She's a Rainbow (Portrait of Shoorangiz Tabatabaee) , 2023
Egg tempera on Calf vellum
Painting Size:
16.3 x 13.9 cm
6 3/8 x 5 1/2 in
Framed Size:
40 x 30 cm
15 3/4 x 11 3/4 in
Copyright The Artist
Shoorangiz Tabatabaee or Tabatabai was born in 1953 in Lahijan a city near the Caspian Sea, the capital of Gilan Province, Iran. She earned an associate degree (a post-Diploma certificate)...
Shoorangiz Tabatabaee or Tabatabai was born in 1953 in Lahijan a city near the Caspian Sea, the capital of Gilan Province, Iran. She earned an associate degree (a post-Diploma certificate) in Photography before trying her hands at acting. Appearing in her first films under the stage name Shaparak in the movie “Khashm O Khoon (Blood and Fury) 1974 and “Tahir” (Immaculate) 1974, however, both films were on hold, so her first screened filmed was “Akbar Dilmaj” 1973 directed by Khosrow Parvizi where she appeared alongside one of the biggest female stars of Film Farsi Irene Zazians, the film catapulted Tabatabai’s career into stardom. She frequently played in comedy dramas often as a cabaret singer-dancer or a westernized rich girl, it was her special beauty and her comic timing that won her many acting opportunities and demanded by top Film Farsi directors, and her salary increased by tenfold within the first year. Shoorangiz acted in 28 Film Farsi movies in the five years that she was active, her most significant movie is the "The Maid" 1974 and her last film was “An Aristocrat Beggar” 1978. After the 1979 revolution like many of her contemporaries she was called to Evin Prison (The political Prison north of Tehran) and forced to sign a letter of penitence, repenting her sins, and promising not to act or dance in public again. She soon married the film director/actor Mohammad Saleh Ala and gave birth to their only son Baran. After forty years of silence where she refused interviews and media appearances she played in the film “Panah” (2019) with her husband (some Film Farsi female actors were allowed to act at an old age). She is presently living in Tehran with her husband. The title of the painting comes from the 1967 song “She’s a Rainbow” that Mick Jagger and Keith Richards wrote for the Rolling Stones.The late Anita Pallenberg was rumoured to be the muse for the track. Pallenberg had just come out of a relationship with Brian Jones in 1967 after he was physically abusive to her in Morocco, after several months on psychedelic drugs. The story is about a beautiful woman that though she inspired men she was trapped in a system of patriarchy and male dominance, not too far from the plight of Iranian women. The words from the second verse includes: “Have you seen her all in gold, Like a queen in days of old? She shoots colours all around like a sunset going down. Have you seen a lady fairer? “ In this image Shoorangiz a golden beauty sits in a colourful garden, her bubbly characters in Film Farsi were her trading mark and the title captures this personality trait as well as the psychedelic 1970’s era.
