"The five prisoners in chains are seated in front of a row of nine, fully armed guards." [Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery Archives, Curatorial Research Assistant]
- On recto of the print, handwritten number in white (inked, probably by Antoin Sevruguin) reads, "122."
- On verso of the print, handwritten number (penciled) reads, "34."
Arrangement:
One of 18 albumen prints, without any apparent organization, housed in document boxes and stored on shelves.
Biographical / Historical:
Antoin Sevruguin is one of the early pioneers of commercial photography in Iran. He arrived in Iran from Tbilisi, Georgia in the mid 1870s to set up shop in Ala al-Dawla street in Tehran. From the early days, Sevruguin's studio was trusted both by the Qajar court and by foreign visitors to Iran. Highly regarded for their artistic ingenuity outside Iran, Sevruguin's photographs of 'ethnic types,' architecture and landscape, and depictions of daily life of Tehran found their way into foreign travelogues, magazines and books. As such, he stands alone in a relatively large group of early Iranian photographers for being recognized and celebrated outside the boundaries of the country. Antoin Sevruguin passed away in 1933, although his family studio continued for some time as a commercial enterprise.
Local Numbers:
A.5-6
B-13
FSA A.15 13
General:
Title and summary note are provided by Shabnam Rahimi-Golkhandan, FSg curatorial research specialist.
Collection Restrictions:
Collection is open for research.
Collection Rights:
Permission to publish, quote, or reproduce must be secured from the repository.
Jay Bisno Collection of Sevruguin Photographs. Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery Archives. Smithsonian Institution, Washington D.C. Gift of Jay Bisno, 1985
"An old prisoner and his guard are photographed standing side by side inside a studio setting. While the prisonor is looking away from the camera, the guard engages the gaze of the viewer and the lens. The prisonor seems to carry a tied up piece of rope and his guard is carrying the remains of the chain on the prisonor's neck." [Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery Archives, Curatorial Research Assistant]
- On recto of the print, handwritten number in white (inked, probably by Antoin Sevruguin) reads, "1264."
- On verso of the print, handwritten caption (penciled, probably by Antoin Sevruguin) in French reads, "Un brigand."
- On verso of the print, handwritten number (penciled) reads, "36."
Arrangement:
One of 18 albumen prints, without any apparent organization, housed in document boxes and stored on shelves.
Biographical / Historical:
Antoin Sevruguin is one of the early pioneers of commercial photography in Iran. He arrived in Iran from Tbilisi, Georgia in the mid 1870s to set up shop in Ala al-Dawla street in Tehran. From the early days, Sevruguin's studio was trusted both by the Qajar court and by foreign visitors to Iran. Highly regarded for their artistic ingenuity outside Iran, Sevruguin's photographs of 'ethnic types,' architecture and landscape, and depictions of daily life of Tehran found their way into foreign travelogues, magazines and books. As such, he stands alone in a relatively large group of early Iranian photographers for being recognized and celebrated outside the boundaries of the country. Antoin Sevruguin passed away in 1933, although his family studio continued for some time as a commercial enterprise.
Local Numbers:
A.5-10
B-14
FSA A.15 14
General:
Title and summary note are provided by Shabnam Rahimi-Golkhandan, FSg curatorial research specialist.
Collection Restrictions:
Collection is open for research.
Collection Rights:
Permission to publish, quote, or reproduce must be secured from the repository.
Jay Bisno Collection of Sevruguin Photographs. Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery Archives. Smithsonian Institution, Washington D.C. Gift of Jay Bisno, 1985
"The blood covered body of a man in white cloth lays in the opening in front of the camera while a large group of spectators - including children - are watching the event in the background of the image." [Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery Archives, Curatorial Research Assistant]
- On recto of the print, handwritten number in white (inked, probably by Antoin Sevruguin) reads, "337."
- On verso of the print, handwritten caption (penciled, probably by Antoin Sevruguin) in French reads, "Executé."
- On verso of the print, handwritten number (penciled) reads, "51b."
Arrangement:
One of 18 albumen prints, without any apparent organization, housed in document boxes and stored on shelves.
Biographical / Historical:
Antoin Sevruguin is one of the early pioneers of commercial photography in Iran. He arrived in Iran from Tbilisi, Georgia in the mid 1870s to set up shop in Ala al-Dawla street in Tehran. From the early days, Sevruguin's studio was trusted both by the Qajar court and by foreign visitors to Iran. Highly regarded for their artistic ingenuity outside Iran, Sevruguin's photographs of 'ethnic types,' architecture and landscape, and depictions of daily life of Tehran found their way into foreign travelogues, magazines and books. As such, he stands alone in a relatively large group of early Iranian photographers for being recognized and celebrated outside the boundaries of the country. Antoin Sevruguin passed away in 1933, although his family studio continued for some time as a commercial enterprise.
Local Numbers:
51b
B-15
FSA A.15 15
General:
Title and summary note are provided by Shabnam Rahimi-Golkhandan, FSg curatorial research specialist.
Collection Restrictions:
Collection is open for research.
Collection Rights:
Permission to publish, quote, or reproduce must be secured from the repository.
Jay Bisno Collection of Sevruguin Photographs. Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery Archives. Smithsonian Institution, Washington D.C. Gift of Jay Bisno, 1985
"Public display of punishment - be it bastinado, showing of prisoners in chains, hanging or stoning - comprise a group of photos in Sevruguin collection. A thorough study of this set can yield unexpected results in the matter of uses of violence and punishment in the first few years of 20th century in Iran. The images of bastinado as a usual form of punishment in the 'orient' are prevalent also in the travelogues and other similar publications of around 1900s. Sevruguin's photos are both published in such books and journal entries and utilized as models for lithographs and paintings in them." [Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery Archives, Curatorial Research Assistant]
- On recto of the print, handwritten number in white (inked, probably by Antoin Sevruguin) reads, "299."
- On verso of the print, handwritten caption (penciled), probably by Antoin Sevruguin in French reads, "Bastanad [Bastonade]."
- On verso of the print, handwritten number (penciled) reads, "33."
Arrangement:
One of 18 albumen prints, without any apparent organization, housed in document boxes and stored on shelves.
Biographical / Historical:
Antoin Sevruguin is one of the early pioneers of commercial photography in Iran. He arrived in Iran from Tbilisi, Georgia in the mid 1870s to set up shop in Ala al-Dawla street in Tehran. From the early days, Sevruguin's studio was trusted both by the Qajar court and by foreign visitors to Iran. Highly regarded for their artistic ingenuity outside Iran, Sevruguin's photographs of 'ethnic types,' architecture and landscape, and depictions of daily life of Tehran found their way into foreign travelogues, magazines and books. As such, he stands alone in a relatively large group of early Iranian photographers for being recognized and celebrated outside the boundaries of the country. Antoin Sevruguin passed away in 1933, although his family studio continued for some time as a commercial enterprise.
Local Numbers:
33
B-17
FSA A.15 17
General:
Title and summary note are provided by Shabnam Rahimi-Golkhandan, FSg curatorial research specialist.
Collection Restrictions:
Collection is open for research.
Collection Rights:
Permission to publish, quote, or reproduce must be secured from the repository.
Jay Bisno Collection of Sevruguin Photographs. Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery Archives. Smithsonian Institution, Washington D.C. Gift of Jay Bisno, 1985
"The photo depicts bodies hanging upside down with tied feet. The display of dead bodies for days in public spaces was meant to educate the public." [Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery Archives, Curatorial Research Assistant]
Arrangement:
One of 62 albumen prints, un-numbered and without any apparent organization, housed in document box and stored on shelves. The 62 photographs were found sandwiched between the front and back covers of a leather-bound album of 19th. century photographs of Antoin Sevruguin. Many of these prints are duplicates of these in the album, and were certainly purchased at the same time.
Biographical / Historical:
Antoin Sevruguin is one of the early pioneers of commercial photography in Iran. He arrived in Iran from Tbilisi, Georgia in the mid 1870s to set up shop in Ala al-Dawla street in Tehran. From the early days, Sevruguin's studio was trusted both by the Qajar court and by foreign visitors to Iran. Highly regarded for their artistic ingenuity outside Iran, Sevruguin's photographs of 'ethnic types,' architecture and landscape, and depictions of daily life of Tehran found their way into foreign travelogues, magazines and books. As such, he stands alone in a relatively large group of early Iranian photographers for being recognized and celebrated outside the boundaries of the country. Antoin Sevruguin passed away in 1933, although his family studio continued for some time as a commercial enterprise.
Local Numbers:
FSA A2011.03 B.27
General:
Title and summary note are provided by Shabnam Rahimi-Golkhandan, FSg curatorial research specialist.
Collection Restrictions:
Collection is open for research.
Collection Rights:
Permission to publish, quote, or reproduce must be secured from the repository.
Stephen Arpee Collection of Sevruguin Photographs. Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery Archives. Smithsonian Institution, Washington D.C.
Antoin Sevruguin operated a successful commercial photography studio in Tehran and was a court photographer to Nasr ed-Din Shah and succeeding Qajar rulers. Sevruguin's daughter and heir donated his glass negatives to the American Presbyterian Mission in Tehran. The Committee for Islamic Culture, which administered the Islamic Archives, purchased 695 negatives from the Presbyterian Mission in 1951. The collection also includes 164 silver gelatin prints, 98 acquired by Myron Bement Smith(MBS) in 1934 and 66 donated by Joseph Upton in 1953. The glass negatives are numbered but without apparent organization. MBS organized his photoprints into subject categories. Upton's photoprints are numbered according to a handwritten caption list. [Located Bay 7] For specific information on items in the collection search Sevruguin on the Smithsonian Collections Search Center web site http://collections.si.edu .
- 66 black-and-white gelatin silver photoprints, unmounted, were a gift from Joseph Upton, received by the committee for Islamic Culture, as reported in their official minutes of October 24, 1953. The 66 photoprints were initially purchased by Joseph Upton in 1928 from Antoin Sevruguin in Tehran.
- 695 glass negatives were included into the "Islamic Archives," which was administered jontly by the committee for Islamic Culture and the committee for Arabic and Islamic Studies of the American Council of Learned Societies. According to the official minutes, the committee for Islamic Culture reported purchasing the 696 glass plates during their fiscal years 1951-1952 from the American Presbyterian Mission in Tehran. Antoin Sevruguin's daughter gave these plates to the mission with instruction that they be sold for the benefit of the mission.
- 98 gelatin silver photoprints were collected by Myron Bement Smith after he viewed a portion of Sevruguin's negatives in 1934 ( these include recent finds in the Myron Bement Smith collection).
In addition of Antoin Sevruguin's 695 glass negatives and 164 silver gelatin prints in the Myron Bement Smith collection the Archives holds: 18 albumen prints in theJay Bisno Collection of Sevruguin Photographs (FSA A.15); 34 photographic prints in the Ernst Herzfeld Papers (FSA A.6); as well as a photograph album and individual albumen prints donated by Stephen Arpee (FSA A2011.03). Finally, the Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery Archives also own 3 separate gelatin silver prints.
Myron Bement Smith Collection: Antoin Sevruguin Photographs
Arrangement:
- 66 gelatin silver prints are arranged in sequential number following Joseph Upton's handwritten list of captions, and ultimately organized by Myron B. Smith into subject categories (royalty, people, executions, criminals, punishment, architecture).
- 695 glass negatives, numbered, without any apparent organization, are housed in document boxes and stored on shelves.
- 98 gelatin silver prints are organized by Myron B. Smith into subject categories (people, architecture, royalty, landscape).
Biographical / Historical:
Antoin Sevruguin managed and operated one of the most successful commercial photography studios in Tehran in the late 19th century. Born in the 1840s in Iran, Sevruguin's mother returned with her children to her hometown of Tbilisi after his father Vassil, a Russian diplomat in Iran, died in a horse riding accident. Trained as a painter, Sevruguin returned to Iran in the early 1870s accompanied by his two brothers, establishing a photography studio first in Tabriz and then Tehran. His studio's ties to Tbilisi, however, persisted through the years; many of the early portraits of Dervishes and women have been simultaneously attributed to Antoin Sevruguin and Dimitri Yermakov, the Georgian photographer who is often referred to as Sevruguin's mentor from Tbilisi. Many of Antoin Sevruguin's photographs were published as early as 1885 in travelogues, journals and books indicating that by that time he had a fully established practice in Tehran's Ala al-Dawla street, with ties to the court of Nasir al-Din Shah Qajar. Often unacknowledged as the producer of published images in his own time - the 1902 photographic survey of Persepolis being the most glaring of such authorial misrepresentations - he was nevertheless celebrated and acknowledged for his artistic vision and his keen eye for composition, achieving the Medal of Lion and Sun from Nasir al-Din Shah, the 1897 Medal of Honour in the Brussels International Exposition, and the 1900 Medal of Honour in Paris International Exposition. Reflecting a career that spans nearly half a century, Sevruguin's diverse body of work includes studio portraits of families, women and dervishes, survey photographs of archeological sites, objects, landscapes and architecture, and photographs of royalty, high officials and ceremonies of the Qajar court. The range of his output not only demonstrates his own pictorial concerns and artistic abilities but also the divergent interests of his clients. Despite numerous devastating incidents throughout his career - the loss of more than half of his negatives in a 1908 blast and fire, an unsuccessful attempt at diversifying into cinematography in the 1910s, and the confiscation of the remainder of his negatives in the mid-1920s to name a few - his studio remained operational even after his death in 1933. A number of negatives from the Sevruguin studio can be dated to the years after Antoin's death, indicating that the Sevruguin studio continued to be commercially viable. As one of the most prolific early commercial photographers in Iran, Antoin Sevruguin's artistic legacy has since proved far more enduring.
Local Numbers:
FSA A.04 2.12
General:
Titles and summary notes are provided by Shabnam Rahimi-Golkhandan, FSg curatorial research specialist.
Collection Restrictions:
Collection is open for research.
Collection Rights:
Permission to publish, quote, or reproduce must be secured from the repository.
- Myron Bement Smith handwritten caption in English reads, "47.P; Box 30.5: Courtyard (?)." [Myron Bement Smith Collection, Subseries 2.1: Islamic Archives History, Collection Information; Box 60; Folder 44: 47 P: Antoine Sevruguin, glass negatives, Iran]
Arrangement:
According to Myron B. Smith handwritten document (Myron Bement Smith Collection, Subseries 2.1: Islamic Archives History, Collection Information; Box 60; Folder 44: 47 P Antoine Sevruguin, glass negatives, Iran), Antoin Sevruguin's 696 glass negatives, at the time of their acquisition, were arranged into 61 boxes without any apparent organization. Today they are housed in archival document boxes, essentially duplicating the original arrangement, and stored on shelves. This glass negative was included into "Box 30."
Biographical / Historical:
Antoin Sevruguin is one of the early pioneers of commercial photography in Iran. He arrived in Iran from Tbilisi, Georgia in the mid 1870s to set up shop in Ala al-Dawla street in Tehran. From the early days, Sevruguin's studio was trusted both by the Qajar court and by foreign visitors to Iran. Highly regarded for their artistic ingenuity outside Iran, Sevruguin's photographs of 'ethnic types,' architecture and landscape, and depictions of daily life of Tehran found their way into foreign travelogues, magazines and books. As such, he stands alone in a relatively large group of early Iranian photographers for being recognized and celebrated outside the boundaries of the country. Antoin Sevruguin passed away in 1933, leaving behind only a fraction of his large collection of glass negatives, which is currently in the Archives of the Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery.
Local Numbers:
FSA A.4 2.12.GN.30.05
General:
Title and summary note are provided by Shabnam Rahimi-Golkhandan, FSg curatorial research specialist.
Collection Restrictions:
Collection is open for research.
Collection Rights:
Permission to publish, quote, or reproduce must be secured from the repository.
Freedmen's Bureau Digital Collection, 1865–1872, is a product of and owned by the National Museum of African American History and Culture, Smithsonian Institution. Copyright for digital images is retained by the donor, FamilySearch International; permission for commercial use of the digital images may be requested from FamilySearch International, Intellectual Property Office, at: cor-intellectualproperty@ldschurch.org.
Collection Citation:
Courtesy of the U. S. National Archives and Records Administration, FamilySearch International, and the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture.
A large album of prints by photographer Antoin Sevruguin, likely dating from his early career in Iran in the 1870s and 1880s. The collection also includes a number of loose, unbacked prints, many duplicating the photographs in the album. Roughly half of the mounted prints have English handwritten captions.
Arrangement:
Images indexed by original photographic print number.
Biographical / Historical:
Antoin Sevruguin managed and operated one of the most successful commercial photography studios in Tehran in the late 19th century. Born in the 1840s in Iran, Sevruguin's mother returned with her children to her hometown of Tbilisi after his father Vassil, a Russian diplomat in Iran, died in a horse riding accident. Trained as a painter, Sevruguin returned to Iran in the early 1870s accompanied by his two brothers, establishing a photography studio first in Tabriz and then Tehran. His studio's ties to Tbilisi, however, persisted through the years; many of the early portraits of Dervishes and women have been simultaneously attributed to Antoin Sevruguin and Dimitri Yermakov, the Georgian photographer who is often referred to as Sevruguin's mentor from Tbilisi. Many of Antoin Sevruguin's photographs were published as early as 1885 in travelogues, journals and books indicating that by that time he had a fully established practice in Tehran's Ala al-Dawla street, with ties to the court of Nasir al-Din Shah Qajar. Often unacknowledged as the producer of published images in his own time - the 1902 photographic survey of Persepolis being the most glaring of such authorial misrepresentations - he was nevertheless celebrated and acknowledged for his artistic vision and his keen eye for composition, achieving the Medal of Lion and Sun from Nasir al-Din Shah, the 1897 Medal of Honour in the Brussels International Exposition, and the 1900 Medal of Honour in Paris International Exposition. Reflecting a career that spans nearly half a century, Sevruguin's diverse body of work includes studio portraits of families, women and dervishes, survey photographs of archeological sites, objects, landscapes and architecture, and photographs of royalty, high officials and ceremonies of the Qajar court. The range of his output not only demonstrates his own pictorial concerns and artistic abilities but also the divergent interests of his clients. Despite numerous devastating incidents throughout his career - the loss of more than half of his negatives in a 1908 blast and fire, an unsuccessful attempt at diversifying into cinematography in the 1910s, and the confiscation of the remainder of his negatives in the mid-1920s to name a few - his studio remained operational even after his death in 1933. A number of negatives from the Sevruguin studio can be dated to the years after Antoin's death, indicating that the Sevruguin studio continued to be commercially viable. As one of the most prolific early commercial photographers in Iran, Antoin Sevruguin's artistic legacy has since proved far more enduring.
Local Numbers:
FSA A2011.03
Provenance:
Purchase; 2011.
Restrictions:
Collection is open for research.
Rights:
Permission to publish, quote, or reproduce must be secured from the repository.
Stephen Arpee Collection of Sevruguin Photographs. Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery Archives. Smithsonian Institution, Washington D.C.
Antoin Sevruguin managed and operated one of the most successful commercial photography studios in Tehran in the late 19th century. Born in the 1840s in Iran, Sevruguin's mother returned with her children to her hometown of Tbilisi after his father Vassil, a Russian diplomat in Iran, died in a horse riding accident. Trained as a painter, Sevruguin returned to Iran in the early 1870s accompanied by his two brothers, establishing a photography studio first in Tabriz and then Tehran. His studio's ties to Tbilisi, however, persisted through the years; many of the early portraits of Dervishes and women have been simultaneously attributed to Antoin Sevruguin and Dimitri Yermakov, the Georgian photographer who is often referred to as Sevruguin's mentor from Tbilisi. Many of Antoin Sevruguin's photographs were published as early as 1885 in travelogues, journals and books indicating that by that time he had a fully established practice in Tehran's Ala al-Dawla street, with ties to the court of Nasir al-Din Shah Qajar. Often unacknowledged as the producer of published images in his own time - the 1902 photographic survey of Persepolis being the most glaring of such authorial misrepresentations - he was nevertheless celebrated and acknowledged for his artistic vision and his keen eye for composition, achieving the Medal of Lion and Sun from Nasir al-Din Shah, the 1897 Medal of Honour in the Brussels International Exposition, and the 1900 Medal of Honour in Paris International Exposition. Reflecting a career that spans nearly half a century, Sevruguin's diverse body of work includes studio portraits of families, women and dervishes, survey photographs of archeological sites, objects, landscapes and architecture, and photographs of royalty, high officials and ceremonies of the Qajar court. The range of his output not only demonstrates his own pictorial concerns and artistic abilities but also the divergent interests of his clients. Despite numerous devastating incidents throughout his career - the loss of more than half of his negatives in a 1908 blast and fire, an unsuccessful attempt at diversifying into cinematography in the 1910s, and the confiscation of the remainder of his negatives in the mid-1920s to name a few - his studio remained operational even after his death in 1933. A number of negatives from the Sevruguin studio can be dated to the years after Antoin's death, indicating that the Sevruguin studio continued to be commercially viable. As one of the most prolific early commercial photographers in Iran, Antoin Sevruguin's artistic legacy has since proved far more enduring.
Arrangement:
Images indexed by original photographic print number.
Biographical / Historical:
Jay A. Bisno (b. 1939) was Los Angeles County Museum of Natural History curator of archaeology.
Local Numbers:
FSA A.15
Date/Time and Place of an Event Note:
Mr. Bisno purchased the eighteen unmounted albumen prints from a shop in the Old City of Jerusalem in 1969.
Provenance:
Gift; Jay A. Bisno; 1985.
Restrictions:
Collection is open for research.
Rights:
Permission to publish, quote, or reproduce must be secured from the repository.
Jay Bisno Collection of Sevruguin Photographs. Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery Archives. Smithsonian Institution, Washington D.C. Gift of Jay Bisno, 1985
"Portrait of Mirza Riza Kirmani (d. 1896) taken during his imprisonment and after his assassination of Nasir Al-Din Shah Qajar. Mirza Riza Kirmani assassinated Nasir Al-Din Shah Qajar on May 1st of 1896, during the Shah's visit to Shah Abdul 'Azim Shrine in northern Tehran. Mirza Riza was executed by hanging on the dusk of the second day of Rabi 'al-Avval of 1314(11th of August, 1896), about four months after he assassinated Nasir al-Din Shah. The four month delay in his execution was due to the extensive interrogations to find out if he had any accomplices." [Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery Archives, Curatorial Research Assistant]
- On recto of the print, handwritten number in white (inked, probably by Antoin Sevruguin) reads, "607."
- On verso of the print, handwritten caption (penciled, probably by Antoin Sevruguin) reads, "Mirza Reza."
- On verso of the print, handwritten number (penciled) reads, "3a."
Arrangement:
One of 18 albumen prints, without any apparent organization, housed in document boxes and stored on shelves.
Biographical / Historical:
Antoin Sevruguin is one of the early pioneers of commercial photography in Iran. He arrived in Iran from Tbilisi, Georgia in the mid 1870s to set up shop in Ala al-Dawla street in Tehran. From the early days, Sevruguin's studio was trusted both by the Qajar court and by foreign visitors to Iran. Highly regarded for their artistic ingenuity outside Iran, Sevruguin's photographs of 'ethnic types,' architecture and landscape, and depictions of daily life of Tehran found their way into foreign travelogues, magazines and books. As such, he stands alone in a relatively large group of early Iranian photographers for being recognized and celebrated outside the boundaries of the country. Antoin Sevruguin passed away in 1933, although his family studio continued for some time as a commercial enterprise.
Local Numbers:
A.5-3
B-11
FSA A.15 11
General:
Title and summary note are provided by Shabnam Rahimi-Golkhandan, FSg curatorial research specialist.
Collection Restrictions:
Collection is open for research.
Collection Rights:
Permission to publish, quote, or reproduce must be secured from the repository.
Jay Bisno Collection of Sevruguin Photographs. Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery Archives. Smithsonian Institution, Washington D.C. Gift of Jay Bisno, 1985
"Mirza Riza Kirmani assassinated Nasir Al-Din Shah Qajar on May 1st of 1896, during the shah's visit to Shah Abdul 'Azim Shrine in northern Tehran. Nasir al-Din shah's visit to the shrine, which for the first time happened in the presence of people - was to initiate the celebration of his 50th year in reign. Mirza Riza was executed by hanging on the dusk of the second day of Rabi 'al-Avval of 1314(12th of August, 1896), about four months after he assassinated Nasir al-Din Shah. The four month delay in his execution was due to the extensive interrogations to find out if he had any accomplices. His body was left hanging for about two days after the event. From the number of people gathering around the hanging body of Mirza, it can be assumed that the photo was taken within hours after the event. Amin al-Sultan notes in his diaries that the first few hours, the square was rather crowded and he could hardly find his way close to the body." [Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery Archives, Curatorial Research Assistant]
- On recto of the print, handwritten number in white (inked, probably by Antoin Sevruguin) reads, "623."
- On verso of the print, handwritten caption (penciled, probably by Antoin Sevruguin) reads, "Mirza Reza."
- On verso of the print, handwritten number (penciled) reads, "3b."
Arrangement:
One of 18 albumen prints, without any apparent organization, housed in document boxes and stored on shelves.
Biographical / Historical:
Antoin Sevruguin is one of the early pioneers of commercial photography in Iran. He arrived in Iran from Tbilisi, Georgia in the mid 1870s to set up shop in Ala al-Dawla street in Tehran. From the early days, Sevruguin's studio was trusted both by the Qajar court and by foreign visitors to Iran. Highly regarded for their artistic ingenuity outside Iran, Sevruguin's photographs of 'ethnic types,' architecture and landscape, and depictions of daily life of Tehran found their way into foreign travelogues, magazines and books. As such, he stands alone in a relatively large group of early Iranian photographers for being recognized and celebrated outside the boundaries of the country. Antoin Sevruguin passed away in 1933, although his family studio continued for some time as a commercial enterprise.
Local Numbers:
B-12
FSA A.15 12
General:
Title and summary note are provided by Shabnam Rahimi-Golkhandan, FSg curatorial research specialist.
Collection Restrictions:
Collection is open for research.
Collection Rights:
Permission to publish, quote, or reproduce must be secured from the repository.
Jay Bisno Collection of Sevruguin Photographs. Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery Archives. Smithsonian Institution, Washington D.C. Gift of Jay Bisno, 1985
