TEHRAN -- Experts from Berlin’s New National Gallery Hana Streicher and Anke Klausmeier have completed a restoration project on three paintings by Western artists at the Tehran Museum of Contemporary Art (TMCA).

A painting from Max Ernst’s series “Histoire Naturelle”, Pablo Picasso’s “The Artist and His Model” and an untitled work by Franz Kline were refurbished over eleven days, the TMCA announced in a press release on Tuesday.

Due to the technique that was developed by Max Ernst and used in that series, the painting needed additional restoration in comparison with the other two artworks, Streicher said in the press release.     

Streicher and Klausmeier also turned to experts from a museum in Dusseldorf that holds a work from “Histoire Naturelle” for the Ernst’s painting.

Due to the various layers of paint, there was some subsidence on the canvases in the paintings by Picasso and Kline, Streicher said and added that the artworks were strengthened on the reverse side.

The restoration project is part of an agreement between Iran and Germany, based on which the TMCA is scheduled to loan the paintings along with a number of other artworks for a show at the gallery from December 2016 to February 2017.

Streicher promised that the artworks will be returned as intact as they now are in Iran.

Streicher and Klausmeier will also supervise packing and the insurance arrangements for the collection.
 
The TMCA’s plan to loan the collection, which contains 40 Western works and a number of pieces from Iranian artists, for shows at Berlin’s New National Gallery and Rome’s MAXXI Museum has faced opposition from Iranian art experts and gallery owners.

The opponents said that the collection could be confiscated using some lame excuse. They also said that Italy and Germany may return copies of the artworks instead the originals.

In a letter that German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier sent to his Iranian counterpart Mohammad-Javad Zarif last week promised the full and safe return of the collection.

Photo: Hana Streicher (R) and Anke Klausmeier of Berlin’s New National Gallery restore an artwork at the treasury of the Tehran Museum of Contemporary Art in an undated photo.

MMS/YAW