At a pro Shah demonstration at the Amjadiyeh Stadium, a supporter puts a banknote with the Shah's portrait to her eye as a sign of allegiance.

© Abbas
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At a pro Shah demonstration at the Amjadiyeh Stadium, a supporter puts a banknote with the Shah's portrait to her eye as a sign of allegiance.

France, 1979, printed 2016
Photographs
Gelatin silver print
Image: 9 15/16 × 14 3/4 in. (25.24 × 37.47 cm) Primary support: 12 × 16 in. (30.48 × 40.64 cm)
Purchased with funds provided by Harvey Plotnick with additional funds provided by Art of the Middle East: CONTEMPORARY (M.2016.199.1)
Not currently on public view

Curator Notes

...
In the tumultuous penultimate days of Iran’s shah, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi (r. 1941–79), protests and strikes paralyzed the nation. Schools and universities were closed, newspapers suspended, and public assembly prohibited. The shah would depart Iran on January 16, 1979. Throughout the turbulent political transition, anti- and pro-shah demonstrations continued, as recorded in the photograph of a woman holding to her eye currency depicting the shah, indicating her support for the absent ruler.
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Bibliography

  • Komaroff, Linda. In the Fields of Empty Days: The Intersection of Past and Present in Iranian Art. Los Angeles: Los Angeles County Museum of Art; Munich; New York: DelMonico Books-Prestel, 2018.