Arthur Upham Pope (1881-1969) was an American pioneer in the study of Persian art, as well as an energetic, self-made entrepreneur who was instrumental for the awareness of Persian cultural heritage in the form of public events, such as exhibitions and congresses. The aesthetic criteria he, his wife Phyllis Ackerman (1893-1977) and their contemporary colleagues established for assessing the importance of cultural remains from modern Iran and Central Asia thus greatly influenced the way many people worldwide, including Iranian themselves, came to understand the art, architecture and material culture of the Persianate lands in the early 20th century.
This paper readdresses Pope’s activities in Central Europe during the inter-war period and reconsiders Pope’s role as a global advocate who mediated closer scholarly and curatorial cooperation between Central Europe (including Germany and Russia) and West Europe/North America. Compared with Pope’s other, well-known activities—such as the International Exhibition of Persian Art at the Burlington House in London (1931) and the publication of A Survey of Persian Art (1938-9), little has been critically analysed on his Persian art enterprise in Central Europe. The proposed paper thus elaborates on the historiographical background of his interaction with art historians, curators, collectors and dealers in the region, drawing upon various types of archival records (letters, photographs, etc.) and actual Persian objects.
