Massumeh Farhad

Last updated
Massumeh Farhad
Born
Iran
Alma mater Harvard University
Occupation(s)Curator, art historian, author
Known forIslamic art history, Iranian art history, Turkish art history

Massumeh Farhad is an Iranian-born American curator, art historian, and author. She is the Chief Curator and Curator of Islamic Art at the Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery at the Smithsonian Institution National Museum of Asian Art. [1] [2] She is known for her work with Persian 17th-century manuscripts. [3]

Contents

Biography

Massumeh Farhad grew up in Iran, and emigrated from Iran to the United States to attend university. [4] Farhad has a PhD (1987) in art history from Harvard University. [3] In 1997, she had been in a relationship with the Chief Curator of the National Museum of African Art, Philip L. Ravenhill (1945–1997) before his death. [5]

She has contributed to the Encyclopaedia Iranica. [3] Farhad has curated numerous exhibitions including the "Art of the Persian Courts" (1996), [6] "The Heroic Past: The Persian Book of Kings" (2000), [7] "Fountains of Light: The Nuhad Es-Said Collection of Metalwork" (2000), [8] "Antoin Sevruguin and the Persian Image" (2001), [9] "The Adventures of Hamza" (2002), [10] "Style and Status: Imperial Costumes From Ottoman Turkey" (2005), [11] "Facing East: Portraits from Asia" (2006), [12] "Falnama: The Book of Omens" (2009), [2] and "The Art of Qur’an: Treasures from the Museum of Turkish and Islamic Art" (2016–2017). [13] [14] [15]

Publications

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum</span> Art museum in Manhattan, New York

The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, often referred to as The Guggenheim, is an art museum at 1071 Fifth Avenue between 88th and 89th Streets on the Upper East Side of Manhattan in New York City. It hosts a permanent collection of Impressionist, Post-Impressionist, early Modern, and contemporary art and also features special exhibitions throughout the year. It was established by the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation in 1939 as the Museum of Non-Objective Painting, under the guidance of its first director, Hilla von Rebay. The museum adopted its current name in 1952, three years after the death of its founder Solomon R. Guggenheim. It continues to be operated and owned by the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Arthur M. Sackler Gallery</span> Museum of Asian art in Washington, D.C.

The Arthur M. Sackler Gallery is an art museum of the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C., focusing on Asian art. The Sackler Gallery and the Freer Gallery of Art together form the National Museum of Asian Art in the United States. The Freer and Sackler galleries house the largest Asian art research library in the country.

Bibliomancy is the use of books in divination. The use of sacred books for "magical medicine", for removing negative entities, or for divination is widespread in many religions of the world.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Freer Gallery of Art</span> Art museum in Washington, D.C.

The Freer Gallery of Art is an art museum of the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C. focusing on Asian art. The Freer and the Arthur M. Sackler Gallery together form the National Museum of Asian Art in the United States. The Freer and Sackler galleries house the largest Asian art research library in the country and contain art from East Asia, South Asia, Southeast Asia, the Islamic world, the ancient Near East, and ancient Egypt, as well as a significant collection of American art.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Al-Jathiya</span> 45th chapter of the Quran

The Kneeling, is the 45th chapter (surah) of the Qur'an with 37 verses (ayat). It is a Meccan chapter, believed revealed according to the Islamic tradition during the Meccan phase of Muhammad's prophethood. This is one of the seven chapters in the Qur'an that start with the Muqattaʿat Hāʼ Mīm. It contains discussions of "signs of God" for humankind to reflect on, and describes punishments for those who deny God despite the signs. It also contains the only Quranic verse mentioning sharia, a term which Muslims later use to refer to the Islamic law.

A juzʼ is one of thirty parts of varying lengths into which the Quran is divided. It is also known as parah in Iran and subsequently the Indian subcontinent. There are 30 ajzāʼ in the Quran, also known as سِپَارَہ – sipārah.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">National Museum of African Art</span> Smithsonian Institution museum

The National Museum of African Art is the Smithsonian Institution's African art museum, located on the National Mall of the United States capital. Its collections include 9,000 works of traditional and contemporary African art from both Sub-Saharan and North Africa, 300,000 photographs, and 50,000 library volumes. It was the first institution dedicated to African art in the United States and remains the largest collection. The Washington Post called the museum a mainstay in the international art world and the main venue for contemporary African art in the United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Antoin Sevruguin</span> Iranian photographer of Qajar era

Antoin Sevruguin, known as Antoin Khan was an Iranian photographer of Armenian-Georgian descent, in Persia during the reign of the Qajar dynasty (1785–1925).

Barbad Golshiri is an Iranian contemporary artist. He has worked both as a media artist and a critic. He works with video, digital media, installation, photography, the internet, graphic novels and Lettrism.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Falnama</span> Book of omens in 16th-, 17th-century Islamic culture

The Persian word Falnama covers two forms of bibliomancy used historically in Iran, Turkey, and India. Quranic Falnamas were sections at the end of Quran manuscripts used for fortune-telling based on a grid. In the 16th century, Falnama manuscripts were introduced that used a different system; individuals performed purification rituals, opened a random page in the book and interpreted their fortune in light of the painting and its accompanying text. Only a few illustrated Falnamas now survive; these were commissioned by rich patrons and are unusually large books for the time, with bold, finely executed paintings. These paintings illustrate historical and mythological figures as well as events and figures associated with the Abrahamic religions.

Karen Heagle is an American artist, known for autobiographical and art historical subject matter. Her work comments on contemporary culture through a queer perspective with a focus on feminist agendas.

Ann Gillen is an American sculptor.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chase F. Robinson</span> American historian of Islam (born 1963)

Chase F. Robinson is an American historian of Islam, who is currently Dame Jillian Sackler Director of the Arthur M. Sackler Gallery and the Freer Gallery of Art of the Smithsonian Institution. Prior to assuming this role, he served as President and Distinguished Professor at Graduate Center of the City University of New York. He was formerly a fellow of Wolfson College at the University of Oxford from 1993 until 2008. Robinson received his bachelor's degree from Brown University and his Ph.D. from Harvard University. Fluent in French, he spent his junior year of high school at School Year Abroad's France campus, and has additionally studied at The American University in Cairo and the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. He is the editor of the first volume of The New Cambridge History of Islam.

Ann C. Gunter is an art historian and Bertha and Max Dressler Professor in the Humanities at Northwestern University. Her work focuses on visual and material culture of the ancient Near East and neighboring parts of the eastern Mediterranean.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sussan Babaie</span> Iranian-born American art historian

Sussan Babaie is an Iranian-born art historian and curator. She is best known for her work on Persian art and Islamic art of the early modern period. She has written extensively on the art and architecture of the Safavid dynasty. Her research takes a multidisciplinary approach and explores topics such as urbanism, empire studies, transcultural visuality and notions of exoticism. In her work as a curator, Babaie has worked on exhibitions at the Sackler Museum of Harvard University (2010), the University of Michigan Museum of Art, and the Smith College Museum of Art (1998).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Layla S. Diba</span> Iranian-American art historian and curator

Layla Soudavar Diba is an Iranian-American independent scholar and curator, specializing in 18th/19th-century and contemporary Persian art and the Qajar period. She has curated various exhibitions, such as the Royal Persian Paintings: The Qajar Epoch 1783-1925 exhibition at the Brooklyn Museum, and co-curated Iran Modern (2013) alongside Fereshteh Daftari at New York City's Asia Society.

Linda Day Clark is a photographer, professor, and curator noted for capturing everyday life in African American rural and urban environments, particularly in Gee's Bend. Her work has been shown in the Philadelphia Museum of Art, the Brooklyn Museum of Art, The Lehman College, the Studio Museum in Harlem, and The Smithsonian's Anacostia Community Museum.

Leeza Ahmady is an Afghan-born American independent curator, author, arts administrator, dance instructor, and educator; she is known for her work within the genre of Central Asian art. She is the founder of AhmadyArts and Director of Asia Contemporary Art Week (ACAW) since 2006. Ahmady has organized large-scale festivals, exhibitions, artistic collaborations, and experimental forums revolving around contemporary art practices from across all regions of Asia. Ahmady is New York based and was born and raised in Kabul, Afghanistan.

Maura Reilly is the director of the Zimmerli Art Museum at Rutgers University, and previously served as the founding curator of the Elizabeth A. Sackler Center for Feminist Art. Reilly is also known for developing the concept of ‘curatorial activism’.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fal-i Qur'an</span>

A fal-i Qur'an is a divinatory Qur'an used to predict and interpret the future for the user. The word fal-i comes from Persian and means divination. Islamic divinatory and occult practices grew in popularity during the Safavid Empire's rule, and manifested through practices such as astrology, geomancy, and the use of fal-i Qur'ans. The use of the fal-i Qur'an draws on previous practices across religions of using holy books for bibliomancy. Engaging in these divinatory tools allowed users to interpret events in their lives and offer advice. Fal-i qur'ans are often associated with falnama, decorated fortune telling books. A fal-i Qur'an is made up of a standard Qur'an with a divination chart, also referred to as a divination grid, at the end. The divination charts found in fal-i Qur'ans consist of a letter table and corresponding explanations which users can understand by following specific steps, to answer and offer advice to posed questions. The majority of fal-i Qur'ans still extant today are from the Safavid period, therefore created in the Safavid Quranic style. Safavid Qur'ans covered a range of styles from simple handwritten copies to very ornate and decorated versions with various colors.

References

  1. ↑ Brown, Matthew Hay (2009-11-05). "Rare Islamic art put online for all". The Baltimore Sun . pp. A1, A10. Retrieved 2022-10-17– via Newspapers.com. says Massumeh Farhad, chief curator at the Freer Gallery of Art and the Arthur M. Sackler Gallery of the Smithsonian Institution
  2. 1 2 Melikian, Souren (2009-11-20). "The Beginnings of Divination". The New York Times. ISSN   0362-4331 . Retrieved 2022-10-16. chief curator at the Arthur M. Sackler Gallery
  3. 1 2 3 Moulton, Gavin (March 25, 2022). "Dr. Massumeh Farhad". Middle East Policy Council. Retrieved 2022-10-17.
  4. ↑ "Dr. Massumeh Farhad". Middle East Policy Council (MEPC). 25 March 2022. Retrieved 2023-06-07.
  5. ↑ Cotter, Holland (1997-10-16). "Philip L. Ravenhill, 52, Expert On the Art and Culture of Africa". The New York Times. ISSN   0362-4331 . Retrieved 2022-10-17.
  6. ↑ Cotter, Holland (1997-02-23). "Mergings of History, Myth and Dream". The New York Times. ISSN   0362-4331 . Retrieved 2022-10-17.
  7. ↑ Cotter, Holland (2000-08-25). "Art Review; Politics Runs Through More Than Campaigns". The New York Times. ISSN   0362-4331 . Retrieved 2022-10-17.
  8. ↑ Newsletter, East Asian Art and Archaeology. East Asian Program, University of Michigan. 1998. p. 7.
  9. ↑ Rexer, Lyle (2001-05-13). "ART/ARCHITECTURE; A Persian Pioneer In a Western Art". The New York Times. ISSN   0362-4331 . Retrieved 2022-10-17.
  10. ↑ Smith, Roberta (2002-08-30). "Art Review; Every Which Way to Paint". The New York Times. ISSN   0362-4331 . Retrieved 2022-10-17.
  11. ↑ Cotter, Holland (2005-12-05). "Dressing for Ottoman Success in a Blaze of Silk and Gold". The New York Times. ISSN   0362-4331 . Retrieved 2022-10-17.
  12. ↑ Cotter, Holland (2006-07-21). "Summer in Washington, Where Image Is All". The New York Times. ISSN   0362-4331 . Retrieved 2022-10-17.
  13. ↑ Inskeep, Steve (December 2, 2016). "Quran Exhibition Shines A Light On The Holy Books' Dedicated Artists". NPR.org. Retrieved 2022-10-17.
  14. ↑ Cotter, Holland (2016-11-10). "'The Art of the Qur'an,' a Rare Peek at Islam's Holy Text". The New York Times. ISSN   0362-4331 . Retrieved 2022-10-17.
  15. ↑ Dražović, Željko (2017-03-02). "The forgotten beauty of Islamic Art". Arthive. Retrieved 2022-10-17.
  16. ↑ Floor, Willem (2006). "Review of Slaves of the Shah: New Elites of Safavid Iran". International Journal of Middle East Studies. 38 (1): 141–142. doi:10.1017/S0020743806272283. ISSN   0020-7438. JSTOR   3879803. S2CID   161925043.
  17. ↑ Rota, Giorgio (2005). "Review of Slaves of the Shah: New Elites of Safavid Iran". Middle East Journal. 59 (4): 696–697. ISSN   0026-3141. JSTOR   4330207.
  18. ↑ Natif, Mika (2010-10-06). "Mika Natif. Review of "Falnama: The Book of Omens" by Massumeh Farhad". CAA Reviews. doi: 10.3202/caa.reviews.2010.110 . ISSN   1543-950X.
  19. ↑ Chaigne, Frantz (2018-03-10). "Massumeh Farhad, Simon Rettig. The Art of the Qur'an, Treasures from the Museum of Turkish and Islamic Arts". Abstracta Iranica. Revue bibliographique pour le domaine irano-aryen (in French). doi: 10.4000/abstractairanica.42580 . ISSN   0240-8910. Volume 37-38-39 – via OpenEdition Journals.


This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.