With support from the University of Richmond

History News Network puts current events into historical perspective. Subscribe to our newsletter for new perspectives on the ways history continues to resonate in the present. Explore our archive of thousands of original op-eds and curated stories from around the web. Join us to learn more about the past, now.

Tehran museum hosting Barlach, Kollwitz exhibit

An exhibition displaying the works of German Expressionists Käthe Schmidt Kollwitz and Ernst Barlach opened at the Tehran Museum of Contemporary Art (TMCA) on December 21.

TMCA curator’s advisor Gholam-Ali Taheri, German secretary of the exhibit Heike Stockhaus, and German cultural attaché in Tehran Filiz Durak attended a press conference on Sunday.

“Barlach and Kollwitz were selected for the show for their similarities to the Iranian artists that emerged after the (1979 Islamic) Revolution, as well as for their concerns for human agonies,” Taheri said.

A total of 25 sculptures and 167 drawings are on display at the showcase, which will run until January 24, 2009.

The organizers plan to screen a number of documentary films on Barlach and Kollwitz during the show.

Barlach and Kollwitz began their career during a period when the world was rapidly evolving into the modern era, Stockhaus said.

In 1940s, these artists tried to simplify human characteristics in order to depict them in their works, she added.

Although some of the artwork dates back about 100 years, it still maintains a relationship with modern man today, Stockhaus noted...

Read entire article at Tehran Times