Nude faun unseen since 1980 returns to view at Frieze Masters
A bronze nude playing a flute is back in front of the public in London after more than 40 years out of sight.
The work is Faun Musician by Iranian artist Bahman Mohassess. The 1.2-metre-high sculpture, showing a faun — a half-man, half-goat figure from ancient myth — playing a flute, is on the stand of Ab-Anbar Gallery in London at Frieze Masters in Regent's Park, London. The fair, which shows art made before the contemporary era, runs from 14 to 18 October, according to Frieze.
Mohassess was a pivotal figure of the Iranian avant-garde, according to Frieze. The story behind this sculpture starts in Tehran. The original Faun Musician was commissioned in 1971 by Iranian queen Farah Pahlavi as one of two public sculptures for the plaza outside the then newly built City Theatre in Tehran, according to The Art Newspaper.
That public version disappeared after Iran's 1979 Islamic Revolution. Its whereabouts were unknown for 20 years. Then, at the end of the 2000s, a photograph surfaced showing the original in pieces in the basement of the Tehran Museum of Contemporary Art in Tehran.
Mohassess made three versions in total: the public sculpture in Iran, a miniature cast held in a private collection, and a 1973 version. It is the 1973 version that is now in London. It comes from a private Italian collection and has not been shown in London since 1980.
The London showing is not a sale. The 1973 Faun Musician is listed as not for sale.
Ab-Anbar, led by director Salman Matinfar, moved from Tehran to London in 2020. Its Frieze Masters display around the faun also includes a variety of Mohassess paintings, collages and bronze works, according to The Art Newspaper.
The sculpture forms part of Queering Modernism, a curated section at the fair put together by curator Anke Kempkes. The section presents a visual history of LGBTQ+ artists from around the world. Frieze says Mohassess increasingly charged his minotaurs and fauns “with a parodic sense of sexual provocation and queer hypervirility”, according to Frieze.
What makes this stand out for visitors is simple. It is a rare chance to stand in front of a work that was made for a public square, then vanished from view for decades.
