Parviz Kalantari is a famous, seasoned Iranian artist and illustrator. He has illustrated children’s books and has been a diligent artist for more than six decades now, but what sets him apart from other Iranian illustrators and artists is not merely his extensive experience.

Several generations of Iranians have lived with his paintings and illustrations. His works comprise part of their visual memory. His art has also been exhibited in other countries such as the UK and the USA and have been very well received in every case.

One of the features of his works is utilizing the indigenous art forms of the nomadic tribes of Iran. He incorporates the patterns that are woven into the Iranian nomads’ carpets, kilims, gabbehs, and chantehs in his artwork.

By using a short story and simple illustrations inspired by the primitive art of Iranian nomads, Parviz Kalantari familiarizes urban children with the lives of nomadic tribes that migrate to and fro with the change of seasons.

He is a great Iranian artist with more than eighty years of age. He worked as a textbook illustrator of Iranian school books for a while and as such has been the creator of some of the most memorable illustrations for Iranians.

Furthermore, an illustration of his, entitled ‘Iranian City’, hangs in the UN-HABITAT Headquarters in Nairobi and another of his artworks has been printed as a UN postage stamp.

He spends most of his time painting and has a style of his own. In his drawings, he focuses on everyday life of the nomad tribes, desert people, and those living by the sea. A special artistic anthropology can be seen in his artworks and this is what distinguishes his works from that of other artists.

In some of his drawings, he uses cobb (building material made of clay, water, and straw), influenced by the constructions in the desert areas of Iran.