Mohammad Ehsai

Mohammad Ehsai studied at College of Fine Arts. The recorded working language is Persian. Employment is recorded with University of Tehran. Works named in the authority record are Rouyesh (Growth). Work by Mohammad Ehsai is recorded in the collections of British Museum and Metropolitan Museum of Art.

• Name — Mohammad Ehsai • Native Name — محمد احصایی • Born — 29 June 1939 • Birthplace — Qazvin, Iran • Field — Calligraphy, painting and graphic design • Training — Faculty of Fine Arts, University of Tehran • Movement — Iranian calligraphic painting

Ehsai was born in Qazvin and moved with his family to Tehran at the age of six. He developed an early interest in Persian calligraphy and later studied with the calligrapher Gholam Hossein Amirkhani. Before entering university, he taught literature and calligraphy in Tehran schools and worked as a calligrapher and graphic designer for the Iranian Red Lion and Sun Society and the national textbook organisation. He studied painting and graphic design at the Faculty of Fine Arts of the University of Tehran. He later joined its academic staff and introduced courses examining the graphic and visual qualities of calligraphy. He also taught at other Iranian art institutions.

Ehsai's work combines the discipline of traditional Persian and Islamic calligraphy with the compositional principles of modern painting and graphic design. His paintings often enlarge, repeat or interlace letters until their linguistic meaning becomes secondary to rhythm, colour and form. His non-traditional works have commonly been divided into two principal groups: his calligraphic paintings and the series known as the Eternal Alphabet. In these works, individual words and letters are transformed into monumental abstract structures, frequently painted in bright colours against dark backgrounds. Ehsai has also produced traditional calligraphy in scripts including Nastaʿlīq, shekasteh nastaʿlīq, thuluth and muhaqqaq. His major calligraphic projects include manuscripts of the Divan of Hafez and the Quran. His work is represented in the collection of the British Museum and in several Iranian public collections.

The authorities additionally record the headings Seyed Mohammad Ehsaei, Mohamed Ehsai and Seyed Mohammad Ehsaey. His recorded language was Persian.

Mohammad Ehsai is recorded as calligrapher, academic staff, artist, graphic designer and painter.