Out On The Town with the Senior Alumni Committee

The Senior Alumni Committee organizes outings for Alumni (over age 65) to enjoy city culture. They recently visited exhibits at the Asia Society and The New-York Historical Society. Committee Co-Chair Marjie Cohen Scharfspitz ’59, who provided the following reports, says, “Seniors: We’d love to have you join us on our next adventure!”

Senior Alumni Committee Enjoys the Asia Society Exhibit — Rebel, Jester, Mystic, Poet: Contemporary Persians

I was deeply moved by the openness, beauty, and subtleties of the show “Rebel, Jester, Mystic, Poet: Contemporary Persians.” Because the Asia Society had no docents, I became the presenter during our Senior Alumni group’s visit last March 2022.

The works featured in the recent exhibit Rebel, Jester, Mystic, Poet: Contemporary Persians, are part of the collection of Iranian financier and philanthropist

Mohammed Afkhami. The show featured 23 Iranianborn artists across three generations, and the exhibition revealed the Iranians’ extraordinary histories and identities. Many of these artists live outside of Iran, with several working in the New York area. The word Persians was used deliberately in the title because it harkens back to the cultural identity of the artists, as opposed to the current complexities and hostilities toward the Iranian regimes.

Every artwork in this exhibit illustrates ingenuity, dexterity, and flair. In addition, each is thoughtprovoking — using humor, spirituality, contradictions, or cynicism. The Persian artwork outside of Iran shows defiance, a refusal to surrender in silence. All of the art pieces were created between 1998 and today. The Iranian artistic climate in the diaspora, and even in Iran itself, has grown exponentially during this time. Currently, women own many of the 150 galleries thriving in Iran. After spending a few minutes in the beautiful gift shop, we came together at Brasserie Cognac East, just a block away, for lunch. The museum gave us lots to think about, while the brasserie gave us time to become reacquainted and reminisce.