BIOGRAPHY

Manoucher Yektai's heavily-impastoed oeuvre stands out as a vivid fusion of cultures. Born in 1921 in Tehran, Manoucher Yektai declared himself a painter at the age of eighteen. He left Iran for Paris in 1944, however the war derailed his plan and he found himself in New York in 1945. Yektai became an integral part of the emergence of the early New York School-or what would later be called the Abstract Expressionist movement. He was the first Iranian artist to be confronted with this new, highly experimental form of painting. In fact, his first one man show at the Grace Borgenicht Gallery in 1950 was historic, as it was the first time an Iranian born artist had ever had a show outside of Iran. Yektai created lasting friendships with Mark Rothko, Mark Tobey, and Philip Guston. Franz Kline, Willem DeKooning, and Robert Motherwell remained close to him until the end. Manoucher Yektai outlived them all and died in Sagaponack, NY in 2019