Analysis of visual elements of selected paintings by Sadegh Tabrizi with a semiotic approach

Saqakhaneh School of Painting was an art movement that was formed in the 1340s using elements of modern art and some traditional-religious and ancient elements in Iran. Saqakhaneh painters were trying to give their works an ethnic-Iranian identity. Artists attributed to this movement, while honoring ancient pictorial elements, created works that sought to differentiate their art. Using ancient art, they established a link between modern art and traditional art. What can be seen more in the study of Saqakhaneh's works are visual-symbolic elements that arise from deep themes and intellectual foundations. In the science of semiotics, the types of signs and the rules and principles of thought are studied. Also in this science, the codes of visual and written semiotics in Sadegh Tabrizi's works are explained by considering the alignment of his works with the objectives of this research. Therefore, this research tries to introduce and identify the works of this artist, to examine the characteristics of visual elements in his paintings, and also to explain the structure and themes of these visual elements with a semiotic approach. Therefore, two basic questions are raised in this research: What visual elements do the visual elements in Sadegh Tabrizi's works have? What kind of sign structure do these elements have, in other words, how does the semiotic approach work in the selected works? This research is descriptive-analytical with qualitative method and also the collection of information has been done in the form of library and internet. The result of the research showed; In Sadegh Tabrizi's works, visual signs are classified into six categories. In general, visual elements are more indexical and symbolic. The largest volume of pictorial elements is of the symbolic-iconic type and is composed of figurative and simplistic abstract signs and is the least naturalistic sign. In the study samples, the commonalities between the visual signs as well as the semiotic divisions of the concepts have been observed a lot. Written motifs have a special place in Tabrizi's works, which are combined with religious and spiritual themes and the Iranian third line. These motifs have been observed in all works. Plant motifs are more symbolic and human and animal motifs are more iconic.