New York museum to display works by Iranian artist Monir Farmanfarmaian

TEHRAN – The Guggenheim Museum in New York will be hosting an exhibition of mirror works and drawings by Iranian artist Monir Farmanfarmaian, which will be held from March 13 to June 3.

 

Entitled “Infinite Possibility”, this exhibit includes plaster and mirror reliefs, large-scale mirror sculptures that the artist refers to as “geometric families”, and works on paper.

 

Many examples of these works have not been displayed publicly since the 1970s, the museum announced on its website. 

 

This body of work is characterized by a merging of visual and spatial experience, coupled with the aesthetic traditions of Islamic architecture and decoration. 

 

After formative years in New York from 1945 to 1957, during which Farmanfarmaian met artists Milton Avery, Willem de Kooning, Joan Mitchell, Louise Nevelson, Barnett Newman, and, later, Andy Warhol, among others, the Iranian artist returned to Iran. 

 

She began to develop her artistic sensibility through encounters with traditional craftsmanship, indigenous art forms such as jewelry and clothing, and teahouse paintings (a popular form of Iranian narrative painting).

 

She later focused on drawing, collage, commissions, and carpet and textile design. In 2004, she reestablished her studio and resumed working with some of the same craftsmen with whom she had collaborated during the 1970s.

 

RM/YAW

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