Docent Led Tour of Two Iranian Exhibits at the Sackler - FREE

 We will visit "Feast Your Eyes: A Taste for Luxury in Ancient Iran" and "My Iran: Six Women Photographers." 
(Limited to Club members and their guests). Our docents will be Richard Lum and Bharati Dhurva.

Please meet at the Visitor Services Desk in the: Sackler Gallery of Art, which can be found by going through the Mall entrance off Jefferson Drive. The gallery does not open until 10 AM, but the Smithsonian Castle nearby opens at 8:30 AM, if you arrive early. There is a café in the Castle.  We will meet at 10:15 AM at the Sackler Information Desk in the Pavilion (ground level). Give yourselves a few extra minutes for bag inspection and to make use of the lockers, which are located at the far end of the Pavilion from the entrance, adjacent to the elevators and the staircase.

Feast your Eyes: A Taste for luxury in Ancient Iran

iranian-plate

The wealth and power of ancient Iran was in part expressed in portable luxury objects fashioned from precious metals and decorated with royal imagery.

From the establishment of the Achaemenid Empire in circa 550 BCE to the fall of the Sasanians to Muslim conquerors in 642 CE, Iran played a central role in the history of the ancient world alongside the Assyrian, Greek, Roman, and Byzantine empires. Rulers affirmed their political power through monumental architecture, such as the Achaemenid palace of Persepolis and the towering rock carvings of the Sasanians at Naqsh-i Rustam. They also displayed their wealth and authority through luxury objects fashioned from precious metals and decorated with royal imagery.

Silver vessels, including bowls, goblets, plates, and ewers, graced imperial banqueting tables, where they inspired awe and commanded respect in friends and foes alike. Some of the objects were used in elaborate religious ceremonies, and others were sent to far-flung corners of the Persian Empire and beyond as diplomatic gifts and impressive reminders of royal power and generosity. Together these works evoke a highly sophisticated world with an extensive network of military, commercial, and cultural contacts that extended across much of Asia and Europe for centuries.

My Iran: Six Women Photographers

 

my-iran-somayeh-hero

From the dynamism of the street to the quiet corners of distant memories, the works featured in My Iran: Six Women Photographers explore the complexities of life within and outside their home country.  The images offer nuanced views of Iran while shedding light on each photographer’s identity as an artist. Hengameh Golestan’s shots of women protesting in the streets of Tehran following the 1979 Iranian Revolution capture the spirit and force of a social and political movement that dramatically altered the role of women in society. The remaining five artists—Newsha Tavakolian, Shadi Ghadirian, Malekeh Nayiny, Gohar Dashti, and Mitra Tabrizian—work in this post-Revolution environment, staging and manipulating photographs to reveal deeply moving individual stories, as well as unique observations about contemporary life as an Iranian. Together, these images explore themes of memory, loss, and exile, but also of defiance and hope.

My Iran also honors the legacy of Dr. Jahangir Amuzegar (1920–2018) and the Eleanor and Jahangir Amuzegar Fund for Contemporary Iranian Art, which provides ongoing support for programs of contemporary Iranian art.

NOTE: 

Limited to Harvard Club Members and their guests.

Date:         December 29, 2019

Time:        10:15 a.m.

Fee:           Free

Location:   Smithsonian Institution Freer Gallery of Art

                  Jefferson Drive and 12thStreet, SW, Washington D.C.

Please meet at the Visitor's Desk in the Freer Gallery of Art which can be found by going through the Mall entrance off Jefferson Drive. 
 

Click here to buy tickets!!!
 

 

When:

10:15AM - 11:15AM Sun 12 Jan 2020, Eastern timezone

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Where:

The Freer Gallery of Art
Jefferson Drive at 12th Street, SW
Washington , DC 20004 USA

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