TEHRAN – An exhibition entitled “Dreams and Fantasies” will showcase works by the Petgar artistic family at Salam Gallery in Tehran.

The exhibition, which is scheduled to open on Friday, will put on display about 90 paintings by Ali-Asghar Petgar (1918-1992), his brother, Jafar (1920-2005), and his sons, Nima (1947-2015) and Nami (1948-2008).

“Works by these four members of the Petgar family have never been showcased altogether before in any exhibition,” Ahmadreza Nuri, the curator of the exhibition, told the Persian service of ILNA on Wednesday.

“The development process of Iranian painting can be observed in the works of these artists who represent different currents of painting in Iran,” he added.

A collection of the Petgars’ personal effects and painting tools will also be on view at the exhibition. A slide show will feature a collection of their works inaccessible to the exhibit organizers.

Nuri called Ali-Asghar and Jafar the missing links of Iran’s modern painting history and said, “The artists have not yet been scrutinized properly in any art review or exhibition.”

He said that the two artists were ignored in Iran’s art market since they never agreed to sell any of their works during their lifetime.

The works selected for the exhibition will feature the painters’ families and self-portraits, and ordinary people and public places.

Nuri said the paintings of public places, which depict scenes of ordinary life in Tehran and other places where the artists lived, were created with an anthropological view.

“The works represent a special outlook over the poor and working classes, and provide a real insight into the condition of the social classes – a way of thinking that is close to the leftist and socialist ideas that dominated Iranian society at the time when the artists lived,” he added.

The exhibition will run until June 22 at the gallery that can be found at the Sam Center, Fayyazi St. off Vali-e Asr Ave. near the Parkway Intersection. 

Photo: A poster for the Petgars’ exhibition “Dreams and Fantasies” at Tehran’s Salam Gallery
 
MMS/YAW