James Gardner, formerly the architecture critic of the New York Sun, now writes
on culture for several publications.
Over the past century, not a few powerful men, among them Churchill, Eisenhower, and even Hitler, have fancied themselves painters and have displayed at times a lively interest in architecture. What is different about Mir-Hossein Moussavi, Iran's leading opposition candidate, is that he has actually earned a living through these disciplines, and not in his long ago youth, but as recently as this past year, just before he sought the presidency of Iran. Given that he may soon be running the place, it is not irrelevant to wonder what kind of architect and painter he is and whether his efforts in the fine arts yield any clues to how he might govern the country. Let it be said that the web turns up very few images of his paintings and building projects, and that these images are not always of the best quality. Still, they can help in forming a provisional assessment. Click through for more on Moussavi as Architect.
--James Gardner