A Review on the Social Reflections of the Image of Naser Al-Din Shah in the Royal Illustration Press (A Case Study of the Image of Naser Al-Din Shah in the Issue 1 Of Sharaf Newspaper)

So far, valuable studies have been done about the paintings of the Qajar Period from an artistic point of view, especially visual analysis. But their more accurate understanding requires the application of meta-aesthetic approaches such as the sociology of art, since, based on illustrated historical documents such as the ancient reliefs of Iran, the social role of art was in the service of the ruling political class. Based on this, the following paper examines the social function of the first image illustrated in the number one of the second court newspaper during the Naseri era. The approach is based on “reflection,” which could be used to answer this question: What social actions does the image of the fourth shah of the Qajar Period reflect? By studying the mentioned image, this article seeks to achieve a meta-aesthetic analysis, so the purpose of this article is not to analyze the subject from the perspective of visual structure or press graphics, but rather to identify the social actions. The research is done using qualitative and descriptive-analytical approaches. The data collection was done based on the library method and the analysis of illustrations. To answer the question mentioned, the approach was determined based on the theory of reflection. According to this theory, artworks convey many concepts about the state of society, such as the political structure. The results show that the expressive language of art as a promotional strategy has an effective action in the direction of strengthening the political and social domination of society, and therefore, Naser al-Din Shah consciously ordered the formation of a range of types of art, such as the court illustration press, in such a way that it is clearly able to reflect the face of the power and strength of his reign in a real way. This is important because, on the one hand, it reflects the social action of art for a long time, and on the other hand, it has reflected the two-way connection between art and politics.