Advertisement

LACMA remembers Elizabeth Taylor’s trip to Iran with photographer Firooz Zahedi in exhibit

Share

This article was originally on a blog post platform and may be missing photos, graphics or links. See About archive blog posts.

It seems like ages ago that Elizabeth Taylor was a bona fide movie star and not the butt of cruel jokes. At the height of her fame, the paparazzi would hound the actress as she traveled the world for film shoots, charity work and quite often for pleasure with her long series of husbands. Starting in late February, one of Taylor’s many foreign excursions will be the subject of a photography exhibition at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, scheduled to run Feb. 26 to June 12.

In 1976, Taylor visited Iran for the first and presumably only time, accompanied by Firooz Zahedi, who would go on to become a celebrity photographer. Taylor visited a variety of sites, including ancient Persepolis, and was photographed as a tourist -- sometimes posing for the camera and other times disappearing (as much as a celebrity of her stature could at the time) into the scene.

Advertisement

Elizabeth Taylor in Iran’ will feature 32 photographs -- in color and black-and- white -- that will be on display on the fourth floor of the Ahmanson Building. Some of Zahedi’s photographs show Taylor in traditional Persian dress that she purchased in Isfahan.

Zahedi was born in Iran in 1949 but grew up in England. He studied at Georgetown University and later at the Corcoran School of Art. He became a protege of Andy Warhol and met Taylor in the mid-’70s while photographing for Warhol’s Interview magazine. Taylor would later hire Zahedi as her personal photographer.

Zahedi’s images have run in many publications including Time, Vanity Fair, Glamour and more. Here are two more photographs that will be in LACMA’s Taylor exhibition ...

RELATED:

LACMA reveals more details about Tim Burton exhibition

Magna Carta coming to LACMA for a fortnight during BritWeek

Advertisement

Firooz Zahedi snaps up $1.53 million for Hollywood Hills home

-- David Ng


Advertisement