{"id":88763,"date":"2014-01-24T09:39:26","date_gmt":"2014-01-24T14:39:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/?p=88763"},"modified":"2015-10-12T10:13:25","modified_gmt":"2015-10-12T14:13:25","slug":"iranian-artists-featured-in-uconn-reads-exhibition","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/2014\/01\/iranian-artists-featured-in-uconn-reads-exhibition\/","title":{"rendered":"Iranian Artists Featured in UConn Reads Exhibition"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Entropy<\/a>
Detail from Entropy 18, mixed media on canvas, by Pouran Jinchi (Iranian, b. 1959), courtesy of Leila Heller Gallery, NYC.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In organizing the first two exhibitions celebrating the UConn Reads program, the permanent collection of the William Benton Museum of Art offered many works of art that connected thematically with that year\u2019s book selection.<\/p>\n

The Benton\u2019s permanent collection contains a number of works that provided historical perspective on the gender-based oppression issues raised in Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide <\/em>by Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn. It also includes a wide range of art created during the 1920s that reflected F. Scott Fitzgerald\u2019s themes of wealth, widespread urbanization, and modernity in The Great Gatsby<\/i>.<\/p>\n

This year\u2019s selection for UConn Reads, the graphic novel Persepolis<\/i> by Marjane Satrapi, posed a challenge for Carla Galfano \u201905 (SFA), \u201911 MA, assistant curator at the Benton, who organized the current exhibit, \u201cPersepolis: Word & Image.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"The<\/a>
The Institution of Passover from the Koberger Ninth German Bible, 1483, color woodcut by Anton Koberger (c. 1440\/1445-1513).<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Galfano says that while the museum\u2019s holdings did not quite match the content of the book \u2013 which deals with, among other things, the experience of a young woman growing up at the time of the Islamic Revolution \u2013 the art itself offers a strong visual link to Persepolis<\/i>, as a graphic novel.<\/p>\n

\u201cInstead of focusing on the content of the book, we focused on the format,\u201d Galfano says. \u201cWe looked at works that feature text [as well as images], because this combination of text and image is interesting and also is pervasive in art. Many contemporary Iranian artists use text because calligraphy is such an important part of the culture.\u201d<\/p>\n

Drawing strong visual art from the Benton collection, the exhibition includes a wide variety of works. ranging from 15th-century illustration and woodcuts to 19th-century lithography and 21st-century mixed media art created for the exhibition.<\/p>\n

The pieces in the exhibition were created by an international array of artists, including Iranian artists who lived through the time of the Iranian Revolution. Works by artists born in Iran include:<\/p>\n