Early Iranian Photographs Capture Tradition and Elegance At Harvard’s Arthur M. Sackler Museum

Antoin Sevruguin and the Persian Image
Historic Photographs Bring Iran's Distant Past into Focus

Cambridge, MA – October 31, 2000 – Fifty photographs of rulers, courtiers, commoners and daily life in Iran from the late 1870s to the 1930s juxtapose the extraordinary and the familiar in Antoin Sevruguin and the Persian Image. The exhibition opens at Harvard’s Arthur M. Sackler Museum on November 3, 2000, and continues through June 10, 2001.

Antoin Sevruguin (late 1830s-1933) was one of Iran's most creative and prolific early photographers. The exhibition includes modern prints made from Sevruguin’s original glass-plate negatives, and is presented in thematic groupings that focus on the royal court, Iranian landscape and antiquities, everyday life, ethnographic photographs, women, and Western fantasy.

"Sevruguin's photographs provide us with historic examples that depict Iran and its people at the turn of the 20th century," said James Cuno, the Elizabeth and John Moors Cabot Director of the Harvard University Art Museums. "We are pleased to bring these examples of early Iranian photography to Harvard and to the attention of the large and active photographic community of the greater Boston area."

Sevruguin had access to the Persian royal court during the rule of two of the most influential rulers of the Qajar dynasty (1785-1925). Nasir al-Din Shah, (r. 1848-96), himself an accomplished photographer, was central to the development of photography in Iran. The shah traveled to Europe three times during his reign and encouraged European photographers to work and spread their craft in Iran. Sevruguin's photographs capture the ruler in formal portraits as well as in more intimate moments, such as having his mustache dyed by a Western barber.

Antoin Sevruguin was born of Armenian parents in the late 1830s in Tehran, the capital of Iran. The family left their home in T'blisi, the capital of present-day Georgia, when Sevruguin's father accepted a diplomatic post at the Russian embassy in Tehran. Upon his father’s premature death, the family returned to Georgia, where Antoin spent much of his youth. He later returned to Iran to embark upon what was to be a long and successful career in photography.

Sevruguin’s photographs are clearly inspired by both European and Iranian models and provide a chronicle of an unprecedented period in Iranian history in which modernity and tradition stood side by side. From his successful commercial studio in Tehran and on expedition traveling throughout the countryside, Sevruguin documented nearly every aspect of Iranian life: rulers and courtiers, dervishes and wrestlers; village girls and courtesans; ancient monuments and breathtaking landscapes.

"Through Sevruguin's photographs we can glimpse the rich social history and visual culture of Iran," said Rochelle Kessler, assistant curator of Islamic and Later Indian art and coordinator of the exhibition at Harvard. "Sevruguin’s technical skills combined with his sensitivity toward his subjects transports us gracefully into his era."

To add further context to Sevruguin's works, the exhibition will include a photographic album assembled by Ronald William Graham, a member of the British Legation at Tehran at the turn of the 19th century. The album contains original albumen and gelatin silver commercial prints by Sevruguin, interspersed with Graham's own snapshots. Also on display will be an album containing an additional 15 images of Sevruguin's work drawn from the larger collection housed at the Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery Archives, Smithsonian Institution, in Washington, DC. Visitors will be able to browse through these laminated modern prints and experience the sense of discovery felt by researchers in photographic archives.

Antoin Sevruguin and the Persian Image was organized by the Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C. Its presentation at the Harvard University Art Museums has been supported by the Islamic and Indian Art Scholarship Support Fund.

Programming
Photography in the Islamic World, 19th-20th Centuries
Friday, December 8
Arthur M. Sackler Museum lecture hall; 9:30 a.m.-4:00 p.m.
Free admission

This one-day symposium will bring together scholars presenting their research on the history, practice, and reception of photography throughout the Islamic world, and will cover a variety of methodological perspectives.

The symposium has been organized in conjunction with the exhibitions Antoin Sevruguin and the Persian Image, and Sight Seeing: Photography of the Middle East and Its Audiences, 1840-1940, and is cosponsored by the Aga Khan Program for Islamic Architecture at Harvard University.

Guest lecturers from the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., University of New Mexico, Tufts University, University of Victoria, and Harvard University will present their findings on this subject.

Gallery Talks

Saturday, November 4
Antoin Sevruguin and the Persian Image
Rochelle Kessler, assistant curator of Islamic and Later Indian art, Arthur M. Sackler Museum
Sackler, 11:30 a.m.

Saturday, December 2
Antoin Sevruguin and the Persian Image
Ladan Akbarnia, Ph.D candidate, Department of History of Art and Architecture
Sackler, 11:30 a.m.

All talks are included in the price of Art Museums admission ($5.00; $4.00 senior citizens; $3.00 students; free for those under 18, free all day Wednesdays and Saturday mornings, 10:00 a.m. to noon.

Harvard University Art Museums
The Harvard University Art Museums is one of the leading arts institutions in the United States and the world. It is distinguished by the range and depth of its collections, its groundbreaking exhibitions, and the original research of its staff. For more than a century, it has been the nation’s premier training ground for museum professionals and scholars and is renowned for its seminal and ongoing role in the development of the discipline of art history in this country.

The three art museums at Harvard – the Arthur M. Sackler Museum, the Busch-Reisinger Museum, and the Fogg Art Museum – are all outstanding institutions in their respective fields. The Fogg also houses the Straus Center for Conservation, long a leader in the research and development of scientific and technology-based analysis of art. The 150,000 objects in the art museums’ collections range in date from ancient times to the present and come from Europe, North America, North Africa, the Middle East, South Asia, East Asia, and Southeast Asia. Each museum also has an active program of special exhibitions that promotes new scholarship in its areas of focus.

As an integral component of the Harvard University community, the three art museums serve as a resource for all students, adding a special dimension to their areas of study. The public is welcome to experience the collections and special exhibitions as well as to enjoy lectures, symposia, and other programs in the various museums.

The collections are divided among ten curatorial areas: Ancient and Byzantine Art and Numismatics; Architecture and Design; Asian Art; Busch-Reisinger Museum; Drawings; Islamic and Later Indian Art; Modern and Contemporary Art; Paintings, Sculpture and Decorative Arts; Prints; and Photographs. Developed with an emphasis on their value for teaching and research, these holdings are a uniquely broad and rich resource that is continually enhanced through gifts and acquisitions. Together, the holdings of the three museums comprise one of the finest university art collections in the world, with resources rivaling those of many major public museums.

The Straus Center for Conservation is the oldest fine arts conservation treatment, research, and training facility in the United States. The Center specializes in the conservation of paintings, sculpture, decorative objects, historic and archaeological artifacts, and works of art on paper. Its team members are pioneers in developing new applications of digital imaging in conservation. The Center’s state-of-the-art facilities support a broad range of analytical services.

All three art museums are open Monday through Saturday, 10 a.m.–5 p.m., and Sunday, 1–5 p.m., and are closed on national holidays. Admission is $5.00; $4.00 for senior citizens; $3.00 for students; free under 18 and for all individuals on Saturdays until noon and all day on Wednesdays.

For general information, call 617-495-9400 or visit www.artmuseums.harvard.edu. All groups of seven or more must schedule in advance by calling 617-496-8576. The Harvard University Art Museums receives support from the Massachusetts Cultural Council.