A nude faun sculpture by the Iranian artist Bahman Mohassess, out of public view for decades, is on show at Frieze Masters in London, according to The Art Newspaper.
The work, called Faun Musician, is displayed on the stand of Ab-Anbar Gallery, according to a report by The Art Newspaper. The paper said the sculpture is not for sale.
The version on show dates from 1973, according to a picture caption in the report. The Art Newspaper said Mohassess made three versions of the work. The details of the other two were not available to the Tehran Telegraph.
The report said the sculpture was first commissioned in 1971 by Farah Pahlavi, who was then Iran's queen. It was one of two public sculptures planned for the plaza of the newly built City Theatre of Tehran.
The Art Newspaper described the work as a nude faun playing a flute, with attenuated limbs and an "energised male member". The paper said Mohassess recounted in the 2013 documentary Fifi Howls From Happiness that the nudity was shocking even in the liberal Tehran of the time.
According to the report, a muslin cloth was placed over the section, but it blew away after a few months.
The paper said the sculpture was taken down after the 1979 Islamic Revolution and that its whereabouts were unknown for 20 years. At the end of the 2000s, a photograph surfaced of it in pieces in the basement of the Tehran Contemporary Art Museum, it said.
A separate Art Newspaper piece, published on 13 October, used stronger wording about the original work. That article said it was "removed and mutilated" during the revolution. The 16 October report said only that it was taken down and that its pieces were found later.
The work on show is the 1973 version, not the original plaza sculpture. The report did not say how the 1973 version avoided being removed.
Salman Matinfar, director of Ab-Anbar gallery, spoke about the work's life in Tehran. He said: "The sculpture became a meeting point for couples." Mr Matinfar is also the gallery's director.
In the 13 October article, Mr Matinfar described Mohassess's art as heavily political. He said his sexuality could be seen in the work.
The same article said Ab-Anbar is also showing Mohassess paintings, collages, bronze sculptures and other works. A curated thread by Anke Kempkes at the fair looks at queer histories in Modernism, according to the paper.
Ms Kempkes said that by the 1970s Mohassess's fauns and minotaurs had become "increasingly charged with homoeroticism and sexual provocation", according to The Art Newspaper.
No response from the Iranian government or the Tehran Contemporary Art Museum had been reported.
Bahman Mohassess was born on 1 March 1931 in Rasht, Iran, and died on 28 July 2010 in Rome. He was a painter, sculptor, translator and theatre director. Some have called him the "Persian Picasso", according to Wikipedia, WikiArt and Mee Art Gallery.
He studied in Italy from 1950, according to the gallery sites Ocula and Leila Heller Gallery. They said he returned to Iran in 1964, spent four years in Tehran and then settled in Rome. The Art Newspaper gives a different start date for his work in Tehran, and sources differ on the details.
The art website Artnet describes his relationship with Iran as complicated. It says his work uses mythological creatures and stylised animals.
Farah Pahlavi was the wife of Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, who was overthrown in the 1979 revolution. Her 1971 commission put the sculpture in front of the City Theatre of Tehran. The Islamic Republic took over after 1979.
Ab-Anbar was founded in Tehran and moved to London in 2020, according to The Art Newspaper. The gallery has published on the artist, including Bahman Mohassess in 60 Pieces of a Lost Body in 2015, with Aria Gallery.
The fairs run from 14 to 18 October 2026. Frieze Masters has 142 galleries from 33 countries, according to ArtNews and the Frieze press office. Both list Ab-Anbar among the exhibitors.
The sculpture will be on show until the fair closes on 18 October. No information on future plans for it had been reported.
