Structurally, Chapter 2 has three parts, it discusses the evolution of the term gharbzadegi (westoxification), which denotes the most substantial critique of Iran’s modernization, cultural politics as means of soft power in Pahlavi Iran, and previously untranslated art criticisms of Jalal al-e Ahmad. This chapter delves deeper into the museum’s history and foundation under the rule of Mohammad Reza Shah. For a deeper insight into Pahlavi cultural policy, this section will analyze the architectural design of the Tehran Museum of Contemporary Art, showing that the instrumentalization of art and architecture helped to communicate the new ideology established by the Pahlavis. To alter the perception of modernist art in Iran as a mere illustration of Pahlavi modernization, the last part of the chapter will introduce Jalal al-e Ahmad’s art criticism. As important source material, his texts reveal that modernism was less a kind of formalist experimentation with Western modernity and more a new artistic language that provided Iranian artists with new means of expression to address social and political themes of their time.

The first chapter examines contemporary exhibitions inside and outside Iran as historiographical sites of knowledge production about modernist Iranian art. This chapter focuses on two case studies, the exhibition Iran Modern (2013–2014) and the canceled exhibition project Tehran Modern, which was supposed to present artworks from Tehran Museum of Contemporary Art’s collection at the National Gallery in Berlin. In light of these exhibitions outside of Iran, this chapter also investigates the history, legacy, and exhibition activities of the Tehran Museum of Contemporary Art as the official institution for modern art in Iran. A comparative perspective shows how these exhibitions repeated and strengthened the historiographical paradigm that modernist Iranian art production symbolizes the country’s successful modernization and secularization during the Pahlavi rule. A close analysis demonstrates that the depoliticized reading of Iranian modernist art in the respective exhibition contexts serves different contemporary political interests.

This book brings together diplomatic and social history to narrate the history of US–Iranian relations. It argues that cultural openness and cooperation brought benefits not only to America and Iran, but the region more generally. The rift in US–Iranian relations had to do with more than the Mosaddeq coup or the dramatic shift in Iranian politics after 1979. Iran was confronted with competing nationalisms along its borders that forced Iran to adopt a defensive posture. Finally, America and Iran operated on both elite and non-elite networks that showed the ways in which social divisions affected diplomacy.

Iran engaged with global decolonization movements on two levels: state-to-state and non-elite contexts. As Iranians observed global crises such as apartheid and race riots unfold in South Africa and the United States, they sharpened their understanding of racial politics. At the same time, Iran tried to assume a prominent role in these debates by hosting the UN Human Rights Conference in 1968. The shah faced a quandary: on the one hand he saw Iran as aligned with other Third World countries that had suffered from imperial politics. On the other hand, he wanted Iran aligned with the United States and the West in a partnership of equals. Moreover, although the king supported global human rights, he was unable to facilitate democratic political participation in Iran.

As the century turned, Iran experienced political turmoil and America became a part of the drama of Iranian constitutionalism. After the assassination of Nasser al-Din Shah, the country moved toward constitutional government under his son, Mozaffar al-Din Shah. The constitutional revolution and civil war ushered in important political change in inaugurating Iran’s parliament, but instability followed. American missionaries and sympathizers, such as the martyred Howard Baskerville, fought for Iran’s freedom and to restore constitutional rule. During the period of the Second Majles, Iran hired American advisers to revamp its finances but was met with Russian interference. As war loomed, Iran found itself in a precarious position and its territory threatened by outside powers.

The Cold War, oil, and new borders intensified the fight for hegemony in the Middle East. The shah maneuvered around thorny international issues by keeping intact his ties to different US administrations. Iran watched the Vietnam War with concern but maintained a balanced stance. Elsewhere, the creation of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) brought some regional cooperation. However, in the Persian Gulf, Iran became isolated and faced competition from the Arabian Peninsula and the newly Arab states of the south. Its conflict with Iraq escalated until a short-lived truce was concluded in 1975. Iran also flexed its muscles by supporting the Sultanate in Oman during the conflict in Dhofar, but the shah’s interventions only fueled the domestic unrest against his rule. Student groups and artists increasingly decried the shah’s dictatorial ways.

The narrative begins with the establishment of the American Presbyterian Mission in northwestern Iran. American missionaries discovered Iran at a moment of cultural and social crisis after the Russo-Persian Wars. Iran grappled with a mixed religious environment, which, while dominated by Shia communities, had accommodated peoples of different faiths, including Zoroastrians, Jews, and Christians. The relationship with the new Babi group and its offshoot Bahaism proved more problematic because of the unique challenges they posed.

Iran pursued many secular reforms during the interwar years. From revamping its educational system to dictating new modes of dress, including unveiling, the first Pahlavi state pushed through sometimes controversial changes that fueled opposition and dissent. America expanded its involvement in Iran’s cultural affairs as these transformations were taking place. Iran celebrated its pre-Islamic past and invited American and other Orientalists to participate in such programs. As American missionary influence in Iran declined, American scholars and diplomats instead became more actively involved in Iranian cultural and educational affairs.