Farshid Mesghali


Farshid Mesghali is an Iranian animator, graphic designer, illustrator, animator, and writer who has lived in the United States since 1986. He received the international Hans Christian Andersen Medal in 1974 for his "lasting contribution" as a children's illustrator.

Biography

Mesghali was born in Isfahan, Iran in 1943. Studying painting at Tehran University, he began his professional career as a graphic designer and illustrator in 1964. After graduation in 1968, he was supported by the Institute for the Intellectual Development of Children and Young Adults in Tehran. From 1970 to 1978 he made many of his award-winning animated films, posters for films and illustrations for children books under its auspices. In 1979 he moved to Paris. In the next four years he worked as an artist producing a number of paintings as well as sculptures, which were presented at Sammy King Gallery in Pairs.
In 1986 he moved to Southern California. He opened his graphic design studio, Desktop Studio in Los Angeles. From 1990 to 1994 he created a series of digital artworks based on snapshot photos. They were exhibited in some galleries and later in L.A. County Museum of Modern Arts. At present he is working on a few sculptures and installation projects in his studio in Tehran.

Exhibitions

The biennial Hans Christian Andersen Award conferred by the International Board on Books for Young People is the highest recognition available to a writer or illustrator of children's books. Mesghali received the illustration award in 1974.
He has been recognized many times for particular works:
For Farsheed Mesqali as illustrator, the U.S. Library of Congress catalogs five Persian-language picture books, and English-language editions for two of them, all published early in Mesqali's career, with other writers and translators. The Romanized Persian editions were published by the Institute for the Intellectual Development of Children and Young Adults.
WorldCat lists two more early works published by the same institution :