Biography
Hossein Nakhaei is a Ph.D. student in the History of Art & Architecture department at the University of Pittsburgh. After working as an interior architect for several years, he brought his architectural training and professional experience to the field of architectural history with a focus on the interior spaces of medieval buildings in the Persianate world. His major interest is linking museum objects with their spatial contexts, aiming to activate “standalone art objects” in museums through fresh narratives, computer technologies, and reparation practices. His current project at Pitt orients toward shifting perceptions of Persian luster tiles from isolated museum objects to essential elements of space-making practices in Persian architecture in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries.
Hossein holds a Bachelor of Architecture and two Master’s degrees in architectural studies and history of art and architecture. His recent MA thesis entitled “A Lustrous Shrine: Recontextualizing luster tiles of Ali b. Ja'far shrine in Qum” won the 2023 Early Modern Worlds Biennial Graduate Essay Prize at the University of Pittsburgh. He is also the author of the book The Great Mosque of Varamin: Recognizing the Process of Formation and Evolution, which offers a new interpretation of the building's history, original form, and function. This book received the 12th Farabi International Award on the Humanities and Islamic Studies in 2021.
Digital Project
Education Details
Ph.D., History of Art and Architecture, University of Pittsburgh, in progress
M.A., University of Pittsburgh, History of Art and Architecture, 2023
Thesis: “A Lustrous Shrine: Recontextualizing luster tiles of Ali b. Ja'far shrine in Qum”
M.A., Architectural Studies, Shahid Beheshti University, 2015
Thesis: “The Great Mosque of Varamin: Recognizing the Process of Formation and Evolution”
B.Arch., University of Tehran, 2013
Selected Publications
Co-authored with Fuchsia Hart. “Scattered Tiles, Defaced Birds: The Life of Lustre Tiles in a Contested Site.” In The Complex of ‘Abd Al-Samad in Natanz Context and Decoration, edited by Anaïs Leone, Richard Piran McClary, and Yves Porter. Edinburgh: University of Edinburgh Press, 2025. (Forthcoming)
Co-authored with Keelan Overton. “Chronological Overview of the Emamzadeh Yahya Complex, ca. 1200–2024.” Essay in The Emamzadeh Yahya at Varamin: An Online Exhibition of an Iranian Shrine. Directed and edited by Keelan Overton, 33 Arches. Host: Khamseen: Islamic Art History Online, January 2025.
Co-authored with Keelan Overton. “Sites with Persian Luster Tiles, ca. 1200–1350.” Essay in The Emamzadeh Yahya at Varamin: An Online Exhibition of an Iranian Shrine. Directed and edited by Keelan Overton, 33 Arches. Host: Khamseen: Islamic Art History Online, January 2025.
Co-authored with Keelan Overton. “The Emamzadeh Yahya Through the Eyes of ʿAliqoli Mirza Eʿtezad al-Saltaneh: Notes from a Qajar Court Visit to Varamin in 1279/1863 and a Biography of Emamzadeh Yahya dated 1294/1877.” Interactive feature in The Emamzadeh Yahya at Varamin: An Online Exhibition of an Iranian Shrine. Directed and edited by Keelan Overton, 33 Arches. Host: Khamseen: Islamic Art History Online, January 2025
Masjed-e jāmeʿ-e Warāmīn: Bāzshenāsī-ye ravand-e sheklgīrī va seyr-e taḥavvol (The Great Mosque of Varamin: The Process of Formation and Evolution.) Foreword by Kambiz Haji-Qassemi & Haeedeh Laleh. Tehran: Shahid Beheshti University & Rowzaneh, 2019.
Selected Presentations
Co-presented with Alison Langmead and Kale Doyen, “Teaching Art History with AI.” Computer Vision and Art History Today, Barnes Foundation, 14-15 June 2024.
"Persian Pavilion and British Petroleum: Art and Oil in the Last Concession of Antoine Kitabgi Khan.” Association of Iranian Studies: First Online Symposium, 21-22 November 2023.
Co-presented with Fuchsia Hart. “Defaced birds: Iconoclasm and identifying luster tiles from the shrine complex at Natanz.” Le complexe de ‘Abd al-Samad à Natanz: contextes et décors. MMSH, Aix-en-Provence, France, March 30, 2023
“Paradise Gate on the Qibla Wall: Recontextualizing Luster Tiles of Ali b. Ja’far Shrine in Qom.” Cambridge Visual Culture: Medieval Ceramics from Iran: an online symposium, November 2022.
“Recognizing the Original Form of the Great Mosque of Varamin,” Higher Education Center for Cultural Heritage, Tehran, May 2015
Selected Awards
Andrew W. Mellon Predoctoral Fellowship, University of Pittsburgh, 2024
Dietrich Summer Research Grant, University of Pittsburgh, 2024
Early Modern Worlds Biennial Graduate Essay Prize, University of Pittsburgh, 2023
Arts & Sciences Summer Research Grant, University of Pittsburgh, 2023
Dietrich Summer Research Grant, University of Pittsburgh, 2022
Kenneth P. Dietrich School of Arts & Sciences Fellowship, University of Pittsburgh, 2021
The 12th Farabi International Award on the Humanities and Islamic Studies, 2021