Original Article
Visual & Applied Arts
Zahra Abdollah
Abstract
The Islamic Revolution of 1979 counts as a turning point in artistic changes and developments in Iran. After the Islamic Revolution, Iranian art studies in the West which mainly focused on the Islamic era and ancient Persia, somehow changed direction to post-revolutionary art. This article investigates ...
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The Islamic Revolution of 1979 counts as a turning point in artistic changes and developments in Iran. After the Islamic Revolution, Iranian art studies in the West which mainly focused on the Islamic era and ancient Persia, somehow changed direction to post-revolutionary art. This article investigates major currents in post-revolutionary Iranian visual art studies from the United States, the United Kingdom, France, and Germany. There is no comprehensive research in this direction, as the existing literature mainly concentrates on historical trends in contemporary art studies. The methodology of this research is descriptive-analytic. From about 3000 primary search titles in the field of studies, 50 selected texts (including book chapters, articles, and doctoral or master theses) are analyzed using meta-synthesis to find dominant currents in these texts. Among these, 26 texts are from the United States, 11 texts are from the United Kingdom, 3 texts are from Germany and 10 texts are from France.To extract the necessary data, based on the meta-synthesis method, the keywords of the texts were identified and categorized in the form of subcategories. Then, by comparing and recategorizing the subcategories in more general formats, the final categories were extracted. By comparing the categories and their points of commonality and difference, the main themes were determined and in order to identify the main cirrents, the central topics raised in each theme were categorized and analyzed. To ensure the accuracy of the qualitative content analysis, these topics were matched with the theoretical literature used in the texts and the centrality of the selected topics was ensured. Finally, by categorizing the core topics under several general headings, the prominent currents were identified.The prominent currents of Western texts on the post-revolution Iranian visual arts are all formed around the artistic experience in post-revolution Iran and the effects of ideological discourse, on one hand, and the discourse of domination, on the other hand, on it. The findings of this research reveal three major currents, including ‘Investigating the dimensions and challenges of artistic experience in post-revolutionary Iran’ (focusing on the conscious construction of identity and the contemporaneity concern), ‘evaluating the effects of institutionalization in post-revolutionary art’ (with a focus on social institutionalization and public space, and cultural institutionalization and globalization), and ‘analyzing gender experiences in post-revolutionary art’ (focusing on hijab stereotyping and validating immigrant or diaspora art). Due to the crucial role of cross-cultural exchanges in the delineation of strategic functions of art and the exigency of recognition of Western views to track these exchanges, the results of this research are significant for the art community as well as policymakers in the artistic arena. The achievements of studies such as the present research can be used to regulate the mechanisms of art production and consumption, as well as to modify and adjust artistic and cultural diplomacy in both national and global arenas.
Original Article
Visual & Applied Arts
mahboobeh ghadirian; amir maziar
Abstract
Islamic Art scholars and theorists investigated Islamic art with different perspectives. Some of them have not paid attention to the meaning and they just classified styles of Islamic art and some others have paid attention to the meaning like traditionalists and have presented cosmological interpretations ...
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Islamic Art scholars and theorists investigated Islamic art with different perspectives. Some of them have not paid attention to the meaning and they just classified styles of Islamic art and some others have paid attention to the meaning like traditionalists and have presented cosmological interpretations for it. Yasser Tabbaa is one of the theorists of Islamic art who has paid attention to the subject of meaning of Islamic art forms with an historical approach from the school of Grabar. Yasser Tabbaa classifies theories about Islamic Art in the archaeologists, orientalists and art historians, traditionalists and historicists. Importance of these approaches is in the answers which they give about questions which formed around Islamic art. They turn on some special perspectives about this art. Some of them like archeologists with limiting interpretation and rejecting meaning help us to know roots and highlight developments of this art and some of them like traditionalists consider unity in the Islamic culture beyond time and place.Yasser Tabbaa discusses about Islamic art with a different trend with this belief that we don’t truly understand Islamic Art with their trends. He criticizes the interpretation of the forms of Islamic art, for example calligraphy, as a global Islam with out time and place. He also criticizes racial and national readings and evaluates them imperfect in the understanding of this art. In his opinion other theorists in the meaning discussion in the Islamic Art were unaware about that as a phenomenon in the time and place which stayed in the history and historical documents, references and texts. He tries to check out different aspects of relationship between form and meaning in the Islamic Art and find answers for how and why new forms created and how and why meanings are related and he tries to understand which political and religious requirements this meaningful forms show. He tries to find the role of historical factors and conditions in the Islamic Art formation. He follows Grabar historical approach who searched historical factors in the Islamic art creation.Tabbaa claims that formation of new Art forms and their propagation in the different regions of Islamic world were in the special religious, political, social and technological background. He thinks that two factors, theology and politics, were significant in the formation of Islamic art forms and he accordingly paid attention to readout periods of Islamic art history and interpretation of new forms. In his claim creation of new artistic forms, for example readable semi kufic calligraphy, cursive calligraphy, arabesque and muqarnas in the fourth until seventh centuries were the consequence of and related with two factors: theology and politics.In this article we introduce classification of Tabbaa about different approaches to the Islamic art and description of his approach.
Original Article
Visual & Applied Arts
Sajedeh Nikian; Farideh Afarin
Abstract
Examining the national emblems of Iran, with an emphasis on visual metaphors, revealed several aspects of them. Identifying the types of metaphors and their mode of presentation is an effective factor in detecting the level of tension between their origin and destination and a way to identify the level ...
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Examining the national emblems of Iran, with an emphasis on visual metaphors, revealed several aspects of them. Identifying the types of metaphors and their mode of presentation is an effective factor in detecting the level of tension between their origin and destination and a way to identify the level of communication in them.Examining the practical and communicative dimension of metaphors and their effects on the audience can be used as the main indicator of logo design.Through this study, it is possible to consider the greatest impact on the audience through metaphor-making and illustrate the level of communication with them. The study of synthesis and proximity metaphors in two emblems revealed that the sign of lion and sun needs less explanation and elaboration in order to understand due to their destination in the world and benefits from less complexity than more composite visual metaphors. Therefore, it is easier to understand the concepts in this sign, and it is easier to communicate with them. Analyzing the concepts reveals the themes and national meanings that can be extracted from the sign of the lion and the sun, which include: the importance of Shiism and the place of imam Ali (peace be upon him) in the beliefs of the Iranian people, the power and sanctity of the king, courage and protection of the country, unity and victory. Blessings, fertility, peace, etc.The emblem of the Islamic Republic is more intense compared to the lion and the sun, and for this reason it will be more difficult to understand and the relationship with it is more complicated, but it needs less explanation and elaboration due to the mode of display of . Metonymy. In the national emblem of the Islamic Republic, the following topics, meanings and dimensions can be understood: the importance of Islam, religion and monotheism in the country, guarding and defending the country, the important position of the Qur'an and the Prophet of Islam as the bringer of the book, the desire to learn Islam in the world, etc.Finally, the study of signs in these two periods indicates the simultaneous use of two types of metaphor and metonymy through principle of constitution and syntagmatic one . The use of metaphors helps to convey the required concepts and purposes to the audience through images and to make communication possible through them. Comparing the two emblems of the Qajar and the Islamic Republic from a metaphorical perspective, shows the difference in their attitudes in choosing the type of governance. The Qajar rule, a government with the rule of the kingdom and the Islamic Republic,has placed God's rule in the center of its circular emblem. One is interested in the domination of the monarchy, and the other is the desire for the universalization of Islamic rule throughout the world. The communication of one is faster and more immediate due to relying on more familiar elements, and the second requires more explanation and elaboration from the angle of combined metaphors.It communicates later and is still more effective.
Original Article
Visual & Applied Arts
rahil barati; jamal arabzadeh
Abstract
Abstract Dress has always been among the significant themes of the painters’ works. Selecting the dress appropriate to the subject and how skillfully this is displayed in painting manifests the significant role of dress as a descriptive and powerful instrument. Being dresses congruently, the subject ...
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Abstract Dress has always been among the significant themes of the painters’ works. Selecting the dress appropriate to the subject and how skillfully this is displayed in painting manifests the significant role of dress as a descriptive and powerful instrument. Being dresses congruently, the subject can be highly glorified and magnified and precisely viewing the dress specifications one can discover the subjects’ personality traits, place and social position. Up to the late nineteenth century, dress was displayed associated with that age’s society culture painted realistically. Late nineteenth century and early twentieth century witnessed Austrian painter, Gustav Klimt, who painted innovatively inspired by symbolism. In the works of Gustav Klimt also dress is given a particular place. Majority of his works are themed by women and dress. Women’s dress does not resemble the realistic samples of the time in his works and neither in fabric design nor in the general form there does one see a resemblance to previous art. These dresses function colonially and symbolically in addition to their unique aesthetics. This research aims at investigation into and analysis of the theme of dress and dressed women in Klimt’s paintings to discover latent encrypted meanings behind the women’s dress and to study the effective social factors on the artist’s works. Moreover this is to find the answer the question as follows: i) what concepts are connoted in Klimt’s works and Under what social or cultural influences the artist selected his painting’s subjects, i.e. dressed women? The research is a descriptive-analytic in term of methodology with a library based approach towards the data collection. Firstly, nine sample of the most reputable Klimt’s paintings were picked up the theme of which revolved around the dress and woman. Following, the association between dress, its decorations, women and their place were studied on the sociological basis.The findings imply that, beyond the aesthetic functions of dress, this symbolizes the women’s individuality, sexual equality and freedom as well as symbolizing a glorified celebration against men. This is exemplified by overemphasis on women’s dress through decorative, abstract and geometric designs, hero dressed women displaying in contrast to the mythological and religious themes in painting, depiction of loose and uniform dresses in contrast to the classical dresses which are manifestations of the women’s identity change and highlight their reviving role in modern society formation at that age. The proof of what implied as findings can be the extension of psychological theories in support of women’s sexual desires and emphasis on mythological figures such as Eron, emergence of modernism in Europe and simultaneity of painters of Vienna Secession Movement with feminism movement. The simultaneity of these factors significantly influences the selection of dress as a women’s freedom of speech right instrument by painters.
Original Article
Visual & Applied Arts
Zahra Mirzaei Arjanaki; Neda Torabi Farsani; Parisa Darouei; Mahdi Rastghalam
Abstract
There are villages in the world that have a different color than what is always thought of as a village, and the coloring of the landscape in these villages not only provides happiness and vitality to the local community but also by attracting tourists to the village and promotes the local economy. The ...
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There are villages in the world that have a different color than what is always thought of as a village, and the coloring of the landscape in these villages not only provides happiness and vitality to the local community but also by attracting tourists to the village and promotes the local economy. The present research, with the help of a qualitative method (Thematic analysis) and interpretive structural modeling through MICMAC software, strive to identify the key drivers for turning the village into a tourist destination with the help of coloring the rural landscape. The tool of data collection in the present study was an interview form and the data was collected using the snowball sampling method. The results of the data analysis illustrated that the three factors of the safety of access routes to the village, the existence and possibility of developing infrastructure and tourism facilities, and the proximity to natural color mines are among the most critical and key infrastructure drivers. Also, based on the results extracted from MICMAC software, empowerment of the local community was identified as one of the most important social drivers. In addition, the choice of color to be used and its quality according to the architecture and climate of the village, cracking and underlying of the walls, using special colors for the facade (silicone), avoiding busy work on the patterns of the walls, the color of the village soil and the type of materials used was introduced as the most effective physical variables.Lastly, it can be said that paying attention to the key drivers in the coloring of the rural landscape can be a creative economic solution for promoting rural tourism.There are villages in the world that have a different color than what is always thought of as a village, and the coloring of the landscape in these villages not only provides happiness and vitality to the local community but also by attracting tourists to the village and promotes the local economy. The present research, with the help of a qualitative method (Thematic analysis) and interpretive structural modeling through MICMAC software, strive to identify the key drivers for turning the village into a tourist destination with the help of coloring the rural landscape. The tool of data collection in the present study was an interview form and the data was collected using the snowball sampling method. The results of the data analysis illustrated that the three factors of the safety of access routes to the village, the existence and possibility of developing infrastructure and tourism facilities, and the proximity to natural color mines are among the most critical and key infrastructure drivers. Also, based on the results extracted from MICMAC software, empowerment of the local community was identified as one of the most important social
Original Article
Visual & Applied Arts
nastaran norouzi
Abstract
In today’s world, many artistic texts are produced with the appropriation approach and based on rereading the previous known works. Although these contemporary texts borrow the previous texts and provide a new reading of them, in fact they reproduce their society’s discourse, i.e. the contemporary ...
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In today’s world, many artistic texts are produced with the appropriation approach and based on rereading the previous known works. Although these contemporary texts borrow the previous texts and provide a new reading of them, in fact they reproduce their society’s discourse, i.e. the contemporary discourse different from the past work’s discourse, hence creating a new meaning of the previous work in the framework of the contemporary discourse. Accordingly, numerous texts have been created by Iranian and non-Iranian artists with appropriation of Iranian paintings, particularly from its peak period, i.e. the Timurid and Safavid eras (9th and 10th centuries). Kamāl ud-Dīn Behzād is the most well-known Iranian painter who lived in the Timurid and Safavid eras, with works extensively read in the past and today. Behzād is one of the few Iranian artists praised both during his life and after his death owing to the creation of pure and innovative paintings aligned with his society as well as his special view of the world around him.Looking at the same characteristic of Behzād, Soody Sharifi, a contemporary artist with many texts taken from Iranian paintings, has reread some of his paintings with a critical approach and accordingly discussed some socio-cultural issues in Iranians’ past and present history, two rereading works of Sharifi in the Maxiatures series are among which.The present research is aimed at analyzing the discourse of Behzād’s Timurid paintings, Sharifi’s contemporary texts, and the link between them, as well as answering the questions below:1. What discourse of their society do each of these paintings and texts reproduce?2. What is the link between Behzād’s paintings and Sharifi’s texts based on their discourses and historical distance?The research is conducted with a fundamental goal and by an analytical-comparative method. The hypertextual reading of paintings and texts is with the approach of Fairclough’s critical discourse analysis and based on an interdiscourse adaptation. The data and images of paintings and texts have been collected by taking notes from library and internet sources. Moreover, data analysis is qualitative.Decoding and deeply understanding artworks, particularly those connected with each other, increase the necessity and importance of addressing these texts with a discourse approach, and achieving this goal depends on knowing the artistic traditions, society, history, and culture in which the artist lived and initiated creating art.According to these research results, Sharifi has considered Behzād’s paintings as historical documents of the reality of Iranian’s past society and traditions, and in their appropriation, given her familiarity with their literary-artistic background, cultural-social context, and past traditions, she has paid attention to the paintings’ theme and content along with taking a formal structure with a cultural-critical approach. Through these appropriations, Sharifi has addressed the tension between old and new values or traditional Islamic society and modernity to challenge the Iranian contemporary Islamic culture in connection with the relationship between men and women, the women’s position, and the youth’s confusion.
