نشریه مطالعات تطبیقی هنر
پیاپی 10 (پاییز و زمستان 1394)

Shah Tahmasb’s Shahnama, one of the richest collections of Persian painting, has been a valuable source of images for researchers. Cooperation of the famous Persian artists participating in the preparation of this manuscript has demonstrated the importance of this piece of art. The purpose of this article is to find a visual based on the connection between the subject and the composition concerning paintings in this manuscript. In this study, there are two important questions; how is the configuration influenced by the subject in each miniature and has there been a specific pattern for designers to follow in order to start painting for each topic? An analytical - comparative method of research along with fieldwork- library data collection has been chosen. In this study, first, all images have been categorized based on their topics and then structure analysis of all images has been done to achieve the main composition for each miniature. In the next stage, a set of basic patterns is achieved using Gestalt theory and the comparative data leads to the formation of a specific structure.

Many ancient Iranian stories are artistically emblazoned by poets as well as painters and artists. The story of Bahram Gur’s hunting trip with his slave girl- Kanizak- is among a number of anecdotes about the life of the Sassanid king that has been told differently by various sources. Comparisons of the details have taken distinct art forms and descriptions. With poets like Ferdowsi and Nezami, who have chronicled the diversities and common grounds of this subject; we are able to appreciate the effect and the possible influence of their poems on the art forms. In this research, which was based on descriptive and comlerative methods, after further review of Ferdowsi and Nezami’s expressions of the story of Bahram and Azadeh, the related images have been categorized in two parts: the pre-Islamic artifacts/relics and the Islamic period. Images depicted in ceramic, metal, and tile works were separately evaluated and noted to correspond with the lyrical works.It is also shown that this anecdote has been famous during a long period in a vast area. The resemblance between details in Ferdowsi’s descriptions and pre-Islamic images suggests the likelihood of error in dating those artworks or the probability that Ferdosi had access to images as the resource. About the Islamic period it is shown that Ferdosi’s narration of this story has been more famous than other narrations including Nizami’s.

Art criticism, defined as informed dialogue about the work of art, and an attempt to elucidate its meaning, is an activity based on principles, methodologies, procedures and theoretical frameworks which altogether make the practice of criticism possible. There are various, and mainly subjective, approaches to the art criticism practice. This variety makes it remarkably difficult to elicit and define inclusive and practical models for teaching art criticism systematically. Although educators still disagree about the nature and methods of teaching art criticism, they have nevertheless developed a number of valuable and functional models. With a descriptive approach, this article examines four major models for teaching art criticism, all developed in the U.S. Universities, and mostly based on the tradition of analytic philosophy. Edmund Burke Feldman’s model includes four stages of description, formal analysis, interpretation and evaluation. With an emphasis on personal and emotional encounter with the work of art, Tom Anderson defines his model based on seven interrelated procedures: reaction, representation, formal analysis, formal characterization, personal interpretation, contextual analysis, and synthesis. In Inductive method of teaching art criticism, Robert D. Clements suggests a scientific approach in which the main phases are observing main facts, devising a hypothesis, and testing the hypothesis against the new evidence. Noël Carroll’s model, in an endeavor to expand and augment Feldman’s, comprises stages of description, categorization, elucidation, analysis, interpretation and evaluation. He places evaluation at the top of critical operation. Although teaching visual art criticism as a creative act cannot be reduced to prescriptive formula, a systematic methodology might pave available the grounds for the sparks of imagination as well as the development of critical thinking skills.

The murals painting designs have always had a interwoven relationship with place and the citizen. In the current period, the murals paintings in public spaces of Isfahan in most cases triggers on the citizens’ sense of place as the main audience for this kind of work which is not in conflict with the principles governing the structure of their historical background. For the same reason, in this research with the objective of studying the painting form and content, in the mural painting art, the versatility offered by the identity component of the public spaces of Isfahan in the current period is given to the citizens. Therefore, the main question is how to adopt the identity component place with mural painting designs using mural paintings; and the other question focuses on the respondent’s perception of values. For this purpose, by utilizing the intertextual approach, the relationship between the polygonal wall painting depicting the location and the citizen’s perception of the environment is addressed by analyzing the range of prior texts and intertextuality.
The findings indicates that a major part of the citizen’s perception is related to their surronding and constituent elements, like the mural painting designs which are taken from the ideas that directly linked with concrete and tangible realities in the physical environment, nature of activities, individual, and social relationship. For the same reason, lack of adaptability of most mural painting works in designing and implementation of designs suiting to a location in the current public spaces of Isfahan is rooted in conflicts causing form and content disruptions in the place identity component, like prior texts and intertextuality in time synchronization.

Numbers and geometrical divisions, due to the inherent charming principles in their background are considered by the ancients. But in recent architecture after the first Pahlavi era to the present, less attention has been paid to the numeral relations and proportions and has not benefited from an exact reproduction of the original proportions to achieve beauty. The authors of the study aimed to examine the descriptive analysis of the proportions of the courtyards of the mosque built in Safavid dynasty. Safavid mosques of Isfahan since it was considered that Iranian Islamic architecture reached its peak in this period and Isfahan was the capital of these kind of manifesting itself. This study reviewed the changes in the proportions and features of the Safavid mosque courtyard to reveal what proportion or ratio exists between the sides of the courtyard of the mosque there. The mosques of the Safavid dynasty were divided into three categories at the history and governance perspective. Of each period, three mosques were analyzed based on the distribution of the selected period. Research method in this research is inductive that due to the non-randomness of the samples study, the analysis used semi- experimental method and also dimensions and scales of mosque courtyards were studied proportionally. The data collection method of research is librarian method and also study documentation and the analysis of maps and image data of buildings. The results show that the ratio between length and width dimensions courtyard of the mosque is closer to 1.118 proportions and Iranian Peymon proportions has been used in the overall dimensions of the mosque courtyard.

Warqa – Golshah is the first illustrated story that ever has been written in the fourth and first half of the fifth century. This story is a collection that embodies a mixture of love and epic. First Manichaean sources that researchers reached in East Central Asian region is Turfan paintings. Turfan Manichaean paintings can be seen in two distinct styles: 1. Asian style painting in particular, an Iranian-style visible in Islamic period 2. Chinese style, in fabrics and wall paintings in China.
The purpose of this study is to evaluate the characteristics of the Manichaean miniature in Turfan and Warqa – Golshah paintings in Seljuk period. Therefore, some paintings that are less damaged were studied and analyzed to determine the characteristics of the Seljuk’s era painting. The research question is that what elements of Turfan Manichaean paintings are in Warqa – Golshah paintings in the Seljuk period? Research Methodology is Descriptive analysis and to improve the hypothesis a comparative method of the visual elements of paintings was used. After comparing Warqa – Golshah paintings with murals found in Turfan, it was found that the continuation of the motifs, themes, and decorative elements in the paintings, faces, expressions and clothing of Turfan Manichaean murals in the Muslim Seljuk period, and miniature paintings of Golshah that were studied in this research, is quite evident.

Khyber event has a dominant, important and symbolic position for the Shiites. The event is represented on the painting version of various eras in different ways. In this study, three paintings of the conquest of Khaybar were analyzed which were related to Timurid (historical sketch), Turkmen (KHAVARAN-NAME), and Safavi periods (Falname) based on Shiite discourses (Twelve Imams). Shiite discourse is a coherent body of concepts, beliefs, and traditions which has dominated thoughts, feelings, words and actions, and has shaped them, and reasonably it is expected that is realized in the Shiite-themed paintings. Hence, in the study of desired paintings, these questions are arisen, “which painting represents Shi’a discourse of conquest of Khaybar event? Does the mere representation and presence of Shiite personality in these paintings can be considered as the Shia paintings? Also, specifying the discourse represented in every painting and identifying the main characteristic of Shia paintings are considered as the objectives of this research. Therefore, the content and form of the paintings have been examined and visual elements and symbols used in each painting are described and analyzed in line with the Shiite discourse. The research method is comparative-analytical-descriptive, and information was collected by using the library method. It can be concluded that one of the important characteristics to identify and assess the main paintings of Shia is the representation of the themes based on of the Shia dialogue, which should be emerged in the content and form of works. Among the analyzed paintings, this important feature is emerged in the painting of conquest of Khaybar in the Safavid period (Falname), which for this purpose, specific painter, signs, symbols and measures are employed.

Ta’zieh is one of the religious forms of the Iranian drama which has been flourished in Qajar dynasty and more specifically in Nassery era according to the researchers of the Iranian drama field. They believe that the main reasons for this development in Qajar dynasty are sustainment of the Shi’ite religious authority from Safavid dynasty on and establishment of temporary as well as permanent Tekies (places for religious ceremonies) such as the Tekie-ye-Dolat. However, some researchers suggest the efficacy of the country’s socio-historical conditions in this type of drama. Although such viewpoints have been restricted to some cases, they confirm the effectiveness of these conditions on formation of this kind of traditional-ceremonial drams. Appearance of Sociology in the 18th century and the development of the social sciences in the following centuries made the critics present a sociological interpretation of various art forms.
The aim of this study is to determine the socio-historical characteristics of the Nassery Era and to explain the sociological reasons for the considerable development of the Ta’zieh in this period of time. This study is a descriptive-analytical study conducted using the theories of the sociology of art which provides an irrefrangible relation between the art and the socio-historical conditions of each era. The aim of the present study is to investigate and present the view of society in Qajar dynasty and its effects on flourishing of Ta’zieh in Nassery era.

The Qajar paintings can be categorized into two main periods: the first period, initiated at the beginning of the reign of Fath-Ali Shah and continued until the reign of Naser al-din Shah. It focuses on the combination of ornamental and Persian painting forms with the achievements of naturalist art such as perspective principle and its important feature is the total domination of Persian art. In the second period, initiated from the reign of Naser al-din Shah and the arrival of those artists who had been trained in Europe, the painting is based on the representation of the naturalist art of the west and its main feature is an attempt to exactly imitate the principles of atmospheric perspective. The “Emad Al-Kottab” Shahnameh is a product of the second period; although it belongs to the Mozaffar Al-din Shah period as the last handwritten and illustrated version of Shahnameh, it reflects faithfully the pictorial traditions of the first half of Qajar period. The question here is what Qajar school’s paintings of Emad-Al-Kottab Shahnameh are based on? The present research is aimed at comparing illustrations at Emad-Al-Kottab Shahnameh with components of the first and second Qajar painting schools. To do so, and after remarking Qajar painting elements, five Persian paintings from Emad-Al-Kottab Ahahnameh are selected and investigated through a descriptive-analytic methodology. Two illustrations are first delineated, then, three paintings of Emad-Al-Kottab Shahnameh are compared with their counterparts at other Qajar Shahnameh, including Davari Shahnameh. As the investigations show that although Emad-Al-Kottab illustrations are created through the second half of Qajar reign, elements such as faces with no individuality, the dominance of ornamental elements, use of clear warm colors, and simple landscapes reveal influences of the first Qajar school. A comparison of Emad-Al-Kottab illustrations with those of Davari Shahnameh, which was created right before Emad-Al-Kottab, rejects any other reasoning, including the influence of taste of that time and the impossibility of the entrance of western art techniques into the book’s illustration.