Georg Gerster’s Exhibition at the Leila Taghinia-Milani Heller Gallery

Georg Gerster’s Exhibition at the Leila Taghinia-Milani Heller Gallery

April 03, 2009

The Leila Taghinia-Milani Heller Gallery

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

March 2009, New York, NY – For the first time ever, 29 breathtaking aerial photographs of Persia by award-winning Swiss photographer Georg Gerster, taken in the immediate years before the 1979 Iranian Revolution, will be on exhibition at the Leila Taghinia-Milani Heller Gallery (LTMH) from April 4th through April 21st, 2009. The works were recently compiled in the book, Paradise Lost: Persia From Above, edited by Maryam Sachs and published by Phaidon Press. A book signing will accompany the opening reception, which will take place on Saturday, April 4th from 6 pm to 8 pm.

In the late 1970’s Gerster was granted permission by Her Majesty Empress Farah Pahlavi to record the Persian topography. It was a rare opportunity, resulting in vivid photographs that capture the rich Persian landscapes and city structures that few people outside the country have been able to experience. Once the Revolution broke out, however, Gerster’s plan to produce a book of these photographs was brought to an immediate halt. Nearly thirty years after their execution, the photographs were rediscovered by Her Majesty Empress Farah Pahlavi and Maryam Sachs during a visit in January 2005 to the Arts Museum Bochum in Germany where Gerster was featured in the show Persiens Antike Pracht (Persia’s Antique Glory). Overwhelmed to see the magnificent photos of their homeland again, Sachs used her stunning vision to bring

Gerster’s photographs alive in Paradise Lost: Persia From Above that she calls her “gift to all Persians.” Indeed, the gallery is thrilled to have the opportunity to introduce these photographs to audiences of all generations who are both familiar and unfamiliar with the Persian landscape.