(Photo by Amin Jalali)

Closing ceremony of the 31st Fajr International Theater Festival was held on Thursday evening.

Javadipour Commemoration Due

The Fifth Fajr International Visual Arts Festival will pay tribute to the late Iranian painter Mahmoud Javadipour.
A collection of his works will be put on display in an exhibition during the festival, which will open at Tehran Museum of Contemporary Arts today, Mehr News Agency said.
Javadipour died in November 2012 at the age of 92.
A total of 36 paintings, 61 graphic designs, 77 photos, 48 cartoons, 199 calligraphy artworks, 72 Persian paintings, 25 sculptures and 28 ceramics have been selected for the festival, the secretary of the festival Seyyed Abbas Mirhashsemi said.
Artworks by four foreign photographers, one foreign graphic designer and 28 cartoonists of foreign nationalities will participate at the festival, he added.
A total of 119 cartoons by artists from Iran and 75 other countries will be competing in the festival, which will focus on the theme of justice.
Cartoonists from 30 countries, photographers from nine countries and poster designers of six nationalities submitted their works to the secretariat of the gala.
Applicants are from Canada, Spain, Belgium, Austria, Brazil, Romania, Bulgaria, Turkey, France, Jordan, Serbia and several other countries.
Painting, calligraphy, miniature, pottery and ceramics, illustration and sculpture are other sections of the festival that are national competitions.
The festival will be held from February 2-30 in Tehran.

Documentary Explores Folk Songs on Prophet Muhammad (PBUH)

A documentary focusing on Asian and African folk songs on Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) has recently been completed in Iran.
Entitled ‘Songs of Muhammad’, the documentary has no narration and shows performances of songs in various parts of Asia, producer Mohammad-Ali Hossein-Nejad said.
Fourteen countries from the two continents were selected for the documentary project and the countries were divided among four filmmakers, he told Mehr News Agency.
Shahram Alidi worked on regions in Iran, Turkey, Iraq, Pakistan and India, and Mahmoudreza Sani covered regions in Algeria, Sudan, Comoro Islands, Kenya and Tanzania.
Reza Abiat worked in Turkmenistan and Siavash Ebrahimzadeh focused on Brunei, Indonesia and some Southeast Asian countries including Thailand.
“‘Songs of Muhammad’ shows the Muslim nations’ solidarity. It depicts how the nations, despite the differences in their ethnic, geographical and language origins, demonstrate their love and respect for the great Prophet of Islam in their songs,” Hossein-Nejad stated.

‘Lessons of Prophet’s Life’ Available

A book titled ‘Lessons of Prophet’s Life’ has been released featuring the Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei’s statements about the life of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH).
The office for preservation and publication of Leader’s works has published the work marking the Prophet’s birth anniversary (January 29).
The work includes a collection of speeches by the leader from among his sermons he delivered from 1989 until 2012, IBNA wrote.
The sermons are mostly directed towards the elite in various areas, including government officials and leaders of Islamic countries.

Fajr Theater Books Unveiled

Minister of Culture and Islamic Guidance Seyyed Mohammad Hosseini unveiled new research works presented at the 31st International Fajr Theater Festival.
According to IBNA, the books include: ‘A Research Work in 30 of World’s Most Credited Festivals’, ‘A Statistical, Research and Adaptive Look at Five Recent Editions of the Fajr Theater Festival’, and ‘Five Best Plays of the 31st Fajr Theater Festival’.
The 31st International Fajr Theater Festival was held from January 15-31.

Islamic Art Collection At Harvard Art Museum

The Harvard Art Museums present ‘In Harmony: The Norma Jean Calderwood Collection of Islamic Art’, a special exhibition that showcases some 150 objects from the Persian cultural sphere, including luxury glazed ceramics of the early and medieval Islamic era, illustrated manuscripts of medieval epic poems, and lacquerware of the early modern era.
The works in this little-known and largely unpublished collection represent 30 years of committed collecting by Mrs. Calderwood. ‘In Harmony’ is on display January 31-June 1, 2013 at the Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, 485 Broadway, Cambridge, MA, ArtDaily said.
The exhibition is curated by Mary McWilliams, Norma Jean Calderwood Curator of Islamic and Later Indian Art, Division of Asian and Mediterranean Art, Harvard Art Museums.
Norma Jean Calderwood devoted much of her life to studying and teaching Islamic art and the complex of cultures in which it arose. She pursued graduate study in Islamic art at Harvard University, where she specialized in Persian manuscripts, and taught for many years at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, and at Boston College.
The Calderwood Collection covers more than a thousand years of artistic achievement in the Persianate world during the Islamic era, principally through the media of ceramics, works on paper, and lacquer. The majority of objects were produced between the 9th and 19th centuries in Iran, Iraq, and parts of Central Asia. Initially attracted to luxury ceramics, Norma Jean Calderwood amassed 57 examples within a decade before shifting her attention to works on paper--illuminated and illustrated manuscript folios as well as single-page compositions.

‘Rembrandt & Dutch Golden Age’ on View

Rembrandt and the Dutch Golden Age: Highlights from the Detroit Institute of Arts will open at the Frist Center for the Visual Arts on February 1, 2013.
Drawn entirely from the superb collection of the Detroit Institute of Arts, this exhibition presents works of the great Dutch masters including Frans Hals, Rembrandt van Rijn, Jacob van Ruisdael and Jan Steen, along with related decorative arts. Rembrandt and the Dutch Golden Age will remain on view in the Frist Center’s Ingram Gallery through May 19, 2013.
Comprised of 73 paintings and 16 decorative arts, the exhibition sets the work of the great Dutch masters within the larger social, religious and political context of the Dutch Golden Age. Together these works provide a stunning survey of the art produced in the 17th century in the newly independent and prosperous Dutch Republic, AP wrote.
“We are pleased to have the opportunity to bring to the Frist Center an exhibition entirely devoted to 17th century Dutch painting that has been selected from one of the largest collections of Dutch art outside of the Netherlands,” Frist Center Executive Director Susan Edwards remarks.
The exhibition will open with a gallery focusing on Rembrandt, the most innovative, versatile and influential Dutch artist of the 17th century. “Rembrandt did not specialize in any one kind of painting, which distinguishes him from his contemporaries,” explains Frist Center Curator Trinita Kennedy. “His vast production of paintings ranges across virtually every thematic category: genre, history painting, landscape, portraiture and still life.
He was highly inventive and his work has never lost its extraordinary appeal.” The first gallery will also present works by Rembrandt’s teacher, the Amsterdam painter Pieter Lastman, and Rembrandt’s own students and followers. Rembrandt was famous in his own day and ran an important workshop. While his exact number of pupils is unknown, it may have been as many as 40 to 50.

Prophet Muhammad (PBUH):

Kill not your hearts with excess of eating and drinking.