Jan 27, 2006, 7:13 PM

TMCA’s rarely seen storeroom artworks dusted off for limited exhibit

TEHRAN, Jan. 27 (MNA) -- Rarely seen artworks kept in the storerooms of the Tehran Museum of Contemporary Art are to be displayed in an exhibition for experts, artists, and professors at the Iranian Academy of Arts, ISNA reported on Friday.

 

The artworks, created by Iranian and foreign painters and sculptors and depicting explicit scenes, were transferred to TMCA’s storerooms in 1979 after the victory of the Islamic Revolution.

 

No exact date has been announced for the exhibition.

 

In the early 1990s, when he was minister of culture and Islamic guidance, former Iranian president Mohammad Khatami proposed that a private display of the art works be held, but the proposal was ignored.

 

In 2002, the Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance presented a draft of a plan asking the Majlis to allow the ministry to sell the explicit pieces at auction in order to provide funds for the development of the Tehran Museum of Contemporary Art and the purchase of artworks for the museum.

 

The plan was widely criticized by artists and experts, and finally the Guardian Council issued a ruling saying that such an action is forbidden according to Islamic law.

 

Last year, the TMCA held an exhibition entitled “Modern Art Movement”, displaying masterpieces by American and European artists which had been kept in the storerooms of the museum until then.

 

The exhibition was described by the media as the first event of its kind to be held in Iran for two or three decades.

 

MMS/HG

End

 

MNA

News ID 14992

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