A Comparative Study of the Schools of Painting in the Qajar and the First Pahlavi Periods with the Intellectual Approaches against the Dawn of Modernism in Iran

In the Iranian traditional painting, the visual foundations and structural principles were impressed by mysticism and its perception of eastern existential philosophy, but the Qajar artist, in confronting the rapid flow of the manifestations of European culture and civilization, was inevitably drawn to the visual and substantial elements of those works. He too, like other thinkers and intellectuals of the then Iranian society, neither wanted nor was able to completely relinquish the previous traditional values. With changes in the worldly views and lack of juxtaposition of previous traditional philosophy and new thoughts, the intellectual foundations were practically disrupted. The political, social and cultural system of Iran became extremely exposed to incoherence and confusion. There were no clear paradigms in any areas and the extensive contradictions were apparent everywhere. In such conditions, the Iranian thinkers and philosophers introduced various approaches to exit the emerged crises. These approaches can be generally divided into three main categories: 1- Westernized approach, 2- Adaptive approach, 3- Critical or traditional approach. The westernized approach that saw its utopia in the European culture and civilization, diligently attempted to absorb all aspects of that culture. The adaptive approach somewhat believed in the symbiosis and reconciliation of the Iranian traditions and European culture and sought proofs of civilization in tradition and religion. The critical or traditional approach though, included the diehard opponents of modernism and some supporters who believed that westerners had acquired their knowledge and civilization from the knowledge of our bygones and our fault for the existing decadence was due to our negligence of our past. Each of these three approaches is recognized with specific representations in the realm of thought. Based on the hypothesis of the research, it seems that the Iranian painting, while departing from the previous comprehensive paradigm, also gave up its aesthetical essence and appeared in similar approaches. The current research is conducted with the objective to review and compare the various artistic approaches of this period with the new intellectual trends and recognize the similarities and differences between these approaches in both areas of art and thought. The main questions are, firstly, what differences and similarities exist between the two groups of thinkers and artists in terms of approaches and secondly, which approaches lasted and continued among the two groups of artists and thinkers and which ones remained curtailed? The method of research in the current essay is descriptive-analytic and data were collected from the library and the analysis of the information was done by method of induction. According to research findings, it becomes clear that the Qajar artist who on one hand was influenced by the fall of traditional philosophical values and on the other hand gave himself away to the new European force, manifested his experiences by various artistic methods. In response to the first question, the Qajar artists like the thinkers of that period also took three approaches against the onset of modernism, generally similar to those of the thinkers. Traditionalists who incorporated a blend of popular tendencies, tradition and religion in their works were represented by new miniature painting and later teahouse paintings. The second group had adaptive inclinations and tried while acquiring new European findings, to also preserve their ideals and national identity and for several generations they attempted to adapt to western elements and old national ideals of which the best examples are seen in royal portraiture paintings. The westernized group, however that ultimately surpassed the other two currents, completely left its historical artistic paradigms and embarked on imitating the classic western methods. This approach in later decades with the appearance of Kamal al-Molk and the establishment of his style as the official artistic trend, for decades profoundly influenced the Iranian art of painting. During the dominance of the westernized artistic approach, the two other currents were pushed aside. In response to the second question of the research on the success and continuity of the approaches, it can be briefly said that while in the intellectual realm the adaptive and critical approaches became enduring and dominant trends and pushed aside the sheer westernized approach, the westernized approach found a quantitative and qualitative dominance in the art discipline.