Industrial Arts

Industrial Arts

Cultural Factors and the Formation of the Artistic Style of First Pahlavi Era’s Iranian Painters in the Second Pahlavi Era

Document Type : Original Article

Author
PhD candidate at Comparative and Analytic History of Islamic Art, Department of Advanced Studies in Art, Faculty of Art, Soore University, Tehran, Iran.
Abstract
With the collapse of the Qajar Dynasty, the intellectuals who couldn’t reach their aims and ideals which had come up by the Constitutional Revolution did whatever they could to empower Rezakhan to become the king of Iran because they believed that the aims of the Constitutional Revolution would only be achieved by the support of a powerful government. So, in the first Pahlavi era, Rezashah’s general politics used to reach his and some of the intellectuals’ aims, led to some stream of thoughts widespread in the country, especially among the Iranian people. Under the influence of these developments, Miniature, which had long been in decline, experienced a revival, leading to a surge in miniaturists working to rejuvenate this traditional art form. However, during the first Pahlavi era, these miniature artists frequently replicated the artistic works of earlier miniaturists, particularly those of Reza Abbasi. Since the Second Pahlavi period, they could have their style of painting. These changes in the artists’ attitude in creating their works of art happened under the influence of some cultural evolutions that took place during the first and second Pahlavi eras, leading to some fundamental changes, as in artistic teaching methods. Sanaye-Ghadimeh school was established by Hossein Taherzadeh Behzad in 1309, as a consequence of that. This school aimed at rejuvenating and reviving Miniature art, led to the emergence of a new style of miniature painting under the guidance of Hadi Tajvidi. He trained many miniaturists, such as Ali Karimi, Hossein Behzad, and Ali Moti who became the most famous contemporary miniatures in the second Pahlavi period. Now the question is, which cultural factors provided the ground for the miniatures to find their style of painting? This article examines the factors that contributed to the continuity and development of the first Pahlavi era’s miniaturists’ works in the Second Pahlavi period, with a focus on understanding the cultural atmosphere of both eras. So, this research gives some information about the institutes founded during these periods, especially during the second one, which led to the formation of these cultural and artistic evolutions. Besides, this article studies the expositions held during the Second Pahlavi era in foreign countries, which played a crucial role in the miniaturists’ artistic lives to help them find their way and develop their style of painting.
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