Iran's Pioneer Photographer

Antoin Sevruguin is the most important photographer of 19th Century Iran. During his long career, his camera captured all walks of Iranian life, and his photographs provide a unique visual source of the pre World War 1 era. His studio in Tehran produced astonishingly beautiful photographs, his fascination with painting and especially with Rembrandt leading to a unique artistic style.

Sevruguin took photographs of landscapes, monuments and people - nomads, workers, women, even the Royal family. Many of Sevruguin's surviving glass plates are well-preserved at the Smithsonian but his beautifully detailed work remains largely unknown. This film examines Sevruguin's work with help of experts who look behind the images to see how he did it, and what impact he had on his audiences both at home in Iran, and in a West that was hungry for exotic views of this faraway land.