ART EXHIBITIONS

During the summer of 1999, London witnessed a revival of Persian culture in the form of arts exhibitions, films, lectures and concerts. At the Brunei Gallery visitors were treated to a landmark exhibition displaying the visual splendours of the arts in Persia during the 18th and 19th centuries. It featured more than 100 oil paintings, manuscript illustrations, works on paper and decorative arts and drawing on the holdings of many public and private collections throughout the world. The exhibition, on view in New York and Los Angeles before coming to London under the auspices of the Iran Heritage Foundation was the single most important exhibition devoted to Qajar art shown anywhere in Europe since the London Burlington House exhibition of 1931. Gallery tours were scheduled four times a week from July until September allowing British-Iranians and other

nationalities to marvel at the treasures of a bygone era steeped in controversy. Children from the Rostam Persian School participated in an educational programme aimed at young people from 8 to 16 years old, covering the Qajar period, lively storytelling and exciting workshops, and introductory texts to the works exhibited. Reactions to this exhibition amongst the Iranians was mixed reflecting the social and political diversity of this thriving but rather invisible community. Some felt that the focus of the art was on the ‘royal’ theme and a certain glorification of an epoch associated with the grandeur and decadence of Persia. The grandiose paintings themselves were considered ‘inferior’ and stylised imitations of European portrait artists. A few were shocked at the vulgarity of the pictures themselves depicting female nudes in the Shah’s harems. There were also those who felt that this was a landmark exhibition which presented another face of Persia than the one portrayed in the past two decades.

THE IRANIAN FILM FESTIVAL

The Iranian Film Festival which lasted a good two months was perhaps the surprise of the year as Time Out suggested. Art & Life: The New Iranian Cinema was a joint effort by the Iran Heritage Foundation and the National Film Theatre covering more than 50 key Iranian films, made over the last 40 years, by directors both inside and outside Iran. Several directors, critics and actors contributed to debates on Iranian cinema. The response from both Iranians and London audiences was overwhelming. Not all films were received equally and there were many varied reactions to the subject matter that goes beyond my review. Yet, the greatest achievements of the organisers was their ability to track films such as Siyavosh at Persepolis and the Mongols made during the sometimes avant-garde Pahlavi epoch. Many of these films that were presumed lost in the flames of revolution were uncovered in the archives of European and American studios. The contrast made between yesterday’s films and those of post-revolutionary Iran such as Makhmalbaf’s Once Upon A Time Cinema and Kiyorostami’s Taste of Cherry proved invaluable to the viewer’s education and awareness of the development of Iranian films since the 1930s. Not only did they serve as a nostalgic trip down memory lane but it brought into focus the genius of Iranian directors in circumventing the censors in both regimes whilst entertaining their audience. Unfortunately the organisers were hampered by their own lack of information about the subjects they were promoting. The film hand-outs and a special book in English provided the viewers with an excellent introduction to the labyrinth of names of Iranian directors, actors and cameramen that made the films possible. Some of the hasty questions and answers sessions were poorly conducted and led to a few valid criticisms but not the intellectual debates one expected from the educated and sizeable Iranian community that came to see the films. This lack of active participation was probably due to the apolitical culture amongst Iranian exiles when confronted with their past roots and the current realities of their homeland today.

LECTURES

The lecture series at SOAS were less successful often conducted in overheated rooms with poor lecture equipment and old speakers. Although the topics ranged from archaeology to a debate on the rise of Reza Shah, audience participation was disappointing. In conclusion, both critics and supporters were united in their appreciation for the efforts made by organisations such as the Iran Heritage Foundation, donors, patrons and sponsors that made the summer of 1999 a very special one and expressed hope to see such cultural programmes expand in the future.

Several years ago whilst strolling on Charlotte Street in London I came across a house with a blue circle which read: Edward FitzGerald Lived Here. For me, an Iranian living away from my beloved roses and nightingales, this was a rather special discovery.

Few people know that FitzGerald’s ‘translation’ into English of Omar Khayyam’s Rubaiyat is probably the best-selling book in the entire history of English poetry. It exists in many editions probably more than two hundred according to one collector. Enjoying massive popularity throughout the 20th century many people have carried it around, taken it to war, kept it in the car, ordered it for reading on a putative desert island. The memorable quatrains appeal to all classes and conditions of men and women; they are still treasured by millions.

It is perhaps true to say that with no FitzGerald there would have been no Omar. Recovering from the end of an unhappy marriage, this middle-aged Victorian gentleman set himself to the task of translating into English a hundred or so lyric stanzas (rubais) written by a 11th century Persian astronomer. FitzGerald found great consolation in Khayyam’s sceptical, sensuous poems, which extol the virtues of living deeply in the present moment. Preserving the Persian poet’s graceful four-line verse form, FitzGerald edited, embellished, and arranged the quatrains in dramatic sequence, making his contribution far more than that of mere translator. In 1859 when he published the Rubaiyat anonymously it was an immediate success. My own interest in FitzGerald was rekindled in 1992 with the translation from French of Amin Maalouf’s Samarkand, a brilliant novel re-creating the history of the manuscript of the Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam.

Then last spring fate introduced me to Shepherd’s Bookbinders. Entering the shop on 76 Rochester Row I enquired about a poster of FitzGerald’s Rubaiyat displayed prominently behind the window. A charming English girl with a lovely rosy complexion informed me that an exhibition of their bookbinding activities had been held the previous autumn and that she had chosen this special book bound by the famous craft bookbinding firm of Sangorski & Sutcliffe as the centre-piece. This exquisitely bound edition of The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam was lost when it went down with the Titanic in 1912, she said. It took two years of continuous work to create the Great Omar, boasting over 1,000 precious and semi-precious stones and 1,500 separate pieces of leather.

The binding is recognised as one of the finest examples of the bookbinder’s craft. The only visual record of the book is an old black & white photograph and recently discovered glass negative. With the help of the original patterns and contemporary descriptions the binding has been recreated digitally to actual size by Richard Green and Trickett & Webb. I decided to buy the poster and have it framed and hung in my living room above my bookshelves.

Today, everytime I look at the Great Omar, as the book is affectionately known, I cannot help feeling nostalgic at the loss of such a stunning legacy. The Great Omar now lies in an oak casket at the bottom of the Atlantic. Another copy was destroyed during the Blitz during WW2 and the third edition is locked up somewhere in the British Library. FitzGerald died on 14th June 1883 at George Crabbe’s rectory, Merton, Norfolk. In Boulge churchyard the great man’s tombstone is said to be covered by rambler roses imported from my hometown Shiraz.

Ah, my beloved, fill the cup that clears
Today of past regrets and future fears-
Tomorrow? – Why, tomorrow I may be
Myself with yesterday’s seven thousand Years.

The lion as a symbolic national animal is also common to both Persian and English cultures, and until recently a lion bearing a sword was depicted on the Iranian national flag. Although the lion is physically extinct in Iran, it still lives in the fertile imagination of the Persians. Its name, Shir, has been incorporated into place-names, such as Shiraz.

The first Persian to come to England, whose name has long since been lost, is said to have been received by Henry III in 1238 A.D. He was sent by the Persian ruler Ala ud-Din Muhammad to seek English help against the Mongol hordes threatening Persian domains. The envoy failed in his mission and returned empty handed.

Mirza Abul Hassan Shirazi was the first envoy to London from Qajar Persia. He arrived in 1809 and kept a diary of his stay during which he became the first Persian to become a freemason in England. With his good looks, exotic clothes and engaging manners he quickly became the darling of London’s high society. A portrait of him by Sir William Beechey (1810) hangs in the new British Library’s oriental section.

Gertrude Bell visited Persia in 1892 when she was 23. Two years later she published her impressions in the form of a travel book. In 1897 she published Poems from the Divan of Hafiz, a remarkable monument to her scholarship and literary gifts.

Between 1901 to 1915 the Persian Mission to the Court of St. James’s, according to Foreign Office Lists, frequently changed it’s London address: 4 Buckingham Gate (1901); 74 Cornwall Gardens (1902-7); 36 Queen’s Gate Terrace (1908-13); 22 Queen’s Gate Terrace (1914); 47 Bramham Gardens (1915).

Shortly after her marriage in the 1930s Agatha Christie, the famous Crime novelist, spent part of her honeymoon in Persia. During her stay she and her husband visited a beautiful villa in the Eram Gardens. Years later Agatha Christie used the Bagh-Eram villa as the setting for a short story called The House at Shiraz.

A famous British short-story writer used the pen-name Saki inspired from the wine-bearer often cited in Persian poetry.

According to the British Council there were only 90 Persian students at schools and universities in Britain in 1955; two years later their numbers had risen to 620, by 1967 to 1,500; and ten years later, on the eve of the revolution that toppled the Shah, there were over 12,200 of them.

The English word paradise derives from the Old Persian pari-daeza, "a walled space." The Greeks adapted the word as paradeisos to describe the gardens of the Persian Empire, and Greek translations of the Bible used this word as the term for the Garden of Eden and for heaven. Modern Persian uses the arabized version ferdows.

Beck's and the ICA can confirm the 10 short-listed artists for the second annual BECK'S FUTURES ART AWARDS, the largest arts prize. The selection includes five painters, three photographers, one sculptor and one artist working in multi-media.

All 10 artists will receive £4,000 at the final awards ceremony on 10 April 2001, and their work will be shown at the ICA 30 March - 20 May; the overall winner will receive an additional £20,000.

Martijn Van Nieuwenhuyzen, chair of the judges: "The choice of the jury underlines the diversity of art in Britain today. The ten finalists all take a self-willed, unsensationalist artistic stance and draw on a variety of visual traditions. Much to the jury's surprise there are five painters among the winners, which may reflect the relevance of painting for the younger generations."

The 10 short-listed artists are:
Shahin Afrassiabi
Fabienne Audéoud & John Russell
Simon Bill
David Burrows
Brian Griffiths
Dan Holdsworth
Gemma Iles
DJ Simpson
Tim Stoner
Clare Woods

Philip Dodd, Director ICA: "BECK'S FUTURES is an exhilarating and unique prize for artists: their peers nominated more than 200 artists; and artists and curators chose the short-list. BECK'S FUTURES is national, it's open and it's generous - just what an arts prize with the future in its bones ought to be."

The BECK'S FUTURES 2 judges are GARY HUME, ZADIE SMITH, RICHARD FLOOD, KATERINA GREGOS and ANTHONY FAWCETT; the chair of the judges is MARTIJN VAN NIEUWENHUYZEN.

BECK'S FUTURES is the UK's largest art prize with a total prize fund of £65,000. It is open to artists working in any media based in the UK, regardless of nationality. More than 200 entries for BECK'S FUTURES 2 were received; and after leaving the ICA the exhibition will tour the UK and go to New York in 2001.

Issued by ICA Press Office 13 Dec 2000

The shortlisted artists

Shahin Afrassiabi - Multi-media

Born 1963 in Tehran, Iran

MA Fine Art, Goldsmiths College, 1997

After graduating, Afrassiabi set up The Trade Apartment with architect Raymond Brinkman and held his first solo show, 'You're a Heavenly Thing', earlier this year. As well as several exhibitions in the UK and abroad, he has taken part in 'These Epic Islands' 2000 (curated by Brian Griffiths) and 'Surfacing' 1998 at the ICA.

Gallery: Afrassiabi is represented by Vilma Gold gallery