Mayor of Milan Giuliano Pisapia, accompanied by a delegation of Italian officials, paid a visit to the Tehran Museum of Contemporary Art (TMoCA) on Sunday (Feb. 14).
Besides visiting the painting exhibition of the late artist Farideh Lashai ‘Towards the Ineffable’ and works from the museum treasury, Pisapia met with TMoCA director Majid Mollanowruzi, ISNA reported.
Pisapia said he was amazed and greatly impressed by the collection of works created during different periods of the Iranian artist’s career and as well as the museum treasures.
“All the artworks encompass beauty, art and creativity,” he said complimenting the exhibits.
He pointed to the influence of artworks on viewers “as they have a special meaning for the future generations” and said, “The future is important but past history should not be forgotten. Cultural exchange between countries should be established to help nations and peoples get closer to each other”.
He appreciated the opportunity provided to him to see the unique collection of artworks by Iranian and foreign artists.
Visit by Greek First Lady
Last week, Betty Batziana, wife of Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras, made a three-hour visit to Lashai’s exhibit at the museum.
Expressing pleasure at seeing paintings by an artist who “has created different works”, she said she would welcome holding exhibitions by Iranian artists in Greece as well as bringing Greek art to Iran.
Visiting the treasured works of the museum, Batziana called them an exceptional collection of Iranian, European and American artists.
The EU deputy chief for political affairs, Helga Schmid, also visited the museum last week.
Significance of Exhibits
A collection of 130 paintings, drawings, glasswork and video art from different phases of Lashai’s artistic activities are currently on display at TMoCA.
The exhibition is co-curated by Italian art historian, critic and curator Germano Celant and Iranian curator, architect and filmmaker Faryar Javaherian.
Lashai (1944-2013) is among the most successful Iranian artists, writers and translators, best known for her abstract paintings.
She studied art at the Academy of Decorative Arts in Vienna, Austria, and held over 100 solo and group exhibitions in Iran, Italy, Germany, the US, Switzerland, Britain and France. Her works are in private and public collections of the TMoCA and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art.
In addition to Lashai’s exhibit, a total of 40 artworks among the treasured collection of the TMoCA have been put on display. Works by great Iranian artists Manoucher Yektai, Sohrab Sepehri and Nasser Assar as well as western artists Andy Warhol, Claude Monet, Roy Lichtenstein, Jackson Pollock, Alberto Giacometti and René Magritte are presented.
The exhibits will be displayed through February 26 at the museum, next to Park Laleh, North Karegar Ave.
