An Investigation of Photography's Role in Modern Arts of Iran

From the beginning of sixties, modern art appeared in America and continued in different branches such as conceptual art, video art, installation art, earth art, minimal art and body art.Iran, too, kept pace with such an art from the beginning but, due to the lack of an authentic source about the beginning and evolution of Persian modern art, the author of this article aims to identify the branches and active artists of such an art through field study. Although two exhibitions of conceptual art and modern art held in Tehran’s museum of contemporary art in 80 and 81 are the main bases of this research’s statistical universe, most examples cited in this article are the results of field study of artistic works exhibited in galleries in recent years.Since photography has been always present in all branches of modern art, this article aims to elucidate the role of photography in modern art.Investigating the mentioned works, it is concluded that, due to the instability of some modern works, photo is the unique tool for preserving the branches of modern art and, in some works, it is not only a recording tool but also the main medium.Thus, this research attempts to, first, state a summary of historical evolution and the beginning of modern art in Iran by mentioning a number of works by Persian artists. Then, the importance and use of photography is explored both as an element for recording and permanency and as the raw material and main element of artistic works in some branches of modern art including conceptual art, video art and earth art which is used mostly in Iran.