10 Picasso Paintings Among Works Found in TMoCA Collection

TEHRAN.(Iranart) – M ore of Iran’s long-hidden western works will go on show next year along with local art, as part of a major exhibition at the Tehran Museum of Contemporary Art.

“Portrait, Still-Life, Landscape” slated for February 21-April 20, 2019, will display an estimated 500 works from the 3,000-strong collection, which includes modern European and American paintings and sculptures by artists including Andy Warhol, Mark Rothko and Marcel Duchamp.

Dutch architect and curator Mattijs Visser is organizing the event, The Art Newspaper wrote.

The curator says he was asked to stage a show since the museum is renovating its storage facilities and is conducting what he calls “contemporary archaeology”, finding lost or forgotten objects in the collection.

For instance, while only two works by Picasso were previously registered, there are now 12 known works in the collection, Visser says, and a painting by Duchamp was also found. He expects more works to come to light as he prepares for the rare event.

Since 2015 TMoCA has held shows of artworks by Iranian and foreign artists such as Parviz Tanavoli and Wim Delvoye.

The upcoming exhibition will blend the museum’s diverse collection of historic artifacts with works of art, including recent acquisitions by artists such as Günther Uecker, Bertrand Lavier and Tony Cragg. The latter donated a marble sculpture titled “Roots & Stones” to the museum in May.

While the show aims to emphasize the museum’s holdings as more and more pieces are discovered, it is not a “best of” or “highlights” exhibition, nor does it prioritize western works. “I don’t want to be pretentious and focus on big names,” Visser says. “I want to mix up everything so that people can really see something which they have never seen before.”

source: FINANCIAL TRIBUNE