(Photo by Marzieh Mousavi)

A confab titled ‘Shams and Molana Visit’ was held on January 24 at Vahdat Hall in the presence of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

Portugal Holds Iran Cultural Week

Portugal is holding a week-long Iranian cultural exhibition in the city of Cascais to provide an opportunity to introduce the Persian civilization to the Portuguese.
The cultural event kicked off on Wednesday at Cascais’ cultural center, exhibiting Persian paintings, handicrafts, literature and music.
The cultural week is aimed at providing visitors with an insight into Iran’s civilization and culture, Press TV said.
The artists who participate in the event showcase their skills in calligraphy, miniatures, khatam-kari, which is an Iranian art of crafting micro-mosaic, and monabat-kari, the art of carving on wood.
The event is also a good opportunity for Portuguese and Iranian investors to meet and discuss further cooperation.
Julio Appleton, from a Portuguese consulting company, told Press TV that the company was seeking investments in Iran.
Iran’s embassy in the Portuguese capital, Lisbon, held a film week in collaboration with Portugal’s Cinema Museum last December to introduce Iranian cinematic arts and culture.

‘Hatred’ Heading to India

Iranian filmmaker Reza Dormishian’s drama ‘Hatred’ is set to be screened at the fifth edition of Jaipur International Film Festival (JIFF) in India.
Dormishian’s film will be presented in the short film category of the festival, which will be held from January 30th to February 3rd in the Indian city of Jaipur in Rajasthan state, Mehr News Agency reported.
The film is about the life of two Iranian youngsters, Jaleh and Hamed, who went to Turkey to immigrate to the West. It chronicles their difficulties for taking fake passports and visas.
The Indian event received 1397 films from 90 different countries. It is aimed at promoting new filmmakers and exchange of knowledge, information and culture between India and other countries.
‘Hatred’ was hailed by critics and audiences in the 30th edition of Iran’s Fajr Film Festival and the 2012 edition of the Montreal World Film Festival.
The movie was screened at several international festival last year, including the 28th Warsaw Film Festival in Poland, the 5th Didar International Film Festival in Tajikistan and third London Iranian Film Festival.

Boston Fest Screening Persian Movies

The Boston Festival of Films is screening eight productions by Iranian filmmakers in Boston’s Museum of Fine Arts in the United States.
The 2013 edition of the festival kicked off on January 19, showing dramas and documentaries from Iranian filmmakers, ISNA reported.
Actor and filmmaker Ali Mosaffa’s movie ‘The Last Step’ is included in the program. The film is about a successful actress and the challenges she faces at work after the death of her husband.
The latest production of filmmaker and actor Mani Haqiqi, ‘Modest Reception’, is also among the Iranian films to be presented in the festival. The drama recounts the story of a mysterious couple from the capital city of Tehran who distribute large bags of money among people in a poor mountain border town.
Rambod Javan’s romantic comedy ‘No Men Allowed’ will also be screened at the festival.
The program also includes Mania Akbari’s ‘One. Two. One.’, Loqman Khaledi’s ‘Nessa’, and Mehdi Baqeri’s ‘Reluctant Bachelor’. Boston Festival of Films from Iran will run until January 31.

Russian Lexicographer Honored

Russian lexicographer Herand Voskanian was honored with an honorable diploma by the Iranian Cultural House during a ceremony in Moscow.
Voskanian received the honor for the efforts he made to write the first Russian-Persian dictionary, which was published in 1986.
The ceremony was held on the sidelines of an Olympiad for Persian language and literature, Mehr News Agency said.

National Portrait Gallery Reunites Portraits of King Henry VIII

‘Henry and Catherine Reunited’ places portraits of King Henry VIII and Catherine of Aragon together for the first time in nearly 500 years.
The pictures are on show from January 25 at the National Portrait Gallery, London. The rare early portrait of Catherine of Aragon has been placed on loan from Lambeth Palace and has undergone an extensive program of research and conservation treatment prior to its display.
During a research visit to Lambeth Palace staff from the Gallery’s conservation and curatorial department noticed a portrait hanging in a private sitting room. The portrait depicted a woman in costume which dated from the 1520s to 1530s. The sitter had previously been identified as Henry VIII’s last wife Catherine Parr, according to ArtDaily.
However, the facial features and costume shared more similarities with known works depicting Henry VIII’s first wife Catherine of Aragon. The other striking element of the piece was its rare original engaged frame (a frame that was constructed around the panel support for the portrait before it was painted).
The Archbishop of Canterbury and the Church Commissioners generously allowed the Gallery to borrow the portrait for further research, including technical analysis. Examination of the painting in raking light indicated that it originally had a patterned background.
Further analysis showed that it would be possible to remove the black over paint from the background to reveal the original green finish which imitates damask silk; the National Portrait Gallery’s portrait of King Henry VIII c. 1520 shares a similar brocade background.
An X-ray indicated a veil attached to Catherine’s headdress and it became evident that a large amount of over painting had altered the characterization of the sitter’s face.
This research confirmed the re-identification of the portrait as Catherine of Aragon, and also underpinned the subsequent conservation treatment of the painting.

Chinese Girl Portrait Goes to Auction

Vladimir Tretchikoff’s original painting of the Chinese Girl, believed to be the world’s most reproduced print, is to go on sale in London.
The Russian artist, who died in 2006, claimed that by the end of his career he had sold half a million large-format reproductions of the print worldwide, BBC wrote.
The portrait of a young Chinese girl with distinctive green-hued skin and ruby lips could fetch up to £500,000.
The painting will form part of Bonhams’ South African art sale on 20 March.
Tretchikoff, who grew up in Russia and Shanghai, eventually settled in South Africa in 1946 and painted the Chinese Girl in Cape Town in 1952.
His model was Monika Sing-Lee, then 17, whom he spotted working at her uncle’s launderette in Sea Point, Cape Town.
According to Tretchikoff’s biographer Boris Gorelik, the image - also known as the Green Lady - went on to become “one of the most important pop culture icons in Britain and the Commonwealth in the 1950s”.
Its popularity led to Tretchikoff being called the “king of kitsch” - a moniker he hated, insisting he was a serious artist.
The painting was brought directly from the artist by a woman in Chicago when Tretchikoff was touring the US in the 1950s. It has remained in the same family for the past 60 years.
“The combination of lustrous golden silk and the blue-sheen of the model’s skin combine to produce an otherworldly glow: a luminescence that is the leitmotif of Tretchikoff’s best works,” said Giles Peppiatt, director of South African Art at Bonhams.
The work will be exhibited in New York and Johannesburg prior to its sale.

Prophet Muhammad (PBUH):

Kill not your hearts with excess of eating and drinking.