Massumeh Farhad grew up in Iran, and emigrated from Iran to the United States to attend university.[4] Farhad has a PhD (1987) in art history from
Harvard University.[3] In 1997, she had been in a relationship with the Chief Curator of the
National Museum of African Art, Philip L. Ravenhill (1945–1997) before his death.[5]
She has contributed to the
Encyclopaedia Iranica.[3] Farhad has curated numerous exhibitions including the "Art of the Persian Courts" (1996),[6] "The Heroic Past: The Persian
Book of Kings" (2000),[7] "Fountains of Light: The Nuhad Es-Said Collection of Metalwork" (2000),[8] "
Antoin Sevruguin and the Persian Image" (2001),[9] "The Adventures of
Hamza" (2002),[10] "Style and Status: Imperial Costumes From Ottoman Turkey" (2005),[11] "Facing East: Portraits from Asia" (2006),[12] "
Falnama: The Book of Omens" (2009),[2] and "The Art of
Qur’an: Treasures from the Museum of Turkish and Islamic Art" (2016–2017).[13][14][15]
Babaie, Sussan; Babayan, Kathryn; McCabe, Ina Baghdiantz; Farhad, Massumeh (2003). Slaves of the Shah: New Elites of Safavid Iran. I.B. Tauris.
ISBN978-1860647215.[16][17]
Farhad, Massumeh; Bağcı, Serpil (2009). Falnama: The Book of Omens. Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, Smithsonian Institution.
ISBN9780934686150.[18]
^Brown, Matthew Hay (2009-11-05).
"Rare Islamic art put online for all". The Baltimore Sun. pp. A1, A10. Retrieved 2022-10-17 – via Newspapers.com. says Massumeh Farhad, chief curator at the Freer Gallery of Art and the Arthur M. Sackler Gallery of the Smithsonian Institution