Kerman, 1916-2006

Immortal member of the Academy of Arts of the Islamic Republic of Iran

He was born in 1916 in Kerman. His father contracted the plague after World War I and died. Due to poverty, his mother transferred him to Haj Ali Akbar Sanatizadeh Orphanage in Kerman, and this good man left his family name to the children of his orphanage. Hence, the prominent Iranian sculptor and painter was named Seyed Ali Akbar Sanati.

Because the plague was a "monster" to him, he went to war with the monsters with his paintings, took the shape of the plague monster on paper, tied him up, and took revenge on him. Thus, his talent in art was shown.

One day, Ali Akbar saw the "Hall of Mirrors" by Master Kamal al-Molk in a yearbook and thought for hours, and a new window of light opened on his world and he just realized that the man of art has a long way to go to become a man of art. Little did he know until then that the "School of Fine Arts" (School of Fine and Fine Arts) had been established in the capital by Professor Kamal al-Mulk. When he found out about this, he decided to raise money to travel to Tehran and enroll in that school, so he drew a portrait of Haj Ali Akbar Sanati and Haji sent him to Tehran a few days later. But when he arrived in Tehran, Kamal al-Molk was no longer in that school and had moved to Neishabour. For this reason, Ali Akbar attended Master Taherzadeh's class.

His interest in sculpture was crystallized from the fact that one day he painted on the statue of "Master Abolhassan Khan Siddiqui" and with this painting, he entered the world of sculpture. And to master this art, he appeared in the presence of "Abolhassan Khan Siddiqui".

After visiting the "Albert Hunmann" exhibition at the German embassy, ​​Sanati became interested in working with watercolors, and in the evenings, after school closed, he would go to Hunmann's house and teach watercolors.

In 1940, after receiving a bachelor's degree in painting, he went to Kerman to teach painting to the orphans of the orphanage where he grew up, some of whom succeeded in this field. In 1324, he returned to Tehran and, thanks to the efforts of Abdolhossein Sanatizadeh (son of Haj Ali Akbar), built a museum in Topkhaneh Square, which was opened as the first public museum in 1325 with an exhibition and was very well received.

Many of his works were destroyed in the conflict between Mossadegh and Shah on August 19, 1943. Ali Akbar later spent some time in despair but comforted himself and decided to make up for it. He restored every statue and painting he could as much as he could, and with two years of continuous effort, sculptures of great Iranian personalities. And built and exhibited the world. But at the urging of Abdul Hussein Sanati, the exhibition of Railway Square, which was his personal property, was given to the heirs, and for a time his gypsum, stone, and bronze children were confined there.

 Ali Akbar Sanati passed away in 2006 at the age of 90, after years of effort and effective activity in the art world and presenting lasting works in the field of painting and sculpture.