Layla S. Diba is an independent art advisor, scholar and curator specializing in the art of 19th and 20th century Iran. Herself of Iranian-American heritage, she has devoted her career to increasing understanding between Iranians and Americans through the arts.

She held the post of Director and Chief Curator of the Negarestan Museum of 18th and 19th century Iranian Art in Tehran from its inception in 1975 until 1978. Under her leadership, the holdings of the museum increased from a few hundred items to more than three thousand artworks. After moving to the United States in 1979, she became the Brooklyn Museum of Art’s Curator of Islamic Art from 1990-2000. During her tenure, she organized the highly successful exhibition, Royal Persian Paintings: The Qajar Epoch (1785-1925), the first major international presentation on 18th and 19th century Persian art and culture.

Subsequently, she continued her advisory and scholarly activities with other major American Institutions and foundations, including the Encyclopedia Iranica Foundation, the Farhang Foundation, the Guggenheim Abu Dhabi Museum and the National Endowment for the Humanities. She also mentors many young scholars who turn to her as a resource for documenting modern Iranian art history.

Dr. Diba has been an active member of the Cosmopolitan Club in New York, organizing many activities and programs for its members. She also served on the Board of Directors of her former home at 1115 Fifth Avenue for 18 years.

In 2013-14 she co-curated the groundbreaking exhibition Iran Modern at Asia Society Museum in New York and coedited the accompanying publication. Her publications on Iranian 19th and 20th century art include three monographs and over fifty scholarly articles. She is also a popular media personality and expert on Iranian art and culture, participating in programs such as two upcoming BBC Persian historical series, and the 2021 Roqe podcast on 20th century Iranian History.

Dr. Diba currently sits on the Boards of The Soudavar Memorial Foundation and of The National Museum of Asian Art, Charles Lang Freer and Arthur M. Sackler Galleries, Washington D.C., as well as on the Visiting Committee of the Islamic Art Department of the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Current projects include the publications: Inventing the Modern Iranian Landscape: Kamal al Molk’s Paintings of Mazandaran and Art in Peril: The Case of the Negarestan Museum and its Collections of 18th and 19th century Iranian Art.