Iranian Art and Architecture I INTRODUCTION

Total Page:16

File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb

Iranian Art and Architecture I INTRODUCTION Iranian Art and Architecture I INTRODUCTION Iranian Art and Architecture, the visual arts of Iran. Although in the West this has been traditionally known as Persian culture, the inhabitants of the country have long called it Iran and themselves Iranians, rather than Persians. In accordance with popular usage, however, the term Persian will be used in this article to refer to the period before the advent of Islam in the 7th century AD—that is, the period of the ancient Persian empires—as well as the preceding prehistoric times. II ANCIENT PERIOD Griffin Bracelet This gold armlet, made in Persia during the Achaemenid dynasty, is part of the Treasure of the Oxus, a collection of decorative objects from the Persian Empire now located in the British Museum in London, England. The armlet was originally inlaid with glass and colored stones; its most distinctive features are the huge winged griffins, whose heads form the ends of the piece. Large animal-headed armlets such as this one were highly prized by the Achaemenids; similar pieces are shown being offered to the king on the reliefs of the Apadana stairs. Bridgeman Art Library, London/New York Ceramics and clay figurines were the chief artworks of the prehistoric period, and architecture and sculpture predominated during the period of the first two Persian empires (6th century BC to 7th century AD ). After the Arab conquest and the introduction of Islam in the 7th century AD, sculpture was little practiced but architecture flourished. Painting became a major art in the period from the 13th to the 17th century. In the 20th century these ancient arts were being revived, and traditional forms were combined with Western technology and contemporary materials. A Architecture Prehistoric architecture in Iran remains little known but has gradually begun to come to light since World War II. Among the earliest examples are a number of small houses of packed mud and mud brick found at several Neolithic sites in western Iran: Tepe Ali Kosh, Tepe Guran, Ganj Dareh Tepe, and Hajji Firuz Tepe. These sites show that small villages made up of one-room houses and storage structures were already established along the western border of the country by 6000 BC. Excavations at Tal-i Bakun, near Persepolis, and Tal-i Iblis and Tepe Yahya, near Kermān, show that by 4000 BC buildings with a number of rooms were being erected and grouped into villages or small towns. All of these structures indicate that the traditional building techniques using packed mud and sun-dried mud brick had already been invented. At Shahr-i Sokhta in Seistan an elaborate Bronze Age palace (circa 2500 BC) was excavated. The plans of these remains show a steady growth in complexity ending with the establishment of important commercial centers on the plateau. At the end of the 2nd millennium BC, the Iranian tribal groups, including the Medes and Persians, spread over the plateau and displaced or absorbed the indigenous inhabitants. The architecture and crafts of this Iron Age period, which immediately preceded the founding of the Persian Empire by Cyrus the Great, have been brought to light by excavations near Kangavar (Godin Tepe and Babajan Tepe), near Hamadān (Nush-i Jan Tepe), and at Zendan-i Suleiman and Tepe Hasanlu in northwestern Iran. These sites revealed for the first time a tradition of building in which large columnar halls are used as a central feature. The columns were of wood set on stone slabs, while the buildings themselves were of uncut stone and mud-brick construction. Stairways and terraces, along with other features, formed the prototypes for later developments in the imperial architecture of Pasargadae and Persepolis. The buildings at Nush-i Jan Tepe and Godin Tepe are almost certainly Median in origin and are the first structures excavated belonging to the Medes. These discoveries confirm the generalized descriptions of battlements and palaces found in the literary sources, especially of the Greek historian Herodotus. A1 Achaemenian Period Throne Hall Relief, Persepolis Carved relief sculptures decorated many of the stone door and window jambs at Persepolis in Iran, including this entrance to the Throne Hall. The Throne Hall was begun by Xerxes in the early 5th century bc as a place to receive visiting representatives from all the nations ruled by the Persian Empire. The king is shown seated at the top of the relief as a dignitary approaches. Guards fill the rows below. Bridgeman Art Library, London/New York The first great development of ancient Persian architecture took place under the Achaemenid dynasty during the Persian Empire, from about 550 to 330 BC. Remains of Achaemenian architecture are numerous, the earliest being ruins at Pasargadae, the capital city of Cyrus the Great. These ruins include two palaces, a sacred precinct, a citadel, a tower, and the tomb of Cyrus. The palaces were set in walled gardens and contained central columnar halls, the largest of which was 37 m (111 ft) in length. The proportions of the principal rooms varied from square to rectangular; all were lighted by a clerestory. Walls were constructed of mud brick; foundations, doorways, columns, and dadoes along the walls were of stone. Columns were capped with stone blocks carved to represent the forequarters of horses or lions with horns, placed back to back. The roof was flat and was probably made of wood. The sacred precinct consisted of a walled court containing two altars and a rectangular stepped platform. The tower was a tall rectangular structure built of yellow limestone; a contrasting black limestone was used for the doorway and two tiers of blind windows. The tomb of Cyrus was a small gabled stone building placed on a stepped platform. The surrounding columns were placed there during recent Islamic times. Darius I built a new capital at Persepolis, to which additions were made by Xerxes I and Artaxerxes I (reigned 465-425 BC). Three vast terraces were hewn and leveled out of the rocky site, and on them mud-brick and stone buildings, similar to those at Pasargadae, were erected. The buildings at Persepolis differed from those at Pasargadae in a number of ways. The columnar halls were square, walls were broken by windows and windowlike niches of stone, and the stone dado was not applied. Doorways bore a quarter-round cornice ornamented with a petal motif, probably of Egyptian origin. Column shafts were fluted rather than plain, the bases and caps were ornamented with floral decorations, and the termination of the column, called the impost block, took the form of naturalistically rendered forequarters of bulls or bulls with wings. These buildings had ceilings of cedarwood, carried on heavy balks or beams that rested on the stone impost blocks at the tops of the columns. Remnants of the Apadana, Persepolis Stone doorways and 13 of the 72 massive stone columns that originally supported the Apadana, or audience hall, at Persepolis are still standing today. Each column was 20 m (66 ft) tall and was topped by an elaborate capital. The double- headed animals at the top of the capitals once supported wooden roof beams. Persepolis is located in the mountainous region of southwestern Iran. The dry climate preserved much of the architecture, and archaeologists have uncovered and restored many of the ruins. Ali Issari Other remains of Achaemenian architecture exist at Sūsa, where Darius I built a large palace, which was subsequently rebuilt by Artaxerxes II (reigned 409-358?BC). Royal architecture under the Achaemenids also included tombs cut in solid rock, of which the best-known examples are those at Naqshah Rostam near Persepolis. Little is known of the popular building practices of the period, but archaeologists believe that the ordinary dwelling was made of mud brick. After the conquest of Persia by Alexander the Great in 331 BC, and the assumption of power by the Seleucid dynasty, Persian architecture followed the styles common to the Greek world (see Greek Art and Architecture). The great Greek-style Temple of Anāhita at Kangavar was excavated by the Archaeological Service of Iran with a view to eventual restoration. The temple had been destroyed by a severe earthquake in antiquity. Subsequently, under the Parthian Arsacid dynasty, which lasted from about 250 BC to AD 224, a small number of buildings was constructed in native Persian style. The most notable monument of this period is a palace at Hatra (now Al Ḩadr, Iraq), dating from the 1st or 2nd century AD and exemplifying the use of the barrel vault on a grand scale. The vaults, heavy walls, and small rooms of this palace indicate a continuation of earlier Assyrian and Babylonian tradition. A2 Sassanian Period A great renaissance in architecture took place under the Sassanid dynasty, which ruled Persia from 224 until 651. Construction was radically different from that of the Achaemenian period. Walls were built of burnt brick or small stones bound with mortar; barrel vaults of brick were used to span rooms and corridors; and domes were erected over the large halls. The principal features of the plan of the palaces at Persepolis were adopted, but the various rooms were enclosed within a single building. Thus, the same building incorporated a public audience hall, a smaller private audience hall, and a complex of lesser rooms. Remains of the major monuments of Sassanian architecture include the ruins of domed palaces at Firuzabad, Girra, and Sarvestan, and the vast vaulted hall at Ctesiphon. The large site of Bishapur was systematically excavated in the mid-20th century by the Archaeological Service of Iran. Palace sites have also been excavated at Qais, Hira, and Damghan. Other ruins include bridges at Dizful and Shushtar and a number of small temples built at various locales for the Zoroastrian worship of fire.
Recommended publications
  • Reading Carpet and Architectural Common Aspects
    Reading Carpet and Architectural common aspects Arefeh Behzadi Rad1, Javad Divandari2* 1Master of Science (MSc), Department of Architecture, Islamic Azad University, Kashan, Iran. 2Assistant Professor, Department of Architecture, University of Kashan, Iran. Correspondence: Ziba Borzabadi Farahani, Assisstant Professor, Department of Medical Surgical Nursing, School of Nursing and Midwifery, Shahid Beheshti University of medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran. ABSTRACT The ancient Persian religion and customs that has been entered the people's life of this land is playing an undeniable role in the carpets design. What's more all about the connection between the carpet and the architecture is the mystical and Iranian twists from both original arts which is exacerbated and has certain originality. This article aims to identify architecture and carpet, their features and study the relationship between these two arts in the Islamic civilization of Iran with matching the symbols and signs used in it in order to achieve the meanings of the hidden unit in arts. It was written by relying on handed manuscripts resources and visiting carpet weaving workshops and architecture. This is a fundamental question how to make Link between both original and traditional art architecture and carpet. Comprehensive attention and review in overall design of the carpet presentation with its similarity to architecture, expresses the fundamentals of common principles. It provides a table on the plan formation of two original Iranian arts. This article seeks to identify common aspects between Iranian noble arts. Keywords: Common aspects, Carpet, Architecture, Communication of arts with each oder. Introduction civilization. They are familiar with the most natural human emotions and beliefs.
    [Show full text]
  • Hilary Gopnik Facebook: Naxarchaeology
    [email protected] Hilary Gopnik http://oglanqala.net/ facebook: NaxArchaeology Current Position: Co-Director, Naxçivan Archaeological Project Senior Lecturer/Principal Scientist, Department of Middle Eastern and South Asian Studies, Emory University EDUCATION Ph.D., University of Toronto, 2000 Major: West Asian Archaeology Minor: Archaeology of the Levant Thesis: The Ceramics of Godin II (Supervised by T. Cuyler Young Jr.) Awards: Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada Doctoral Fellowship; Ontario Graduate Fellowship; Graduate Studies Travel Grants; Junior Scholar Stipend, Achaemenid History Workshop VIII, Ann Arbor, Michigan M.A., University of Toronto, 1985 Major: Near Eastern Archaeology Awards: Ontario Graduate Fellowship; Graduate Studies Travel Grants B.A., First Class Honours, McGill University, 1982 Major: Anthropology Minor: Classics Honours Thesis: Systems Theory in Archaeology (Supervised by Prof. Bruce Trigger) Awards: James McGill Award; University Scholar; Faculty Scholar; Award for highest achievement in Prof. Bruce Trigger's "History of Archaeological Theory" Foreign languages: Modern: French (fluent), Italian, German, Azerbaijani (reading, spoken) Ancient: Akkadian, Greek PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT MIT Summer Institute in Materials Science and Material Culture, 2004. Intensive post-doctoral seminar in the scientific study of material culture. ARCHAEOLOGICAL FIELDWORK 2016–2017, Ceramicist, Pasargadae Research Project, Pasargadae, Iran, directed by Sébastien Gondet, CNRS 2014–2015 (ongoing), Co-Director,
    [Show full text]
  • 9730 Ira.Ant. 04 Magee
    Iranica Antiqua, vol. XXXII, 1997 THE IRANIAN IRON AGE AND THE CHRONOLOGY OF SETTLEMENT IN SOUTHEASTERN ARABIA BY Peter MAGEE University of Sydney Introduction1 Within West Asian archaeology, research into the Iron Age of South- eastern Arabia (or Oman Peninsula) has recently emerged as an area of interest. From tentative beginnings in the 1960s, a wealth of archaeological material now exists that allows an understanding of the processes of domestic cultural change in this region. From the beginnings of research the influence of Iran on the material culture of this region was recognised, as was the chronological importance of these contacts. The purpose of this paper is to focus on cross-Gulf contacts in the Iron Age and their impor- tance in dating the recently re-dated Rumeilah assemblage (Boucharlat and Lombard 1991). It must be emphasised that research into this region is still at a formative stage; if this paper generates further discussions and even contradictions to the ideas presented here, it will have achieved its purpose. Rumeilah and the Iron Age of Southeastern Arabia Since 1985, archaeologists working in Southeastern Arabia have bene- fited greatly from the evidence uncovered by the French Archaeological 1 The term “Southeastern Arabia” is used here to denote the area sometimes referred to as the Oman Peninsula. In essence, this area is the modern countries of the Sultanate of Oman and the United Arab Emirates. This paper grew out of the author’s Phd dissertation (Magee 1995). I would like to take the opportunity to thank Professor D.T. Potts (Sydney) who, in addition to introducing me to the archaeology of Southeastern Arabia and provid- ing me with complete access to the material from Tell Abraq, kindly read drafts of this article.
    [Show full text]
  • Eulogy for Dr. Ehsan Yarshater•
    178 November - December 2018 Vol. XXVII No. 178 Remembering Professor Ehsan Yarshater • Iranian Novels in Translation • PAAIA National Survey 2018 • Second Annual Hafez Day 2018 • Mehregan Celebration • Nutrition During Pregnancy • Menstrual Cramps • Eulogy For Dr. Ehsan Yarshater • No. 178 November-December 2018 1 178 By: Shahri Estakhry Since 1991 Persian Cultural Center’s Remembering Professor Ehsan Yarshater (1920-2018) Bilingual Magazine Is a bi - monthly publication organized for th When we heard the news of the passing of Professor Ehsan Yarshater on September 20 , our last literary, cultural and information purposes issue of Peyk was at the print shop and we could not pay our deepest respect in his memory at Financial support is provided by the City of that time. Although, many tributes in Persian and English have been written in his memory, we San Diego Commission for Arts and Culture. too would like to remember him with great respect and great fondness. Persian Cultural Center I had the pleasure of meeting him and his wife, Latifeh, in 1996 when, at the invitation of the 6790 Top Gun St. #7, San Diego, CA 92121 Persian Cultural Center they came to San Diego and he gave a talk about the Persian civilization Tel (858) 552-9355 and the Encyclopedia Iranica. While listening to him, mesmerized by his presentation, there was Fax & Message: (619) 374-7335 Email: [email protected] no doubt for anyone that here was a man of true knowledge and great integrity. How privileged www.pccsd.org we were to be in the audience. He was an extraordinary man of accomplishments, easy to respect, easy to hold in your heart with adoration.
    [Show full text]
  • He Found the Oldest-Known Beer on the Planet... the Biomolecular Archaeology of Ancient Alcoholic Beverages
    BREWING HISTORY l Penn Museum main gate and Warden’s garden He found the oldest-known beer on the planet... The biomolecular archaeology of ancient alcoholic beverages By Ian Hornsey In May 2016 the World Beer Cup, splendidly organised by the Brewers’ Association, was held in Philadelphia, the city where the ‘American Dream’ began. Having been invited to judge at the event, my thoughts turned to the University of Pennsylvania (UPenn) and its excellent Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology (known as The Penn Museum) – with its world-renowned Biomolecular Archaeology Project. McGovern in the laboratory f time permitted, I might be able to After three hectic days of judging, I Health. He is also Adjunct Professor Itake the short train journey from our managed to find a mutually convenient of Anthropology at UPenn, where he downtown base, the Pennsylvania Con- slot for my visit to UPenn and caught teaches molecular archaeology. vention Centre (PCC) and meet up with the highly efficient SEPTA (Southeast- Much of McGovern’s earlier work at Penn Museum’s Dr Patrick McGovern ern Pennsylvania Transportation Au- Penn Museum was carried out under the whose interests in the history of alco- thority) train from Jefferson, a station auspices of the Museum Applied Science holic beverages very much coincide almost inside PCC, to the University Centre for Archaeology (MASCA), which with mine. City stop, roughly midway between first saw the light of day in 1961 and In fact, the chap I was going to meet downtown and the airport. At the mu- from which studies on ancient organic has identified the world’s oldest known seum, I was met by McGovern, known materials were carried out.
    [Show full text]
  • Spiritual Art: a Study of Illuminated Drawings
    Journal of History Culture and Art Research (ISSN: 2147-0626) Tarih Kültür ve Sanat Araştırmaları Dergisi Vol. 6, No. 6, December 2017 Revue des Recherches en Histoire Culture et Art Copyright © Karabuk University http://kutaksam.karabuk.edu.tr ﻣﺠﻠﺔ اﻟﺒﺤﻮث اﻟﺘﺎرﯾﺨﯿﺔ واﻟﺜﻘﺎﻓﯿﺔ واﻟﻔﻨﯿﺔ DOI: 10.7596/taksad.v6i6.1207 Citation: Kateb, F. (2017). Spiritual Art: A Study of Illuminated Drawings. Journal of History Culture and Art Research, 6(6), 221-232. doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.7596/taksad.v6i6.1207 Spiritual Art: A Study of Illuminated Drawings Fatemeh Kateb1 Abstract Illumination can be seen as a collection of exquisite and novel designs that painters and illumination- workers use to make religious, scientific, cultural, historical, and other collections of work beautiful. The professionals of illumination use these techniques in books to beautifully virtualize the golden pages of the eternal literature and the religious texts of their homeland. In this way, the sides and margins of the pages are decorated with designs of Islimi (arabesque) branches, stems, flowers, and Cathay (Khataei) leaves. Illuminations like paintings have various schools and periods, such as the Seljuk, Bukhara, Timurid, Safavid, Qajar schools, with further branches within each school. The illuminations of different periods represent the states and spirits of those eras. However, the illustrated paintings have been performed in the primary state in each school and era with some minor differences in colors and designs, and it can be said that the basis of the illustrated designs are three geometric shapes of the square, circle and triangle, and the combination of these three shapes.
    [Show full text]
  • Protest Visual Arts in Iran from the 1953 Coup to the 1979 Islamic Revolution
    International Journal of Criminology and Sociology, 2020, 9, 285-299 285 Protest Visual Arts in Iran from the 1953 Coup to the 1979 Islamic Revolution Hoda Zabolinezhad1,* and Parisa Shad Qazvini2 1Phd in Visual Arts from University of Strasbourg, Post-Doc Researcher at Alzahra University of Tehran 2Assisstant Professor at Faculty of Arts, University of Alzahra of Tehran, Iran Abstract: There have been conducted a few numbers of researches with protest-related subjects in visual arts in a span between the two major unrests, the 1953 Coup and the 1979 Islamic Revolution. This study tries to investigate how the works of Iranian visual artists demonstrate their reactions to the 1953 Coup and progresses towards modernization that occurred after the White Revolution of Shāh in 1963. The advent of the protest concept has coincided with the presence of Modern and Contemporary art in Iran when the country was occupied by allies during the Second World War. The 1953 Coup was a significant protest event that motivated some of the artists to react against the monarchy’s intention. Although, poets, authors, journalists, and writers of plays were pioneer to combat dictatorship, the greatest modernist artists of that time, impressed by the events after the 1953 Coup, just used their art as rebellious manifest against the governors. Keywords: Iranian Visual Artists, Pahlavi, Political Freedom, Persian Protest Literature, the Shāh. INTRODUCTION Abrahamian 2018). The Iranian visual arts affected unconstructively by Pahlavi I (1926-1942) contradictory The authors decided to investigate the subject of approaches. By opening of Fine Arts School, which protest artworks because it is almost novel and has became after a while Fine Arts Faculty of the University addressed by the minority of other researchers so far.
    [Show full text]
  • Iranian Traditional Hand-Woven Art As an Effective Factor in Transferring Native Culture (Case Study: Traditional Hosiery)
    The Turkish Online Journal of Design, Art and Communication - TOJDAC November 2016 Special Edition IRANIAN TRADITIONAL HAND-WOVEN ART AS AN EFFECTIVE FACTOR IN TRANSFERRING NATIVE CULTURE (CASE STUDY: TRADITIONAL HOSIERY) Robabe Ghazali Faculty member, Department of Art, Alzahra University, Iran [email protected] ABSTRACT Different kinds of artifacts that are made by means of needle, crochet hook and similar tools or natural fiber are considered among woven products, for example gloves, socks, ascot , scarf and etc. Hosiery is one of the hand woven products of handicrafts which is found in Azerbayjan, Kurdistan, Khorasan, Gilan, Mazandaran and other area that enjoy a proper geographical distribution, in particular mountainous regions. Iranian hosiery’s visual diversity in terms of patterns, color, and motifs, and the extent of geographical location’s effect on traditional hand woven production is an effective factor in development and export of this traditional hand woven, due to its usability as effective field of cultural, social, and economical activities. The originality of Iranian hosiery has been approved since September 2011 and it has been enlisted in the handicrafts works of Cultural Heritage Organization. The way of weaving and applying pattern and color in designing traditional hand woven hosiery, as an effective and impressible branches of handicrafts on transferring native culture and art from past to present. The research was conducted by using a descriptive analytical method and gathering library field information and interviews. Keywords: Traditional hand woven, hosiery, ethnic beliefs, development of Iranian handicrafts INTRODUCTION Traditional arts are the collection of each country’s original and native art which is deeply and strongly rooted in its beliefs, habitudes, customs, and traditions and includes spiritual culture of society.
    [Show full text]
  • Margaret Cool Root
    Curriculum Vitae MARGARET COOL ROOT EducationU 1969 Bryn Mawr College B.A. Classical and Near Eastern Archaeology (Magna cum Laude & Department Honors 1971 Bryn Mawr College M.A. Etruscan Archaeology 1976 Bryn Mawr College Ph.D. Near Eastern and Classical Archaeology and Etruscan Archaeology Specialization: Art & Archaeology of the Achaemenid Persian Empire ProfessionalU Employment l977-78 Visiting Assistant Professor: Department of Art and Department of Classical Languages and Literatures, University of Chicago Research Associate: Oriental Institute, University of Chicago l978-92 Assistant-Associate Professor of Classical and Near Eastern Art and Archaeology: Department of the History of Art and the Interdepartmental Program in Classical Art and Archaeology (IPCAA) Assistant-Associate Curator of Collections: Kelsey Museum of Archaeology 1992-present Professor of Classical and Near Eastern Art and Archaeology: Department of the History of Art and the Interdepartmental Program in Classical Art and Archaeology (IPCAA) Curator of Collections: Kelsey Museum of Archaeology, University of Michigan 1992-93 Acting Director, Kelsey Museum of Archaeology, University of Michigan 1994-99 Chair, Department of the History of Art, University of Michigan 2004-05 Acting Director, Kelsey Museum of Archaeology, University of Michigan RelevantU Work-Related Experience l969 Trench Supervisor: Bryn Mawr College Excavations at Poggio Civitate (Murlo), Tuscany l97l-72 Museum/Site Study: Europe and North Africa l973-74 Dissertation Research: Turkey, Iran, London,
    [Show full text]
  • Renewal and Perspectives in Iranian Archaeology Over the Last Two Decades
    RENEWAL AND PERSPECTIVES IN IRANIAN ARCHAEOLOGY OVER THE LAST TWO DECADES Rémy Boucharlat (Université de Lyon) In memory of Olivier Lecomte From Tureng Tepe to Ulug Depe a 45-year friendship ABSTRACT These few pages provide a very schematic overview of archaeological research in Iran since the end of the 20th century. The recent evolution is sharply marked with the port-revolutionary period with a new policy and the emergence of new generations of numerous and well-trained archaeologists. Most of them are employed in the provinces and work on rescue excavations, which are increasingly organised upstream as preventive excavations, but also on multi-year programs to provide information on less known archaeological periods. The western half of the country is much better known and more studied than the eastern half, but the recent field research launched in the south, along the Persian Gulf, and in the northeast (Khorasan) is very promising. KEYWORDS Rescue archaeology, Joint expeditions, Archaeometry, New research áreas, Khorasan, South Iran. RÉSUMÉ Ces quelques pages offrent un tableau très schématique de la recherche archéologique en Iran depuis la fin du 20e siècle. L’évolution est extrêmement marquée avec la période post-révolutionnaire avec l’émergence de nouvelles générations d’archéologues nombreux et bien formés. La plupart sont employés dans les provinces et travaillent sur des fouilles de sauvetage de plus en plus organisées en amont en fouilles préventives mais aussi sur des fouilles programmées pluriannuelles destinées à informer sur les périodes archéologiques moins bien connues. La moitié ouest du pays est mieux connue et plus étudiée que la moitié est, mais les recherches récentes impulsées dans le sud, le long du golfe Persique, et dans le nord-est (Khorasan) sont très prometteuses.
    [Show full text]
  • Persian," “Islamic," And
    Instabilities in the Identity of an Artistic Tradition as "Persian," “Islamic," and “Iranian” in the Shadow of Orientalism A Dissertation Submitted to the Committee on Graduate Studies in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Faculty of Arts and Sciences Trent University Peterborough, Canada © Copyright by Nooshin Aghayan 2019 Cultural Studies Ph.D. Graduate Program May 2019 Abstract Instabilities in the Identity of an Artistic Tradition as "Persian," “Islamic," and “Iranian” in the Shadow of Orientalism Nooshin Aghayan This dissertation is a critical review of the discursive formation of Islamic art in the twentieth century and the continuing problems that the early categorization of this discipline carries. It deals with the impact of these problems on the conceptualization of another category, Persian art. The subject is expounded by three propositions. First, the category of Islamic art was initially a product of Orientalism formulated regardless of the indigenous/Islamic knowledge of art. Second, during the early period when art historians examined different theoretical dimensions for constructing an aesthetic of Islamic art in the West, they imposed a temporal framework on Islamic art in which excluded the non-traditional and contemporary art of Islamic countries. Third, after the Islamic Revolution in 1979, Iranian scholars eventually imposed academic authority over the discipline of Persian/Islamic art, they adopted the same inadequate methodologies that were initially used in some of the early studies on the art of the Muslims. These propositions are elaborated by examples from twentieth-century Iranian movements in painting, The Coffeehouse Painting and The School of Saqqakhaneh, and the incident of swapping Willem de Kooning‟s painting Woman III with the dismembered manuscript of the Shahnama of Shah Tahmasp in 1994.
    [Show full text]
  • Zurkhaneh—The House of Strength: Music and Martial Arts of Iran. 2010/2014
    Zurkhaneh—The House of Strength: Music and Martial Arts of Iran. 2010/2014. Directed by Federico Spinetti. In Persian and English with English, Italian, and Persian subtitles. 105 minutes. Colour, DVD. Produced by the University of Alberta in collaboration with Lab 80 film. Presented by folkwaysAlive! University of Alberta in partnership with Smithsonian Folkways Recordings. Available online for rent or purchase (https://vimeo.com/ondemand/zurkhaneh). Zurkhaneh—The House of Strength is the first full-length documentary of Federico Spinetti (professor at University of Cologne), an experienced researcher of the music of Central Asia (in particular Tajikistan), about which he has made several short ethnographic films. The zurkhaneh is a traditional Iranian gymnasium: a venue where historical “heroic sports” (varzesh-e pahlevani) are practised with live accompaniment consisting of drum and sung poetry with spiritual, moral, and epic subject matter. This film features multiple manifestations of the zurkhaneh in three geographically and culturally divergent spaces: the indigenous context of several Iranian cities; the established diasporic context of the Iranians in Toronto, Canada; and the momentary, detached setting of the world championship for traditional sports and games in Busan, South Korea. The multi-sited and multi-faceted unfolding of the film, involving a juxtaposition of voices, stories, players, images, clips, and soundscapes, gradually reveals different aspects of the semantic field of zurkhaneh. What does zurkhaneh stand for? Is it a building, a space, a cultural tradition, a sports discipline, a ritual performance? The 1971 French documentary Le zourkhane et l’épopée iranienne characterizes zurkhaneh sessions as “neither spectacle, nor ceremony” (Lubtchansky 1971).
    [Show full text]