Iran reveals seldom-seen hoard of Western art

[icymist]

Iran reveals seldom-seen hoard of Western art

By Agence France Presse (AFP)

Tuesday, September 06, 2005


TEHRAN: Iran has unveiled its rarely seen collection of modern art, featuring works by Western artists including Paul Gauguin, Pablo Picasso, Jackson Pollack, and Andy Warhol that have spent much of the past 25 years locked away.

"It is the only such collection outside the Western world," explains Tehran Museum of Contemporary Art curator Ali-Reza Samiazar as the 50-day exhibition opened.The 188 paintings on display were mostly picked up by former Queen Farah Pahlavi, who used a team of experts to tour Western auctions and spend the national budget for cultural activities.Since the 1979 Islamic revolution, not a single piece of artwork has been added to the collection - which ranges from surrealism, minimalism, abstract expressionism, cubism, op art, and pop art.

"The authorities would not allocate a budget as they think it's all a waste," Samiazar says, explaining most of the paintings have been hidden in the museum's vaults given the limited space and security the museum can provide.Only sculptures including works by existentialist-surrealist artist Alberto Giacometti and abstract-modernist Henry Moore are on year-round permanent display.

"It's a feast for the eyes. I didn't know we had so many," exclaims Mojdeh Hamidi, a young Iranian student seen admiring "The Matador" by Spanish painter Joan Miro. But two paintings are staying under lock and key for the exhibition: "Gabriel" by Auguste Renoir and "The Golden Age" by Andre Derain - both feature nudity and are therefore deemed "un-Islamic." Many Iranian hard-liners have argued that such a collection is of little value to the Islamic Republic, and that means they could soon be sent back into storage.The only trade from the collection came in 1992, when Iran exchanged a work by Dutch-born abstract-expressionist Willem de Kooning for several pages of a manuscript of the 10th-century Persian epic, the "Shahnameh" ("Book of Kings"). Appointed by the reformist government in 1998, Samiazar says it is unlikely that hard-liners in new President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's administration will try to sell off any of the works. This, he says, "would raise a huge international and political scandal."
(More)
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=10&categ_id=4&Article_id=18237

[Heidi]

1. I wonder why they call it a "hoard" in the headline

and a "collection" in the body of the article?

I loved to see that collection. Thanks for the link!

[progressoid]

2. Very Interesting

lets hope they don't spend another couple decades locked up.