Iran in Photographs

The Archives of the National Museum of Asian Art contain more than 1,100 original prints and glass plate negatives by Antoin Sevruguin and other Persian photographers, dating from the late nineteenth century to the first decades of the twentieth century. They range in subject from formal and informal images of the Qajar royal family to expansive views of Persepolis to glimpses of everyday life on the streets of Tehran. Largely contributed by generous donors, these images form the core of the museums’ rapidly growing collection of photography.

The aim of this evolving website is to make these photographs accessible to a wider international audience. By drawing on the expertise of scholars, historians, and interested members of the public, we plan to expand and revise the website and to refine the available information—and we appreciate your help. We encourage you to browse through this growing collection of images, and we welcome your input in identifying the people and locations featured in these photographs. If you see a familiar face or you recognize a place, email us at AVRreference@si.edu. Your participation is critical and will help this site to become an important resource for the study of early Persian photography around the world.

We thank the Parsa Foundation for a grant that allowed us to digitize and catalogue the entire collection, the largest public holdings of Sevruguin’s photographs outside Iran.

Antoin Sevruguin

In the late nineteenth century, Antoin Sevruguin (1840s—1933) managed and operated one of the most successful commercial photography studios in Tehran, Iran. He was born in Iran, but his mother returned with her family to her hometown of Tbilisi, Georgia, after his father, Vassil, a Russian diplomat in Iran, died in a horse-riding accident. Sevruguin trained to become a painter. Accompanied by his two brothers, he returned to Iran in the early 1870s and established a photography studio first in Tabriz and then in Tehran. Sevruguin’s ties to Tbilisi, however, continued 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.

As early as 1885 many of Sevruguin’s photographs were being published in travelogues, journals, and books. By that time he had a fully established a studio on Tehran’s Ala al-Dawla Street and cemented ties to the court of the Qajar ruler Nasir al-Din Shah (reigned 1848—96). During his lifetime, Sevruguin was often not acknowledged as the source of published images, as in the case of the photographic survey of Persepolis in 1902. On numerous occasions, however, he was celebrated for his artistic vision and his keen eye for composition. He not only received the Medal of Lion and Sun from Nasir al-Din Shah, but he was also awarded Medals of Honor at international expositions held in Brussels (1897) and Paris (1900).

Throughout the five decades of his career, Sevruguin had two pursuits. The first was a desire to record different facets of Iran, and the second was to capture the effect of light in his photographs, emulating the work of painters he admired, including the Dutch artist Rembrandt van Rijn. The diverse body of Sevruguin’s work includes studio portraits of families, women, and dervishes; survey photographs of archaeological sites, objects, landscapes, and architecture; and photographs of royalty, high-ranking officials, and ceremonies of the Qajar court. The range of his output demonstrates his own pictorial concerns and artistic abilities as well as the divergent interests of his clients.

Numerous devastating incidents occurred throughout his career—the loss of more than half of his glass-plate negatives in a blast and fire in 1908, an unsuccessful attempt to diversify into cinematography in the 1910s, and the confiscation of the remainder of his negatives in the mid-1920s—yet his studio remained in operation even after his death in 1933. Numerous negatives from the Sevruguin studio can be dated to the years after his death, an indication that the studio remained commercially viable. As one of the most prolific early commercial photographers in Iran, Antoin Sevruguin’s artistic legacy endures and reaches new audiences through these online resources.

The National Museum of Asia Art Archives have the largest collection of prints and glass plate negatives by Antoin Sevruguin in a public collection.

Abdullah Mirza Qajar

Abdullah Mirza Qajar (1850—1909) was the son of Jahangir Mirza Qajar, a member of the ruling family in Iran in the nineteenth century. He studied and later taught at Dar al-Funun, a polytechnic school in Tehran, during the reign of Nasir al-Din Shah (reigned 1848—96). Around 1878 he went to study in Paris, then in Vienna, followed by three years in Salzburg. In his writings Abdullah described the printing techniques he learned in Europe, such as the processes for producing zincographs, phototypes, photolithographs, and galvanoplastic (electrotype) prints. After he returned to Tehran, he worked on printing maps of Ahvaz and other towns, which he presented to the royal court. When his business in the printing field proved to be unsuccessful, Abdullah Mirza focused his efforts on photography.

His first works as a photographer in the Qajar court date to 1883. A few years later he traveled to Khurasan and then to Rey and Qom to photograph new buildings being constructed there. He also undertook assignments in Tabriz, Kermanshah, Mashhad, and Kashan. During his years as a court photographer, Abdullah also took pictures at Dar al-Funun of the students in uniform and of other subjects. Abdullah did not receive many orders after the death of Nasir al-Din Shah in 1896, and his photography business seems to have suffered. He continued to work under Muzaffar al-Din Shah (reigned 1896—1907), and he accompanied the new ruler to Europe in 1900 and again in 1903. During his lifetime Abdullah Mirza was regarded as a highly accomplished photographer.

Selected Reading

Donate Your Photos

We welcome your help in building this vital collection of photographs of Iran before 1945.

Do you have individual images or albums of photographs taken in Iran before the mid-twentieth century? Please consider donating them to the National Museum of Asian Art Archives. Your contributions will help this website to grow and inform scholars, researchers, and interested members of the public around the world. Email AVRreference@si.edu for more information.

Please note that we are unable to accept every potential gift. Do not send your collection unless requested to do so. Accepted gifts to the Smithsonian are tax-deductible under Section 170(c) of the U.S. Internal Revenue Code, in accordance with IRS regulations. The Smithsonian provides written acknowledgment of all charitable donations.

The Archives cannot provide appraisals. Prospective donors who require or desire a monetary assessment are encouraged to contact an independent appraiser or a member of the American Society of Appraisers (800.272.8258).