Mohammad Ehsai

Seyed Mohammad Ehsai (; born 29 June 1939) is an Iranian calligrapher, painter, graphic designer and university tutor. He is regarded as one of the pioneers of modern Iranian calligraphic painting, commonly known in Persian as naqqashi-khatt, in which Persian and Arabic letterforms are treated as visual and abstract elements.

Life and career

Ehsai was born in Qazvin and moved with his family to Tehran at the age of six. He developed an early interest in Persian calligraphy and later studied with the calligrapher Gholam Hossein Amirkhani. Before entering university, he taught literature and calligraphy in Tehran schools and worked as a calligrapher and graphic designer for the Iranian Red Lion and Sun Society and the national textbook organisation.

He studied painting and graphic design at the Faculty of Fine Arts of the University of Tehran. He later joined its academic staff and introduced courses examining the graphic and visual qualities of calligraphy. He also taught at other Iranian art institutions.