Tehran Museum of Contemporary Art

Tehran Museum of Contemporary Art (Persian: موزه هنرهای معاصر تهران), also known as TMoCA, is among the largest art museums in Tehran and Iran. It has collections of more than 3,000 items that include 19th and 20th-century's world-class European and American paintings, prints, drawings, and sculptures. TMoCA also has one of the greatest collections of Iranian modern and contemporary art.

Tehran Museum of Contemporary Art
موزه هنرهای معاصر تهران


Tehran Museum of Contemporary Art Location within Tehran

Established	14 October 1977; 48 years ago (1977-10-14)
Location	Laleh Park, Tehran, Iran
Coordinates	35°42′41″N 51°23′26″E / 35.71139°N 51.39056°E / 35.71139; 51.39056
Type	Art museum
Director	Ebad Reza Eslami^{[citation needed]}
Curator	David Galloway, Kamran Diba (Both were first)
Architect	Kamran Diba, Nader Ardalan
Website	tmoca.com

The museum was inaugurated by Shahbanu Farah Pahlavi (Persian: فرح پهلوی) in 1977, just two years before the 1979 Revolution. TMoCA is considered to have the most valuable collections of modern Western masterpieces outside Europe and North America.

Background

According to Shahbanu Farah, the idea for the museum originated in a conversation at a gallery opening in the 1970s, when the artist Iran Darroudi mentioned her desire for a permanent place to exhibit works. The Tehran Museum of Contemporary Art was supposed to be a place to show contemporary and modern Iranian artists alongside other international artists doing similar work.

The museum was designed by Iranian architect and cousin of the empress, Kamran Diba, who employed elements from traditional Persian architecture of Yazd, Kashan, and other desert towns. Diba collaborated with architect Nader Ardalan during the design phase. It was built adjacent to Farah Park, renamed Laleh Park after the Islamic revolution, and was inaugurated in 1977. The building itself can be regarded as an example of contemporary art, in a style of an underground New York Guggenheim Museum. Most of the museum area is located underground with a circular walkway that spirals downwards with galleries branching outwards. Western sculptures by artists such as Ernst, Giacometti, Magritte, and Moore can be found in the museum's gardens.

The art selection was done under the office of Shahbanu Farah with a budget from the National Iranian Oil Company. The Shahbanu personally met many of the artists whose work was part of the museum collection, including the Western artists Marc Chagall, Salvador Dalí, Henry Moore, Paul Jenkins, Arnaldo Pomodoro. Some people involved in the process of selecting art were the Americans, Donna Stein and David Galloway, and Kamran Diba, the architect and director of the museum, and Karimpasha Bahadori, who was the Chief of Staff of the cabinet.

After the Iranian Revolution in 1979, the Western art was stored away in the museum's vault until 1999 when the first post-revolution exhibition was held of western art showing artists such as David Hockney, Roy Lichtenstein, Robert Rauschenberg and Andy Warhol. Now pieces of the Western art collection are shown for a few weeks every year but due to the current conservative nature of the Iranian establishment, most pieces are never shown.

It is considered to have the most valuable collection of Western modern art outside Europe and the United States, a collection largely assembled by founding curators David Galloway and Donna Stein under the patronage of Farah Pahlavi. It is said that there is approximately £2.5 billion worth of modern art held at the museum. The museum hosts a revolving program of exhibitions and occasionally organizes exhibitions by local artists.

Collection curator Donna Stein later wrote a memoir, The Empress and I: How an Ancient Empire Collected, Rejected and Rediscovered Modern Art (2021), because she felt she was not properly credited for her role in curating this collection.

Politics

In 1977, Shahbanu Farah Pahlavi purchased expensive Western artwork in order to open the contemporary art museum. This was a controversial act due to rising social and economic inequalities. The authoritarian government was intolerant of the growing opposition, which, only a few years later, would overthrow the monarchy in the Iranian revolution. A few art pieces did not survive the revolution including a public statue by Bahman Mohasses deemed un-Islamic and a 1977 Warhol painting, a portrait of the Shahbanu.

Le Monde art critic André Fermigier wrote an article in 1977 called "A museum for whom and for what?", "questioning the link between an Iranian child and a Picasso or a Pollock". Farah Pahlavi responded to this criticism, noting that Iranians can understand modern art, not all Iranians were living in remote villages, and this issue with modern art was not unlike one that had existed in France.

A touring exhibition was planned for autumn 2016 in Berlin, (Germany), consisting of a three-month tour of sixty artworks, half Western and half Iranian. The show was to run for three months in Berlin, then travel to the Maxxi Museum of 21st Century Arts in Rome for display from March through August. However, the plan had to be postponed because the Iranian authorities had failed to allow the paintings to leave the country, also noting that, since the revolution, these paintings had not been shown in Iran. Finally, on 27 December 2016, a press release by Hermann Parzinger, the President of the organising committee, Berlin's Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation (in German: Stiftung Preußischer Kulturbesitz Berlin), cancelled the exhibition altogether.

In 2017, the TMoCA unexpectedly staged a show in Tehran which included the very works which were selected to travel to Europe: Berlin-Rome Travellers, Selected Works of the Tehran Museum of Contemporary Art. It can be considered kind of an acte de résistance on the part of the museum director at the time, since, with the advent of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, elected president of Iran in 2005, a harsh conservative wind has, to this day, blown away the relative openness and pragmatism of the Rafsanjani and Khatami eras.

Permanent collection

This is a list of artists featured in the permanent collection at the Tehran Museum of Contemporary Art.

Ansel Easton Adams: Canyon de Chelly
Yaacov Agam: more than 10 oil and acrylic works
Aydin Aghdashloo: Identity: in praise of Sandro Botticelli and other works
Arman: Vagues après vagues
John Baldessari: several conceptual photographic works
Francis Bacon: a triptych, Two Figures Lying on a Bed With Attendants, 1968 ^,^: 54^, and Reclining man with sculpture, 1961
Giacomo Balla: Futurist drawing, Figure in Movement, 1913
Bernd and Hilla Becher: several photographic works
Max Beckmann:
Max Bill: Rhythmus im Raum (Multiplied by Space), red granite, 1947-1948
Georges Braque: painting Guitare, Fruits et Pichet, 1927, and bronze sculpture Hymen, 1939-1957
Alexander Calder: "The Orange Fish” mobile (aka “Ogunquit"), 1946, and Prickly Pear stabile, 1964
Mary Cassatt: drypoint and aquatint print, Peasant Mother and Child, 1895
Marc Chagall: Family With Cock
Eduardo Chillida: Estela a Pablo Neruda (Homage to Pablo Neruda), 1974
Christo and Jeanne-Claude: Scale model of "Wrapped Reichstag", 1977
Salvador Dali:
Edgar Degas: a version of his Dancers
Willem de Kooning: Light in August, 1946
- Note: Woman III, 1953, was de-accessioned and traded in 1994 for a rare 16th century Persian manuscript of the Tahmasbi Shahnameh, the Book of Kings, containing precious miniatures
Robert Delaunay: lithograph from the Windows series, related to the painting La Fenêtre, 1912 (Musée de Grenoble)
André Derain: Fauvist painting L'Âge d'or (Golden Age), 1905 ^: 54
Jim Dine:
Jean Dubuffet: unknown title
Marcel Duchamp: study (1911–13) for The Large Glass, 1915
André Dunoyer de Segonzac:
Don Eddy: Bumper Section XIII, 1970
James Ensor: Mariage des Masques, 1926
Max Ernst: Capricorn, 1944 and Histoire Naturelle, 1923
Seyed Mohammad Ehsai: Calligraphy Painting Toranj?
Parvaneh Etemadi: Vases, 1977
Dan Flavin: Untitled, 1967
William Henry Fox Talbot: photogenic drawing of a Single Fern, photographic negative print on salted paper, 1836-37
Mansour Ghandriz: Untitled, 1963
Paul Gauguin: Nature Morte à l’estampe japonaise (Still Life with Head-Shaped Vase and Japanese Woodcut), 1889
Alberto Giacometti: 1 painting, Portrait of Isaku Yanaihara, 1960 and 4 bronze sculptures, a.o. Standing Woman I, 1960, La Cage, 1965-66 and Walking Man I, 1956-60
Gilbert & George: Mental 6, 1976
Adolph Gottlieb: Black & Black
Marcos Grigorian: unknown title
George Grosz: The Unexpected Guest
Javad Hamidi: Composition
Richard Hamilton:
Duane Hanson: Boxers aka In Honor of Muhammad Ali, 1970
Noriyuki Haraguchi: Matter and Mind aka Oil Pool
David Hockney: Untitled
Edward Hopper:
Mehdi Hosseini: Untitled, 1976
John Hoyland:
Jasper Johns: Pinion and Passage 2, 1966
Douglas James Johnson: The Shield of Achilles, 1975
Donald Judd: Stacks
Wassily Kandinsky: Tensions Claires, 1937
Abbas Kiarostami:
Franz Kline: Untitled, 1955
František Kupka:
Farideh Lashai: Composition, 1997
Fernand Léger: Paysage (Landscape), 1913
Sol LeWitt: Open Cube
Roy Lichtenstein: The Melody Haunts My Reverie, 1965, Roto Broil, 1961, Brattata, 1962, and others
Morris Louis: No.34, 1961
René Magritte: Le Thérapeute aka The Healer (bronze sculpture), 1967 ^,
Marino Marini: Horse and Rider (bronze sculpture)
Leyly Matine-Daftary: Portrait of Nasrin, 1966
Joan Miró: unknown title
Amedeo Modigliani: Untitled
Ahmad Mohammadpour: Calligraphy Painting
Bahman Mohasses: Tryst, 1964 and Untitled, 1975
Claude Monet: Vue de Giverny, 1886
Henry Moore: bronze sculptures Two–Pieces Reclining Figure, 1969-70 Three–Pieces Reclining Figure, 1968-69 and Working Model for Oval with Points, 1968-69
Giorgio Morandi:
Noreen Motamed:
Edvard Munch: Self-portrait, 1895
Jules Pascin:
Peter Phillips:
Pablo Picasso: Baboon and Young (bronze sculpture), Secrets (Confidences) or Inspiration (tapestry) and several paintings a.o. : The Painter and His Model, 1927 and Fenêtre ouverte sur la rue de Penthièvre, 1920
Faramarz Pilaram: Calligraphic Painting, 1975
Camille Pissarro: Houses at Knokke, 1894
Michelangelo Pistoletto: Green Curtain, 1967
Jackson Pollock: Mural on Indian Red Ground, 1950
Arnaldo Pomodoro: Rotante primo sezionale n. 3 (bronze sculpture), 1967-1975
Maurice Prendergast:
Robert Rauschenberg: Narcissus Convoy, 1977
Man Ray: The Last Object, 1932-42 (Dada sculpture)
Ad Reinhardt: Abstract Painting, 1962
Pierre-Auguste Renoir: Gabrielle with Open Blouse, 1907
Shokouh Riazi: Portrait of Dariush Eskandani
Jean-Paul Riopelle: Baubess 11
Diego Rivera:
Henry Peach Robinson: Landing the Catch
Mark Rothko: No. 2 (Yellow Center), 1954 , Sienna, Orange & Black on Dark Brown, 1962, and another painting similar to the latter
James Rosenquist:
Georges Rouault:
Sterling Ruby:
Edward Ruscha: Fruits
Ali Akbar Sadeghi: Myth & Math, Piano War, 2011 and Unwritten
Behjat Sadr: Untitled, 1967
Abolghasem Saidi: Untitled, 1972
Sohrab Sepehri: Trees
Jesus Rafael Soto: Canada
Robert Smithson: Rock Salt & Mirror
Pierre Soulages: unknown title
Frank Stella: Sinjerli Variations No 1-5, 1977
Parviz Tanavoli: bronze sculptures Sanctified 1, 1976, Poet and the Lion Bone, 1969, another sculpture & Shirin and Farhad
Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec: Girl with Lovelock (in French : Fille à l'Accroche-Cœur)
William Turnbull:
Cy Twombly: Untitled, 1963
Suzanne Valadon: Untitled (pastel), 1909
Louis Valtat:
Kees van Dongen: Trinidad Fernandez, 1907
Vincent van Gogh: lithograph of Worn Out : At Eternity's Gate, 1882, formerly in the Nelson Rockefeller Collection
Victor Vasarely:
Mohsen Vaziri-Moghaddam: Scratches on the Earth, 1963
Édouard Vuillard: Entrance to the city, 1903
Andy Warhol: Suicide (Purple Jumping Man), 1965, The American Indian, 1976, versions of Campbell's Soup Cans, 1968, and several portraits of Mick Jagger, 1975, Marilyn Monroe, 1967, Jacqueline Kennedy, 1966 and 10 versions of Mao Zedong, 1972.
Tom Wesselmann: Great American Nude
James McNeill Whistler:
Fritz Winter:
Manouchehr Yektai: Still Life, 1971-72
Hossein Zenderoudi: Untitled, 1972
Jalil Ziapour: Autumn Leaf or Zeynap Khatoun, 1962

Temporary Exhibitions

List of exhibitions from 1977 to 2011 (in French)
A Manifestation of World Contemporary Art, 7 June 7 — 11 November 2010.
Pop Art & Op Art exhibition, 2012.
Rainbow, a retrospective exhibition of Otto Piene in collaboration with the Nationalgalerie Berlin, 24 Feb 2015 — 25 May 2015.
Farideh Lashai - Towards the Ineffable, 21 Nov 2015 — 26 Feb 2016, co-curated by Iran’s Faryar Javaherian and Italy’s Germano Celant.
Wim Delvoye at the Tehran Museum of Contemporary Art, 07 Mar 2016 — 13 May 2016.
The Sea Suspended: Arab Modernism from the Barjeel Collection, 08 Nov 2016 — 23 Dec 2016, Barjeel Art Foundation.
Berlin-Rome Travellers, Selected Works of the Tehran Museum of Contemporary Art, 07 Mar 2017 — 16 June 2017.
Tony Cragg: Roots & Stones, 24 Oct 2017 — 12 Jan 2018.
Portrait, Still Life, Landscape, 21 Feb — 20 April 2018, curated by Dutch architect Mattijs Visser.
Above the Fields, 9 March — 5 May 2024, curated by Masiha Rabiei
Adham Zargham: Memories of Nature, 15 May — 30 June 2024
Eye to Eye, 6 October 2024 — January 2025, curated by Jamal Arabzadeh
Picasso in Tehran, 12 March — 20 April 2025

Documentary film

ARD Iran-Correspondent Natalie Amiri: Der verborgene Schatz. Die legendäre Kunstsammlung des Iran (The Hidden Treasure. The Legendary Art Collection of Iran) | Arte, 2017, 55 min. (in German)

Interviews

Shahbanu Farah Pahlavi: the Empress of Iran talks about the legendary collection of modern and contemporary art assembled in the 1970s - Judith Benhamou-Huet Reports, 2019
How Her Imperial Majesty Queen Farah Pahlavi Built an Art Empire - Vogue Arabia, 2020
Donna Stein - Podcasts & Video on The Empress and I (donnasteiniran.com)

External links

Media related to Tehran Museum of Contemporary Art at Wikimedia Commons
Official website