On View this Spring at The San Diego Museum of Art
Ladan Akbarnia, Curator of South Asian and Islamic Art, and Michael Brown, Curator of European Art
Descriptions extolling the diverse geography forming present-day Afghanistan abound in the memoirs of Babur (r. 1526 – 30), a descendant of the Timurid rulers of Iran and Central Asia who founded India’s Mughal dynasty after fleeing the Uzbeks in Afghanistan. Afghanistan boasts a rich history dating to ancient times, with legacies of historical figures such as Alexander the Great and world faiths such as Zoroastrianism, Buddhism, and Islam. Its pivotal position at the center of the Eurasian world has helped shape its multilayered cultural identity.
The Death of Shirin, page from a manuscript of the Shahnameh. Herat, Afghanistan, ca. 1440. Ink, opaque watercolor, and gold on paper. The San Diego Museum of Art, Gift of Edwin Binney 3rd, 1971.57.
In spite of the tumultuous events threatening their survival, Afghanistan’s land, culture, and especially its people have endured and defined the country’s distinctive richness and beauty. In the modern era, the country’s strategic location put it in the crossfire of British and Russian imperial rivalry, leading to three wars throughout the nineteenth century. Following the demise of the Afghan monarchy in 1973, a continuous series of wars began in Afghanistan with the Saur Revolution of 1978, led by the People’s Democratic Party of Afghanistan against President Mohammad Daoud Khan. This event was followed by the Soviet-Afghan war, a civil war, the Taliban regime, and most recently, the invasion and twenty-year war led by the United States and its allies, the US departure from Afghanistan, and the subsequent reinstatement of the Taliban regime.
Luke Powell (American, b. 1946), The Steppes, 1975. Samangan, Afghanistan. Dye transfer print. Victor Diaz Color Photography Collection, The San Diego Museum of Art, 2015.434.
Mountain, Meadow, Citadel is on view at SDMA from 18 March through 17 September, 2023.
SDMA is also delighted to debut the first new display in the Visible Vaults galleries since 2019—comprising nearly 300 works of art from across its global collections. Highlights of the new display include the outstanding Dogon figure (Gift of Valerie Franklin, 2019.27), made in nineteenth-century Mali, West Africa, and featured in a single-object exhibition at the Museum in 2021 (A Dogon Figure from Mali: Bridge to the Spirit World), along with two dozen shimmering examples of Ancient Roman blown-glass vessels. In the works on paper gallery, which recreates for visitors the flat-storage drawers of the Museum’s secure vault, nearly 200 light-sensitive prints, drawings, and photographs are on display, waiting to be discovered. Visitors can look for remarkable works by Sam Gilliam, Lola Álvarez Bravo, Pablo Picasso, Marc Chagall, and Marisol Escobar. Visible Vaults currently features a selection of the Museum’s extensive Japanese print collection and serves as one of the permanent homes of SDMA’s world-renowned Edwin Binney 3rd Collection of South Asian arts of the book. Many of the works featured in Visible Vaults entered the Museum’s collection as generous donations from Museum members.
Luke Powell (American, b. 1946). Light and Water, 1974. Herat, Afghanistan. Dye transfer print. Victor Diaz Color Photography Collection, The San Diego Museum of Art, 2015.402.
