Cyrus Afsary

Cyrus Afsary studied art under the strict discipline of the Russian Realist style of painting, graduating with two degrees in both Fine Arts and Interior Design. Through his education Afsary mastered painting in oil – his preferred medium – as well as in pastel and watercolor. From portraits, and landscapes to still life, and genre painting, Afsary’s versatile forte demonstrates his artistic brilliance in capturing the moment and expressing both emotion and beauty. Working with dry fan brushes and pallete knives, Afsary’s work is distinctive and unique, whist also revealing touches of influence by the European and Russian masters, particularly Ilya Repin and Valentin Serov.

Afsary has an outstanding 40-year history of national recognition and prestigious awards, beginning with Gold and Silver Medals from the National Academy of Western Art, where Afsary was the first recipient of the coveted Lougheed Memorial Award. In 1986, Afsary received the Exceptional Merit Award from the National Arts Club at the Pastel Society of America show. Afsary won the Painting Award for “Mystical Transformation” at the Buffalo Bill Art Show in 2006 and also shared in the Choice Award that year. In 2007 he was awarded Best of Show at the Eiteljorg Museum and in 2009, he received the Staff Choice Award, for “Entrance to Shrine” at the Charles Russell Museum. Afsary received the Williams Award for Collectors’ Reserve at the Gilcrease Museum in Oklahoma in 2010 and was also awarded Best of Show at the CM Russell Show of Original Western Art.

Afsary participates annually in the Prix de West invitational, the Masters of the American West Exhibition at the Autry Museum in California, the Eitejorg Museum in Indianapolis, as well as the Buffalo Bill Show in Cody Wyoming. Afsary was featured in the 2002 Gilcrease Museum Rendezvous in Tulsa, Oklahoma and is not only a prestigious member of the Cowboy Hall of Fame but he is also a member of the Northwest Rendezvous Group.

Afsary and his work appear in numerous publications, including American Artist, Art of The West, South West Art, Who’s Who in American Art, as well as Western Art Collector, particularly, “The Consummate Artist” article by John Geraghty (2009). Afsary was further invited to paint portraits of John Wayne, Sylvester Stallone, Frank Sinatra, Susan Anton, Dean Martin, and Wayne Newton’s horse, Aramis.