Sussan Babaie ( fa, سوسن بابایی, born 1954) is an Iranian-born art historian and curator. She is best known for her work on

Persian art Persian art or Iranian art () has one of the richest art heritages in world history and has been strong in many media including architecture, painting, weaving, pottery, calligraphy, metalworking and sculpture. At different times, influences f ...

and

Islamic art Islamic art is a part of Islamic culture and encompasses the visual arts produced since the 7th century CE by people who lived within territories inhabited or ruled by Muslim populations. Referring to characteristic traditions across a wide r ...

of the early modern period. She has written extensively on the art and architecture of the Safavid dynasty. Her research takes a multidisciplinary approach and explores topics such as urbanism, empire studies, transcultural visuality and notions of

exoticism Exoticism (from "exotic") is a trend in European art and design, whereby artists became fascinated with ideas and styles from distant regions and drew inspiration from them. This often involved surrounding foreign cultures with mystique and fanta ...

. In her work as a curator, Babaie has worked on exhibitions at the Sackler Museum of Harvard University (2010), the University of Michigan Museum of Art (installation, 2002–2006), and the Smith College Museum of Art (1998). She lived in the United States from 1979 until 2013. Since 2013, Babaie has been the Dr Andrew W. Mellon Reader in the Arts of Iran and Islam at

The Courtauld Institute of Art The Courtauld Institute of Art (), commonly referred to as The Courtauld, is a self-governing college of the University of London specialising in the study of the history of art and conservation. It is among the most prestigious specialist col ...

in London.

Biography

Babaie was born in Abadan, Iran, in 1954. She studied graphic design at the Faculty of Fine Arts at the

University of Tehran The University of Tehran (Tehran University or UT, fa, دانشگاه تهران) is the most prominent university located in Tehran, Iran. Based on its historical, socio-cultural, and political pedigree, as well as its research and teaching pro ...

with Iranian graphic designer Morteza Momayyez until the

Iranian Revolution The Iranian Revolution ( fa, انقلاب ایران, Enqelâb-e Irân, ), also known as the Islamic Revolution ( fa, انقلاب اسلامی, Enqelâb-e Eslâmī), was a series of events that culminated in the overthrow of the Pahlavi dyna ...

of 1979, when she moved to the United States. In the US, Babaie continued her studies at the American University in Washington DC, where she gained an MA in

Italian Renaissance The Italian Renaissance ( it, Rinascimento ) was a period in Italian history covering the 15th and 16th centuries. The period is known for the initial development of the broader Renaissance culture that spread across Europe and marked the tra ...

and American Arts after switching her focus to art history. In 1994 she completed her PhD at

New York University Institute of Fine Arts The Institute of Fine Arts (IFA) of New York University is dedicated to graduate teaching and advanced research in the history of art, archaeology and the conservation and technology of works of art. It offers Master of Arts and Doctor of Philos ...

under Priscilla P. Soucek. Her dissertation focused on the arts and architecture of Iran, and was titled "Safavid Palaces at Isfahan; Continuity and Change (1590–1666)". Since the 1990s, Babaie has taught art history in Europe and the US. She was an assistant professor in the Department of the History of Art at the

University of Michigan , mottoeng = "Arts, Knowledge, Truth" , former_names = Catholepistemiad, or University of Michigania (1817–1821) , budget = $10.3 billion (2021) , endowment = $17 billion (2021)As o ...

between 2001 and 2008 and a visiting professor at the Institut für Kunstgeschichte at Ludwig-Maximilian-University in Munich between 2010 and 2012. In 2013 she took up a newly established research post in Asian art history at the Courtauld Institute of Art, which is designed to focus on the period 1000-1750 AD and questions of

imperialism Imperialism is the state policy, practice, or advocacy of extending power and dominion, especially by direct territorial acquisition or by gaining political and economic control of other areas, often through employing hard power ( economic and ...

and artistic patronage from the perspective of non-Western empires. It marked a change in approach for the Courtauld Institute of Art, where since the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

the curriculum has focused primarily on the

Western tradition Eugen Joseph Weber (April 24, 1925 – May 17, 2007) was a Romanian-born American historian with a special focus on Western civilization. Weber became a historian because of his interest in politics, an interest dating back to at least the ag ...

. Sussan Babaie is on the editorial board of the journal ''

Muqarnas Muqarnas ( ar, مقرنص; fa, مقرنس), also known in Iranian architecture as Ahoopāy ( fa, آهوپای) and in Iberian architecture as Mocárabe, is a form of ornamented vaulting in Islamic architecture. It is the archetypal form of ...

'' and the president of the Historians of Islamic Art Association (2017–19). Babaie is also a member of the Governing Council of the British Academy's British Institute of Persian Studies, as well as a member of the Editorial and Advisory Boards of the Oxford University's ''Journal of Islamic Material Culture,'' as well as the '' Journal of Iranian Studies.''

Research

Babaie's research has been supported by the

National Endowment for the Humanities The National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) is an independent federal agency of the U.S. government, established by thNational Foundation on the Arts and the Humanities Act of 1965(), dedicated to supporting research, education, preserv ...

, the

Fulbright Program The Fulbright Program, including the Fulbright–Hays Program, is one of several United States Cultural Exchange Programs with the goal of improving intercultural relations, cultural diplomacy, and intercultural competence between the people of ...

and the

Getty Research Institute The Getty Research Institute (GRI), located at the Getty Center in Los Angeles, California, is "dedicated to furthering knowledge and advancing understanding of the visual arts".

in Los Angeles. Babaie's ''Isfahan and its Palaces: Statecraft, Shi'ism and the Architecture of Conviviality in Early Modern Iran'' (2008) was the Winner of the Houshang Pourshariati Iranian Studies Book Award in 2009.

Books

* ''Persian Drawings in the Metropolitan Museum of Art'' with Marie Lukens Swietochowski (New York:

Metropolitan Museum of Art The Metropolitan Museum of Art of New York City, colloquially "the Met", is the largest art museum in the Americas. Its permanent collection contains over two million works, divided among 17 curatorial departments. The main building at 100 ...

, 1989) * ''Slaves of the Shah: New Elites of Safavid Iran'' co-edited and co-authored with Kathryn Babayan, Ina Baghdiantz and Massumeh Farhad) (London: I.B. Tauris, 2004) * ''Isfahan and its Palaces: Statecraft, Shi'ism and the Architecture of Conviviality in Early Modern Iran'' (Edinburgh: University of Edinburgh Press: 2008) * ''Shirin Neshat'' co-authored with Rebecca Hart and Nancy Princenthal) ( Detroit Institute of Arts, 2013) * ''Persian Kingship and Architecture: Strategies of Power in Iran from the Achaemenids to the Pahlavis'' co-edited with Talinn Grigor (I.B. Tauris, 2015) * ''The Mercantile Effect: On Art and Exchange in the Islamicate World during the 17th and 18th Centuries'' co-editor with Melanie Gibson (forthcoming; Chicago; University of Chicago Press, 2017) * ''The Idea of Iran: post-Mongol polities and the Reinvention of Iranian Identities'' editor (forthcoming; London: I.B. Tauris, 2018–19) * ''The Idea of Iran: Crisis and Renewal in the Age of Mongol Prestige'' editor (forthcoming; London: I.B. Tauris, 2018–19)

Exhibitions

* ''Persian Drawings in the Metropolitan Museum of Art'' co-curated with Marie Lukens Swietochowski.

(1989) * ''Islamic Art from the Permanent Collection'' Smith College Museum of Art (1998) * ''Treasures of Islamic Art from UMMA Collections'' University of Michigan Museum of Art (2002-2006) * ''Strolling in Isfahan'' guest curator

Sackler Museum The Harvard Art Museums are part of Harvard University and comprise three museums: the Fogg Museum (established in 1895), the Busch-Reisinger Museum (established in 1903), and the Arthur M. Sackler Museum (established in 1985), and four research ...

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of high ...

(2010) * ''Eid al-Fitr: Breaking the Fast'' curator

Calouste Gulbenkian Museum The Calouste Gulbenkian Museum houses one of the world's most important private art collections. It includes works from Ancient Egypt to the early 20th century, spanning the arts of the Islamic World, China and Japan, as well as the French decor ...

(2017) * ''Noruz: Feasting in Spring'' curator

(2017)

References

External links