portraiture

In Manichaean paintings, the presence and role of man are very prominent. Manichaeans had special methods and principles for designing human faces; by borrowing from the faces of different lands and nations and integrating them with the imagination of his mind, Manichaean artists have tried to create different faces with different execution methods. Like Manichaean paintings, humans have an active presence in the paintings of early Islam, and the painters continued Manichaean’s way and method of drawing human portraits. Although there have been some changes in the portraiture of early Islam, the overall shape and features of the facial parts and, in some cases, the clothing of the figures, are the same as in the Manichean art style. This study tries to answer these questions: Manichean portraiture is influenced by the faces of which lands and nations, and what are its characteristics? What was the reason for drawing identical faces in Manichaean paintings? What features of the face and clothing of Manichaean paintings can be seen in the paintings of early Islam? The purpose of this study is to explore the characteristics of the face and clothing in Manichaean paintings and examine their similarities and differences with those of the Abbasid (Baghdad School), Samani, Ghaznavid, and Seljuk eras. The present study was done using a library-documentary study with a descriptive-analytical approach and a comparative approach. This study is of great importance because it raises new issues and makes new claims in terms of the stylistics of the art of painting in finding the origin of the art of painting and portraiture in early Islam (the Abbasid (Baghdad School), Samani, Ghaznavid, and Seljuq eras). Hence, this study aims to prove this hypothesis that the painting of early Islam was strongly and significantly influenced by the Manichaean style of portraiture. The results indicated that characteristics such as drawing identical faces, three-side angulation and oval shape of the face, lack of shading and simulating volume, small and elongated eyes, linear and slightly curved eyebrows, a small mouth and lips, a straight or arched nose, and hair arranged on the forehead are among the main characteristics of Manichaean portraiture, which were also used in the portraiture of early Islamic eras.

The art of the Qajar period has received deep influences in the face of various cultural, political, and social currents. By the beginning of the reign of Feth-Ali Shah, a new style called “Court portrait painting” entered the field of Iranian painting. In this style, people enter the picture contractually without any resemblance. Although portraiture is borrowed from European naturalistic elements, it has preserved the traditional method of idealizing reality. At first glance, this style seems to be only a court order, but the main issue is the artist’s indisputable obedience to the conditions and wishes of his patron. These conditions have a direct relationship with social conditions and events. Fath-Ali Shah’s preference for symbolic and surreal paintings of himself unlike other Qajar kings, has sparked curiosity into the reasons behind this choice and its psychological and social impacts. This has resulted in both a formal analysis of the paintings and an exploration of the related effects. The content and meanings hidden in them should also be read and examined. Therefore, to achieve this goal, iconological criticism of portraits based on the theories of “Jacques Lacan”(imaginary order, symbolic order, real order, and political order) have been used to present a new analysis of this character and his pictures. The statistical population of this research includes five selected paintings of Fath Ali Shah. The research has been done by the descriptive-analytical method and by examining the books and works available in museums and libraries. The results of the findings show that the lack of realism and idealism of the portraits can be justified and analyzed according to Lacan’s definitions of the imaginary, symbolic, and real order to meet the psychological needs of the king.

The Qajar dynasty came to power in 1785 and ruled until 1925. During this last phase of traditional Persian history, succeeding shahs tried to change the isolationist stance of the country by expanding cultural and economic interchange with the West. The 19th century was marked by continual unrest, caused by tribal groups competing for power. Foreign encroachment also contributed to conflicts. By mid-century, Persia had again become a crossroads to the East, because European colonialism demanded short routes to the Orient for explorers, archeologists, soldiers, scholars, pilgrims, tourists, writers, painters and photographers. During the long reign of Naser al-Din Shah (1848-1896) the desire for reformist policies and the continuing need for new funds led to the awarding of licenses to foreign concessionaires from Russia, Great Britain, France, Italy and Austria. It was during the reign of Naser al-Din Shah’s father, Mohammad Shah (1834-1848) that the first cameras came to Iran through Russia and Britain. Photographers in Iran can be divided into three broad categories: first, those belonging to the European documentary and geographic tradition, who explored cultural and physical differences throughout the world; second, indigenous photographers, who experimented with the new technical discoveries for enjoyment, without a defined mission; and third, commercial photographers, who discovered that images could be sold. The earliest practitioners of photography in Persia were Europeans from France, Austria and Italy. They were instructors at Dar al-Fonun, the well-known Tehran polytechnic established by Naser al-Din Shah in 1850 to train officers, civil and military engineers, doctors and interpreters. Photography was introduced into the curriculum after 1870. The Frenchman, Jules Richard who taught French at Dar al-Fonun was probably the first among the foreigners to print images on paper treated with silver nitrate. Photography in Qajar Iran was first at the court’s service or for documenting official events, but it gradually adopted some artistic and popular approaches. This medium in that time would provide the artists who had become familiar with modern European techniques of painting with some fresh, useful tools to try realistic imagery. However, the impact of photography on Qajar painters was not restricted to oil painting or watercolor, but it exerted its sphere of influence in a wider domain, including lacquerwork, particularly pen boxes. Under the Qajar dynasty the best miniature painting is usually found not in the illustration of manuscripts, as in the earlier periods of the art, but in the decoration of objects in lacquered papier-mache. This art reached a high state of development under Fath Ali Shah, but the best works produced under Naser al-Din Shah in the middle years of the 19th century were perhaps even finer. During this century lacquerwares were one of the most important forms of decorative art produced in Iran. Their importance is reflected in the sheer quantity of items that were made, and in the dynamism with which the decoration of lacquerwares developed. Actually, early Qajar lacquerwares look very different from those in later times throughout the whole century, especially from the Nasseri period on. It can hardly be doubted that the lacquerwork of the early Qajar period was to a large extent a continuation of the traditions established in the late Safavid, Afshar and Zand periods. The repertory of 18th century lacquer decoration included figural, floral and flower-and-bird themes, illumination and calligraphy; however, this visual tradition inclined towards more realistic subject matters with an emphasis on portraiture, most specifically depicting the portraits of kings, princes, officials and dignitaries. The present article aims at studying the impact of photography on the visual evolution of the lacquerwork in Qajar art and it tries to answer the following questions: How did photography exert influence on the development of visual arts and portraiture in Qajar period? How can we evaluate such impact on lacquerwork, especially pen boxes? The results demonstrate that photography had a considerable effect on visual arts, especially portraiture, in that period, and such a movement can be traced in other art media such as lacquer pen boxes, mirror cases, etc. Artists and artisans active in making pen boxes and other lacquer artifacts would use photographs in two ways on their artworks: first, by precise copying of portraits and other elements in pictures, and second, by just pasting the ready photos as labels under lacquer. Pen boxes with Qajar portraits usually contain the realistic paintings of rulers, courtiers, statesmen, the nobility and women within an oval frame in a Westernized structure. Such portraits are mostly depicted in the central panel in larger dimension than other adjacent ones. The dignitaries painted in here are officially dressed and are represented in vertical visual composition. This gradual development in the visual tradition of this era could be considered as a result of the introduction of photography into Qajar Iran, particularly from the middle 19th century onward, and it continues right into the end of this dynasty, with a decline in quality.

In examining the portraits of Qajar kings, we see profound changes in their representation patterns. So it is assumed that we are witnessing a transformation from icons to portraits. This article tries to examine the source of the differences between these two concepts from the perspective of using traditional patterns in contrast to using new patterns. For this purpose, images from Fath Ali Shah Qajar to Muzaffar al-Din Shah will be described, analyzed, and also compared with similar images in two other courts in the same era. The results show that in the era of Fath Ali Shah, according to a planned cultural policy, the image of "Shah Qajar" was represented by using a symbolic view of the position of power and relying on historical texts, beliefs, and cultural traditions. For three consecutive generations, the Qajar tribe engaged in internal power struggles with other rivals until it finally won the throne. But in the war with Russia, the Qajar military organization, which had a non-modern structure, was confronted with the relatively modern army of Tsarist Russia. Among the tribal communities, courage and fighting spirit were praised, and in this case, the role of the king-father as the highest official of these communities was very important. Considering the civil wars and the war with Russia, the emphasis on the display of royal weapons in a significant number of icons can be considered as the emergence of the aesthetics of war in works of art. During the reign of Mohammad Shah, the extreme use of symbolic markings was avoided. Facial features became closer to the subject's physical characteristics. Reducing the use of jewelry and the tendency to display Western features, including in clothing, are among the other tendencies seen in Mohammad Shah's portraits. The portraits of the fourth Qajar king have considerable variety; this diversity covers the period from adolescence to the last years of Nasser al-Din Shah's life, and in addition to the popular media of previous periods, it also includes lithographs and photography. Finally, likeness should be considered as a distinctive feature of representation patterns in the second half of the Naser al-din shah era. In addition to looking closely at the subject, the court artist has used photographic power in an attempt to capture the likeness. In the period of Muzaffar al-Din Shah, we see the complete rupture of the patterns of royal representation from all that the tradition of court painting had already determined in this field. For example, in one of the portraits of Muzaffar al-Din Shah, the use of any royal symbolism or the display of the smallest static symbols has been avoided. The court artist has recorded a passing moment of the walk of Muzaffar al-Din Shah and the Prime Minister. The result of this representation is in complete contrast with the iconic figures of the era of Fath Ali Shah. The king is depicted in his old age in the most ordinary way possible, regardless of any formal ceremony or royal luxuries and belongings.

Portraiture and making portraits of kings and others in a position of power have, for long, been considered to be an old tradition in human history. Generally speaking, in Iran, portraiture has always had a definite framework that originated in the world view and epistemology of Iranians. As of the mid-Qajar era, during their encounters with the West, Iranians’ epistemological framework underwent drastic changes due to global and regional developments at the time. This period marks the beginning of the so-called ‘discursive turn’.  Modernism, as a form of discourse, introduced new terms and concepts into the Persian language, which in turn, brought about big changes in several fields.From Laclau and Mouffe’s perspective, social affairs serve as discursive structures which are fathomable but unstable and come with other potential meanings capable of challenging or transforming the structure of discourse. Inventing new terms such as ‘articulation’, ‘nodal point’, ‘floating signifier’, ‘element’, ‘moment’, and ‘chains of equivalence and difference’, Laclau and Mouffe showed how a cluster of signs with fixed meanings are formed into a network within a discourse, and therefore, create a unified meaning.The second Qajar era witnessed a social conflict between two macro discourses over fixing the meaning. Signifiers of modern discourse were in inherent conflict with those of nodal discourse. Modern discourse appeared in the margins of nodal discourse and reached its climax during the Naseral-Din Shah era; ultimately, it was transformed into hegemony in the form of a political-social movement called ‘constitutionalism’. A question arises here: what is the effect of the changes made in the macro discourse dominating the society on the portraiture of Qajar kings and others holding a position of power?The main issue in a theory of discourse is that how people in societies come to perceive themselves. In other words, how people in different societies define themselves, and, consequently, of what nature their behavioral pattern is. In hegemonic systems, there is no mutual relationship between the king and peasants. They are innately separated from each other. In hegemonic governments based on the coalition between religion and the royal court, ‘sacredness’ is a tool to legitimize the authoritative nature of the government. In such an authorial discourse, the king is the only competent authority who can establish laws, and since the institution of power is relying on the hegemonic signifier ‘Islam’, any opposition to the king is considered to be opposition to God and Shari'a. In accordance with the system of belief in this semantic structure, belief in religion and the unseen contributes to inherent inequality among humans. Reasoning has no function in this system.Artistic production cannot be investigated out of the context of social discourses. During the Qajar era, nodal discourse gained legitimacy through possession of sources of producing culture and art. What was authorized to be represented had to be in accordance with legitimizing the government of the time. Nodal discourse, by nature, always selects the kind of media which are traditionally-oriented and have repetitive criteria. Such a discourse always tries to preserve its stability which puts it in a defensive position with fewer changes. The court intends to promote a kind of art that comes with fixed, established, and high norms.As is observed, dictated orders by royal court discourse to the king’s identity have been portrayed. In his way, the function of the king’s portraits is to strengthen such ruling norms. Due to the gap in the epistemological framework of Iranians living during the second Qajar era, micro-and macrosocial relations between the king and the society kept a distance from symbolism and mythology. The king was no longer a sacred epic figure to be multiplied in impressionistic portraits. Although Fath-Ali shah must be portrayed with pure authority, the ideal representation of the king no longer bears importance in the new semantic system.With discursive turn and establishment of such signifiers as ‘law’, ‘equality, and ‘justice’ as the most important signifiers of the marginalized discourse during the Naser al-Din shah era, degraded under the influence of the world view and the norms ruling over classic art, individuality and individual portraits gained ground and influenced, in turn, the nodal discourse in Iran. In portraits, faces kept a distance from ideals.Evolving around such concepts as law, justice, and equality, a special kind of discourse penetrated the highest discursive levels in Iran as a result of which access to the king as an authority holding the highest position of power was made possible. With the king being in access more than before, he became smaller and smaller; in this way, his portraits became more realistic, more tangible, and more materialistic. with the establishment of laws, patriarchal interpretations of the king and his sacredness were marginalized and challenged, respectively, and the fact was differently articulated. As we move towards the hegemony of modern discourse, we witness a new representation of monarchy which is a result of developments like discourses intervening with the representation. Portraits attempting to renew the damaged legitimacy of the monarchy are signs of transcendental power and sacredness of the marginalized king. The elements of the portraits are material and the portrait maker had adopted a realistic manner towards the representations of the objects.Modern discourse increased the king’s availability, with the halo around his head getting smaller, him becoming more real, and reality being differently articulated. An ideal representation of the king lost its legitimacy. Moving closer to harmonization of the signifier ‘law ‘, we experience growing changes.To sum it up, it can be claimed that a study of portraiture in the first and second Qajar era shows changes in representation. Symbolism and sacralization of the king are increasingly marginalized, with the king dethroned; this is caused by factors accounted for by the change in the nature of discourses.Portrait analysis reveals that a representation of the king as an existence dominating that of his audience is far from probable out of the context of discourse. In the portraits, the king keeps his social distance from the audience, in such a way that the distance is not an obstacle to him being easily recognized by the audience, nor is the nearness blurring the distinction between him and his audience. However, the situation is not the same as far as portraits made of common people are concerned. A most realistic representation of their faces is made in the center of the portrait with a direct look into the eyes of the audience, who may recognize such common faces as ‘insiders’.

The criticism of photographs as material objects expands their indexicality. </span>Once considered as objects, </span>photographs connect with other senses thereby strengthening their bonds with the concrete material world. </span>This indexicality does not merely belong to the image, </span>and is also dependent of the materiality of the photograph. </span>In this sense what grants meaning to the photograph’</span>s materiality is in fact the bond between the photograph and the world turning them from merely materialist objects into emotional, </span>historical, </span>documentary …</span>etc. </span>objects, </span>occasionally causing pleasure whilst at other times bringing about awareness. </span>Leaving photographerly productions behind just because of material damages is a reminiscent of an old creature which is not abandoned as a lot of concepts are invested in it, </span>through which meanings are prioritised over matter yielding identity. </span>Among most important in the genre is portraiture, </span>as these works not only document the appearance of the subject, </span>but also occasionally cast light on their inherent, </span>internal features.</span></span></div>

Single art or abstract art refers to an art with no identifiable natural form that only benefits from unnatural and symbolic forms. Also, art refers to objects and creatures embodying the fundamental features and ignoring the effects of general and specific details of each of them. An abstract image of a tree has to contain general and fundamental properties of a common tree with no close affinity to any particular tree. Based of abstraction, art in fact is the belief that the worldview only refers to color and form and it has no relation to painting or sculpturing content. In visual books, a style is invented by structural or behavioral patterns or selection of different topics. Depictive artistic methods are special properties that expresses a part of identity and thoughts. An abstract image in children’s books is such that the hidden subject is not observed at first sight and it needs uncovering the hidden concepts in the image. Abstraction in children’s books often occurs in the external form of a phenomenon and images are semi abstract. The present study is descriptive –analytic that firstly defines style, portraiture style, abstract art and its historical reality, abstraction in children’s portraiture books, abstraction in portraiture pictures in children’s books and finally introduces a few books and pictures that represent an abstract style. The goal of this paper is to introduce the abstract style and show that imaging in children’s books is either abstract or semi-abstract.

The present study investigates on the deviation of eyes in portraits made by Sani’-ul-Molk, the Qajar royal painter. Analyzing the exact visual and technical features of the works in the course of his artistic life, it assesses the possible causes affecting the deviation in eyes, either accidental or intentional. Through the analysis, different scenarios including his technical weakness, the reality in subjects, symbolic codes etc. were articulated as well as evaluated. The results shows two possibilities: either technical problems magnified in the light of stylistic traditional norms, or intentional reproduction of symbolic codes referring to the middle ages’ religious painting in Italy. Though a combination of both possibilities could be valid. The study is fundamental and takes in the descriptive – analysis method.

Iranian Moslem painters have observed the divinely world through the world beauties; aimed at finding out the worldly instances and understanding the eternal realities. These beliefs have affected the portraiture in Iranian traditional painting; therefore, despite of the western painting, the Iranian painting has been rarely served the creation of the iconography. Regarding the above mentioned points, the portraits in Iranian traditional painting are unique, while they have been painted based on specific patterns. This methodology led some researchers to a fault judgment; so that they have observed the portraits as similar and rigid ones. However, the Iranian traditional portraiture has been affected by different social factors.In this article, social development indicators, from the Sassanid to the Safavid era, has been studied and the major developments in portraiture has been analyzed. Iranian artists, in addition to applying traditional rules and patterns, they also experienced their own personal styles. Turning towards western art, made artists to ignore the traditional method of portraiture, as a result, this kind of art changed its direction towards realism. In this article the historic, descriptive and comparative methods have been used.