Despite pandemic precautions necessitating a virtual format, the Mehregan Fall Fête for the Arts of Iran collection presented jointly by the San Diego Museum of Art (SDMA) and the Persian Cultural Center (PCC) on October 11, 2020, was a great success. Featuring the talented Damsaz Ensemble–with Niloufar Shiri on kamancheh, Shahab Azinmehr on tar, Milad Jahadi on tonbak and daf, and the mesmerizing vocals of Jessika Kenney–the virtual concert raised over $7,000 from 13 community supporters. The recorded event may still be streamed online through PCC’s Facebook page and YouTube channel.
This annual event, which raises funds to support the Arts of Iran collection at SDMA, reflects a collaboration between SDMA and PCC dating to before 2015. Funds raised in recent years, along with an increase in the collection’s growth, enabled the conservation of selected works and, more notably, the establishment of a dedicated exhibit to the Arts of Iran in 2017. We are grateful to PCC’s Anahita Babaei, who has been at the forefront of this collaboration since its inception, and wish to acknowledge some of the trailblazers in the community, such Dr. Ali Gheissari, the late artist Ms. Susan Niamir, and especially Ms. Shahri Estakhry, for spearheading the initiative to support the arts of Iran and the Persianate world at SDMA with a long-term exhibition space.
Ms. Gita Khadiri, SDMA Trustee
In 2018, SDMA Trustee Ms. Gita Khadiri took on the responsibility of chairing this important fundraiser, establishing the fête as a much-anticipated annual event and increasing support for the Arts of Iran initiative. With a curator dedicated to SDMA’s collections of art from Iran, South Asia, and the Islamic world once again on board, we have now also expanded our acquisition strategy to include contemporary art from Iran and the Iranian diaspora. We are grateful to all those who supported this year’s program and are excited to share that we will be directing funds raised from the 2019 and 2020 Mehregan events toward new acquisitions of historic or contemporary works for the Arts of Iran collection in the new year.
As San Diegans and Iranian-Americans, we feel particularly honored to take part in these opportunities to represent our collective culture and heritage through our official museum roles. We look forward to sharing more Iran-focused stories from SDMA with you and hope to reveal the first of our Mehregan acquisitions by the next Fall Fête. Please stay tuned!
Gita Khadiri and Ladan Akbarnia
Dr. Ladan Akbarnia, SDMA’s Curator of South Asian and Islamic Art, speaking to viewers in a pre-recorded video for the Mehregan Fall Fête on October 11, 2020.
Arts of Iran at SDMA
Including nearly 200 works dating from the 9th to the 20th centuries, this collection was built from around the 1950s to the 1960s through gifts as well as SDMA purchases with funding from individuals and The Asiatic Arts Committees of the Fine Arts Society, which today comprises the Asian and South Asian Arts Councils. Selections from SDMA’s permanent collection of Persianate visual culture dating after the advent of Islam in the 7th century as well as temporary loans of pre-Islamic objects from Iran and the Ancient Near East from other institutions can usually be found in the Arts of Iran Gallery. You can also visit SDMA virtually (zooming in right up to objects and labels!) through SDMA 360, and access special exhibitions, tours, and programs through Virtual SDMA, or search our online collections through SDMA’s website at www.sdmart.org. An illustrated page from a Timurid Shahnama, for example, which went on view in mid-October, features online in Episode 15 of SDMA’s Masterpiece Minute podcast, which introduces works from the permanent collection in the format of a brief but engaging mini-talk.
Zahhak enthroned, a page from a dispersed manuscript of the Shahnama (Book of kings). Iran, possibly Shiraz, ca. 1435. Ink, opaque watercolor, and gold on paper. The San Diego Museum of Art, Gift of Edwin Binney 3rd, 1972.223. © Trustees of the San Diego Museum of Art
