- Title
- Return from Europe
- Date Made
- 2014
- Medium
- Inkjet print
- Dimensions
- 51 3/16 × 51 3/16 × 1 1/4 in. (130.02 × 130.02 × 3.18 cm)
- Accession Number
- M.2016.138.14
- Collecting Area
- Art of the Middle East: Contemporary
- Curatorial Notes
Nasir al-Din was the first Iranian ruler to visit Europe; he made three trips in all. In Siamak Filizadeh’s rendering of the return from one such journey, the shah’s family members are shown in a darkened courtyard bending forward under the burden of their luxury goods. At center, lit by a spotlight, the king is clothed and posed as Michael Jackson. The irony of this seemingly gently derisive scene is that the actual European tours were bracketed historically by social and religious unrest and armed government retaliation.
- Selected Bibliography
Komaroff, Linda. "Islamic Art Now and Then." In Islamic Art: Past, Present, Future, edited by Sheila Blair and Jonathan Bloom, 26-56. New Haven, New York, and London: Yale University Press, 2019.
