British Museum Events

Of Iranian and Armenian heritage, Marcos Grigorian was born in Kropotkin, southern Russia in 1925, and died in Yerevan in 2007. He trained at the private art school Honarestan-e Kamal al-Molk in Tehran and studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Rome.

He is best known for his abstract 'Earth Works', multimedia pieces made using clay and straw obtained in Iran and Armenia. He also drew prodigiously, and several early drawings are in the Museum's collection and feature in the exhibition Reflections: contemporary art of the Middle East and North Africa.

A towering figure in the arts of modern Iran, he founded the first Tehran Biennial in 1958 and had galleries in Tehran, New York and Minnesota. He was a collector, an influential teacher within the Faculty of Fine Arts at Tehran University, and revived the traditional art of coffee-house painting. As an active sideline, he was also an actor in Iranian films from 1960.

Join chair Venetia Porter, curator of Reflections: contemporary art of the Middle East and North Africa, and a distinguished panel of speakers – Layla S Diba, Yvette Tajarian, Elizabeth Rauh, Vali Mahlouji and Siavash Sabba – as they explore the life and work of this remarkable man. The speaker presentations will be complemented by archive film and will include a specially recorded interview with Parviz Tanavoli about his friendship with Marcos Grigorian.

This event is presented in collaboration with Magic of Persia Foundation. It is part of the public programme accompanying Reflections at the British Museum (17 May – 15 August), supported by the Contemporary and Modern Middle Eastern Art (CaMMEA) acquisitions group.

Please note this event contains representations of human suffering, specifically the Holocaust and the nuclear bombing of Hiroshima with reference to the Armenian Genocide which some viewers may find upsetting, and one instance of strong language contained in archive film.

If you enjoy this event, consider donating to the Museum here: https://www.britishmuseum.org/support-us​

Film footage credits:
1. Title: Calm Before The Storm, 1960, Director: Khosro Parvizi
2. Title: Key, 1962, Director: Mahmoud Nowzari
3. Title: White Gold, 1962, Director: Jamshid Sheibani
4. Title: The Last Passage, 1962, Director: Khosro Parvizi