Fitzwilliam Museum adds Abbas Akbari’s artworks to its collection

TEHRAN- The Fitzwilliam Museum of the University of Cambridge has added seven artworks by the Iranian ceramic artist Abbas Akbari to its rich collection.

The museum contains different works from ancient times to the contemporary period and from different civilizations and countries. An important part of the collection of works of the museum is related to the Islamic period, especially Iran, and especially the ceramics of the middle century.

The selection of Akbari’s works is a contemporary look at the Iranian ceramic traditions of previous centuries, Honaronline reported.

Akbari, 54, is a multi-award-winning Iranian ceramicist. Holding a Ph.D. in research in arts from the Faculty of Fine Arts, University of Tehran, he is a faculty member of Architecture and Arts School at the University of Kashan and also a member of the International Academy of Ceramics. 

His particular practice-based research has involved the consultation of historical recipes to rediscover the technique of decorating in lustre, an overglaze technique using metallic oxides that give the finished product a distinctive sheen.
 
Drawing from his experience as a pottery artist, he identifies different artistic expressions and technical practices, in order to differentiate the artistic signatures of different potters involved in making lustreware in Gorgan based on the broken lustreware fragments housed in Iranian museums.

He has held several solo and group exhibits and has authored several books and a number of academic articles. He has also won several awards for his artwork from Croatia, Japan, Argentina, France, and Dominican Republic.

His works are kept at museums in Iran as well as other countries such as Argentina, Japan, Pakistan, Croatia, Spain, Tunisia, France, Germany, Nepal, Italy, and Austria among others.

The Fitzwilliam Museum is the art and antiquities museum of the University of CambridgeFfounded in 1816, it comprises one of the best collections of antiquities and modern art in western Europe. 

With over half a million objects and artworks in its collections, the displays in the museum explore world history and art from antiquity to the present. The treasures of the museum include artworks by Monet, Picasso, Rubens, Vincent van Gogh, Rembrandt, Cézanne, Van Dyck, and Canaletto, as well as a winged bas-relief from Nimrud.

The museum is a partner in the University of Cambridge Museums consortium, one of 16 Major Partner Museum services funded by Arts Council England to lead the development of the museums sector.

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