Met curator Dr. Maryam Ekhtiar in conversation with Paris-based master calligrapher Nuria Garcia Masip.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art in NYC has one of three Seyh Hamdullah albums in the United States, a stunning set of folios framed by striking ebru. Dr. Maryam Ekhtiar, a curator in the Department of Islamic Art at the Met will be discussing this work with Nuria Garcia Masip who is a master calligrapher practicing and teaching the art of Arabic calligraphy. Be sure to tune in for images never before seen of the Seyh Hamdullah piece and lively conversation with two experts in this field.
Currently Curator in the Department of Islamic Art at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Dr. Maryam Ekhtiar began working at the museum in 2003 as a specialist in the field of nineteenth century Persian art and culture, calligraphy, and later Persian painting. She received her Ph.D. from the Department of Middle Eastern Studies at New York University in 1994 and has worked and taught at various museums and universities, namely the Brooklyn Museum, New York University, and Swarthmore College.
Dr. Ekhtiar has organized several exhibitions, lectured and published widely. She has co-edited several books including, Royal Persian Paintings: The Qajar Epoch 1785-1925 (1998), Masterpieces from the Department of Islamic Art at the Metropolitan Museum of Art (2011), Art of the Islamic World: A Resource for Educators (2012) Her latest book, How to Read the Art of Islamic Calligraphy, was published by the Met in 2018.
Nuria Garcia Masip is a calligrapher and doctoral candidate in Art History at Sorbonne University. She has won prestigious prizes in international calligraphy competitions and her work forms part of various private and museum collections. She studied under master calligrapher Mohamed Zakariya and later traveled to Istanbul where she continued her study with masters Hasan Celebi and Davut Bektas. In 2007, she received her diploma (ijazah) in the thuluth and naskh scripts signed by her three teachers. Apart from her calligraphic work and research, she has organized numerous workshops and lectures on this art to promote the art of calligraphy internationally.