Intelligence of heart, and altruism
By Alain Le Quernec

In the early sixties the Swiss graphic magazine 'Graphis' was nearly the only graphic design magazine or for the least the most famous one. Created by Walter Herdeg during World War 2, it soon became the reference for graphic designers all around the world. I suppose that, as many of us, the young Morteza Momayez discovered in 'Graphis' the new the modern tendencies like the Swiss design or the Polish poster, and this publication encouraged him to develop his art and realize himself. Morteza Momayez was Iranian and in the fifties Iran, despite a deep and rich tradition of illustration and calligraphy that was considered as an art, did not pay attention to graphic design.

With his vision of modernity, Morteza understood at once how important it was that graphic design had to be developed in this country. He knew the value from what he had learnt in Europe and especially when he studied at the French school 'Ecole Supé'8erieure des Arts Dé'8ecoratifs' in Paris...

As everyone, the young Morteza was under the various - sometimes contradictory - and attractive influences of the Swiss design on one side, and the Polish poster on the other side. The one for the perfectionism, the rigor of its typography, and the other - at the opposite - for the freedom of its creativity 'beyond the rules', for the freshness of its expressionism...To be under influence does not mean to duplicate the model, and to make a pale copy of the original... that is not in the Iranian mentality... and certainly not in Morteza's mentality.

I read that he had a deep respect for the Japanese graphic design, and I can understand that easily. Japan entered the modernity in industrial and technologic fields to become one of the leaders, keeping in the same time its culture and tradition... graphic design being no exception. In time of uniformed world design, the Japanese design keeps its personality, its true own style.

And so did Morteza in Iran. He tried to respect the rules of Swiss design, or to develop the inventions like in Polish posters, but first of all his works were Iranian, they belonged to his own culture.

Very soon his works attracted attention on the little planet of graphic designers, because his works were new, different. And yet they were part of the world of Iranian typography, where almost nothing, as far as I know, had been done in the field of graphic design. So Morteza was invited to be member of the AGI, the Alliance Graphique Internationale, a very small, select international club of graphic designers, fighting for the excellence of their art. He was the first Iranian member. Then came the Islamic revolution and moreover the terrible eight years' war against Iraq. A war that isolated Iran from the rest of the world... As everyone else I believed that the Iranian graphic design movement would have disappeared...

When I was invited in Iran in 2001, it was for me a great surprise to discover how alive, how modern, how creative and how structured it was...I actually discovered a society of graphic designers that has the fighting spirit of making good design, innovating, open to new tendencies, aware and curious of everything... I do not know many countries where such an organization exists, with such efficiency. Now there are three generations of Iranian designers, all of them considering their work more like an art than the dress of advertising. And that was due to the effort of Morteza during these hard times.

Since the beginning Morteza was not alone, but more than others, he was an organizer, federating the energies of all the designers, animated by the same spirit of creation, and therefore giving more power to their action. From the beginning, he knew how important education was, and to make graphic design become something more than a low-rated section of the art schools, get it recognized as a real art department in the University and make the best designers to be the professors.

The result of this action is obvious. Iranian graphic design is now one of the most dynamic, one of the most original, one of the most awarded on the international scene by people who felt guilty of not having discovered it earlier...

Nothing is eternal. Like flowers, artistic movements bloom, develop and disappear again. C’est la vie… the Polish poster movement has gone down…. But very seldom such movements are due to one personality, as it was in Iran with Morteza. Who knows how long this Iranian movement will last? I believe it will continue for a long time, because it is well structured, because its members are young and talented, and they are the heritors of Morteza's example.

I pay my respect to Morteza Momayez, the artist, the great graphic designer who managed to introduce modern graphic design in Iran.

I pay my respect to Morteza Momayez, the professor and the federator who managed graphic design to become a real department at the University.

But above all I pay my respect to Morteza Momayez, the human being, who beyond his personal artistic talents has been able to build this structure that makes Iranian graphic design one of the most interesting in the world, thanks also to the intelligence of his heart, his humanism and his altruism. Very seldom one person attracted so much my respect and my admiration. It was an honor to encounter him.