentic,” added chemist and visitor Ali Mohamad.

Largely self-taught, Ovissi produced much of his artwork in response to the Islamic Revolution of 1979, which stripped Iranian women of many of their rights, including the freedom to sing and dance.

“Nasser Ovissi celebrated women, placing them front and center—showing them in seats of power as nobility, singing, dancing, and in harmony with nature,” Maryam Ovissi said. “Placing women front and center is an act of defiance against a regime that tried to hide and disempower them.”