The leading Iranian artist Parviz Tanavoli, who was detained by officials earlier this month at Tehran’s Imam Khomeini International Airport, has been allowed to leave the country. Tanavoli, who has dual Iranian-Canadian citizenship, arrived in Vancouver yesterday (18 July) where he runs a studio.
Tanavoli’s passport was confiscated by border officials on 2 July; he was subsequently unable to attend a talk on 3 July at the British Museum. The lecture focused on Tanavoli’s book European Women in Persian Houses. Published by IB Tauris, it examines why wealthy households in Iran at the turn of the 20th century collected and incorporated prints of glamorous, unveiled European women into the architecture of houses and residences.
The artist also faced allegations in a Tehran court. Tanavoli told us: “I am accused by the police. The accusations are that my art is based on 'spreading the falsehood' and 'creating public anxiety'. On 10 July I went to court with my lawyer and I was given the above allegations.” Tanavoli’s daughter, Tandis, told the Vancouver Sun that the charges, which have since been dropped, were not linked to her father’s book. The cover of European Women in Persian Houses depicts a woman with a nipple partly visible behind a sheer top.
Tanavoli is known for pioneering a new form of Pop art in Iran in the 1960s. Next March, an exhibition dedicated to the artist, entitled The Lion in Iran and the Art of Parviz Tanavoli, is due to open at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Tehran. According to the artist’s Facebook page, he will travel back to Tehran “in a couple of months to continue life and business as usual”.
