LACMA

ShopMembershipMyLACMATickets
LACMA
Los Angeles County Museum of Art
5905 Wilshire Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90036
info@lacma.org
(323) 857-6000
Sign up to receive emails
Subscribe
© Museum Associates 2025

Museum Hours

Monday

11 am–6 pm

Tuesday

11 am–6 pm

Wednesday

Closed

Thursday

11 am–6 pm

Friday

11 am–8 pm

Saturday

10 am–7 pm

Sunday

10 am–7 pm

 

  • About LACMA
  • Jobs
  • Building LACMA
  • Host An Event
  • Unframed
  • Press
  • FAQs
  • Log in to MyLACMA
  • Privacy Policy
© Museum Associates 2025
Collections

Shadi Ghadirian
Untitled from the Qajar Series 1998

Not on view
Sepia-toned studio portrait photograph, full-length seated woman in white headscarf and embroidered cuffs, with a rotary telephone on a stool to her right
Artist or Maker
Shadi Ghadirian
Title
Untitled from the Qajar Series
Date Made
1998
Medium
Gelatin-silver bromide print
Dimensions
Image: 9 9/16 x 6 7/16 in. (24.29 x 16.35 cm); Sheet: 9 15/16 x 8 in. (25.24 x 20.32 cm)
Credit Line
Purchased with funds provided by the Art of the Middle East Acquisition Fund, Art of the Middle East Deaccession Fund, the Ralph M. Parsons Fund, the Joan Palevsky Bequest by exchange, and Catherine Benkaim, with additional funds provided by Angella and David Nazarian
Accession Number
M.2008.35.7
Classification
Photographs
Collecting Area
Art of the Middle East: Contemporary
Curatorial Notes

This photograph is from a series of thirty-three portraits by Shadi Ghadirian, a contemporary artist who was inspired by the studio portraiture first introduced to Iran in the late nineteenth century under the Qajar dynasty (1794–1925). In order to re-create the earlier setting, Ghadirian employs painted backdrops and dresses her models in vintage clothes to emulate the fashion of the day: headscarves and short skirts worn over baggy trousers, as well as thick, black eyebrows. She adds modern elements to these traditional scenes, such as a Pepsi can, a boom box, a bicycle and an avant-garde Tehran newspaper. She has said of her work, "My pictures became a mirror reflecting how I felt: we are stuck between tradition and modernity."



Selected Bibliography
  • Issa, Rose, ed. Shadi Ghadirian: Iranian Photographer. London: Saqi Books, 2008.