TEHRAN, Nov. 20 (MNA) – Iranian-born artist Manoucher Yektai, who belonged to the school of New York School Abstract Expressionist, has passed away at 98 in New York.

Ehsan Aghaei, Head of Tehran Museum of Contemporary Art, confirmed the news to Mehr correspondent, adding that the prominent painter passed away in early hours of Tuesday in the United States.

Manoucher Yektai was born in 1921 in Tehran, where he lived until his move to Paris in 1945. Between the years of 1945-47 the artist moved to Paris to study Fine Art at the École des Beaux-Arts and at the Atelier of André Lhote, before relocating to New York in 1948, where he continued his studies at the Art Students League of New York. Here he was exposed to the Abstract Expressionist style that was practiced by established artists Willem de Kooning, Sam Francis and Jackson Pollock.

Yektai’s works are described as a combination of a natural approach with a proclamation of beauty and an acknowledgment to painting-of-everyday-life, according to Sotheby's, one of the world's largest brokers of fine and decorative art, headquartered in New York City.

His works have been sold under the hammer at several editions of Tehran Auction, Sotheby’s, Christie's, and Bonhams.