The Museum of Contemporary Art in Tehran has opened a rare exhibit of American Pop art that focuses on war, with six works by three artists displayed at a time when Iran and the United States remain locked in conflict.
The show, titled “Art and War,” opened this week, the Associated Press reported, with the museum presenting works by Roy Lichtenstein, Robert Indiana and James Rosenquist that were chosen for their anti-war themes. Director Reza Dabirinezhad said the exhibit was meant to respond to “events unfolding around it,” selecting pieces “that were either shaped by the experience of war or created as reactions to wars,” according to reporting relayed to Iran’s semiofficial ISNA news agency.
Among the works seen by visitors was Rosenquist’s “F-111,” described by AP as a Vietnam-era collage that critiques America’s military-industrial complex through images including a warplane’s fuselage, a nuclear mushroom cloud and a child’s face. Another painting that drew attention was Lichtenstein’s “Brattata,” which AP described as based on a comic-book panel and showing a fighter plane pilot shooting down an enemy craft.
For some visitors, the images landed with personal resonance. Ghazaleh Jahanbin, a Tehran artist visiting the show, said, “American artists have always had a really interesting way of ridiculing war, and that’s always fascinated me in their work,” adding, “Maybe part of it, I don’t know, comes from their geographical distance from war itself.”
The exhibit also adds to the museum’s broader story about what international modern art has meant in Iran over time. AP reported that the museum’s collection was built after the Iranian government of Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi established the museum and acquired modern art in the 1970s, with the shah’s wife, former Empress Farah Pahlavi, largely selecting works ranging from figures such as Pablo Picasso and Vincent van Gogh to Mark Rothko, Francis Bacon and David Hockney. Much of the collection was later packed away after the 1979 Islamic Revolution, AP said, and kept out of view for decades.
Dabirinezhad said the current opening reflects the museum’s handling of cultural life during the war. AP reported that many museums and other cultural activities were shut down during the conflict, but a shaky ceasefire in place since early April allowed the reopening. Dabirinezhad said only a few pieces were put on display in case war resumed and the works would have to be returned quickly to safe storage.
For visitors, that break from the day’s anxieties came through the act of returning to public exhibitions. Jahanbin said, “It was a such a great thing to happen. A couple of weeks ago I was talking with my friends and everybody was talking about how much they missed visiting museums.” Another visitor, Mohammad Sadegh Abbasi, said, “This state of being undecided leaves you dazed and confused, everything is up in the air,” adding, “I hope everything ends well soon and we get a secure and calm life.” He also said, “Some of the works remind me of the scenes I saw (during the war).”
The museum director said the six works will remain on display until May 10, and that the museum would bring out new pieces each week related to the exhibit’s theme, AP reported.