The Status and Identity of Qajar Female Artists in Regard to Their Signatures (From Fath-Ali Shah’s Reign to Early Pahlavi Era)

Iranian art history is basically dominated by men and the court. This art has mostly been supported by male patrons and artists, and whenever women appear, they play a minor role as the theme and subject of works. This trend, however, underwent a drastic change during the reign of Fath-Ali Shah in his court and in the hands of his artist daughters and other women. They started a new movement by putting their signatures under or at the end of their works, considered a unique act in its own by that time. In this essay such a trend has been studied besides considering others aspects of women’s art in the Qajar era up to the Pahlavi period in the Kamal-ol-Molk’s school and his female apprentices’ work. An evaluation of the extant cases and works demonstrates that signatures by the female artists, inside and outside the realm of court, have increased in the course of time as a result of several factors, including the women’s self-consciousness, evolution of educational system and a decline in despotism. The act of signing works implied some essential concepts the most significant of which were credit, ownership and personal identity.