نشریه پژوهش هنر
پیاپی 20 (پاییز و زمستان 1399)

The public art term is the work of arts presented in public places to access for ordinary people and audiences, and also it tends to communicate and contribute to people and public audiences. Public art will have positive consequences for the audience due to its direct communication with the audience. One of the subsets of public art is urban sculptures settled in public and busy places, and they are converted to social structures. The present study intends to examine the relationship between urban sculptures as a factor for teaching creativity to general public based on the audience’s direct experience by using descriptive-analytical method and referring to the library documents, and answers this question: What is the relationship between transmitting and teaching creativity to the general audience, in light of the experience contrasting public art? The relationship between the audience and work of art can increase the audience’s understanding, awareness, and creativity; today it is believed that creativity is considered as the basic essence of all social processes. In this regard, the education theory of John Dewey, the American theorist and philosopher, was used. Findings and results of the research prove that if experience arouses curiosity, the audience’s initiative will strengthens and a motivating force will created which leads to the emergence and learning creativity; this will expand the scope of the audience’s imagination. The present paper is about the sculptures installed in the city of Padideh Shandiz, and represent as a creative element in the public space and in relation to the general audience.

The history of textile in Kashan dates back to the millennia BC. In the Islamic era, it was one of the most important centers for the production of silk and cotton fabrics. One of the textiles that was produced in Kashan from the Safavid era onwards was called chit (i.e. chintz). Chintz is the art of block stamping on calicoes. This technique, which was a cheap way to imitate brocade and embroidery, was popularized in Iran and India from the beginning of the seventeenth century. Since these cheap goods were produced for everyday use, very few examples and historical documents have been survived. This paper with examination of a newly discovered document belonging to first Pahlavi era, surveys the characteristics of chintz production in Kashan. This research has been done by using library and documentary materials and descriptive-analytical and historical methods. One of the most important questions is the technical and artistic features, the prevalence and the reason for the decline of Kashan Chintz production. The document presented in this paper shows that in 1938, at least eighteen Chintz making workshops were active in Kashan, which indicates the widespread prosperity of this art in Kashan. This document was in fact a trade agreement for the payment of taxes, so that everyone should pay taxes based on their share in the chintz production of the city. Compared with Isfahan productions, Kashan chintz, especially those printed in two colors, can be considered as imitations of carpets. One of the main reasons for the degeneration of Kashan chintz in the second Pahlavi era was variety of items produced in the textile factories of the city.

In the last decade, with the advent of the Persian carpet in the world of fashion, whether carpet designs in clothing or its woven parts in clothing, bags and shoes, the related vocabulary of carpets has expanded from the floor covering filed to the body covering field. As a result, domestic fashion has created new experiences in this field.  The global fashion is dominated by brands, which reproduces each value of its semantic system. Therefore, carpet fashion will not have the same discourse in internal and global fashion. Therefore, the questions arise that with what codes does the semantic system of Iranian and world carpet fashion create meaning? And how are Iranian carpets in particular and carpets in general used in the paradigms governing domestic and foreign fashion to intensify the function of clothing media? Therefore, this paper is based on the semiotic approach and in a descriptive-analytical manner, with an emphasis on global fashion in order to answer research questions. The purpose of the research is to discuss the dominant discourse of carpet in contemporary fashion in Iran and in the world. Research findings indicate that the global fashion system is an open and dynamic system and the governing paradigm is fashion which is the creator of content; conceptual, artistic, qualitative, or moral content. In the world fashion, the carpet forms the artistic discourse, and beyond that, a avant-garde fashion, postmodernism, is an art work that expresses and reflects the spirit of the era. The essence of the carpet (Design, texture, and structure) has become a code in the semantic system, according to the type of discourse; hence the visual form of the carpet is dependent on the content in question. However, the paradigm governing Iranian fashion is fashionism, and the prevalence of carpet in Iran has been the dominance of branding and commercialization, rather than a postmodernist movement to revive and redefine the traditional arts, and the Iranian fashion discourse is the discourse of welfare and wealth.

Abolhassan Ghaffari Kashani, known as Sania Ol-Molk, is a well-known figure painter of the Qajar era and one of the pioneers of realistic portraiture. In drawing the figure, he has used innovative and unique methods inspired by Iranian idealistic art and European realist art. One of the special features of Sani Ol-Molk’s figure paintings is his special attention to representing the inner qualities and mental characteristics of individuals; a feature that has not been common in Persian painting before. The purpose of the present study is to identify and retrieve this feature in his artworks. The most important question that forms the basis of this study is How is the representation of personality in Sani-Ol-Molk’s figure painting and What kind of visual arrangements has the artist used to better display these features? Accordingly, by selecting samples of the Sani-Ol-Molk’s figure paintings, the descriptive-analytical method, how the representation of characters and their internal characteristics, are studied. The results of the study show that the issue of paying attention to the hidden and intrinsic aspects, as well as paying attention to the facial features of the individuals, has been of great importance to the artist. In displaying these traits, he judges his own beliefs and mental thoughts of the characters, and with the help of a series of visual measures such as valuing some of the effective elements on the face, the particular emphasis on parts of the body parts as well as changes in the dimensions and proportions of the body and clothing have shaped each person’s inner traits in his or her face and body. Thus when the audience of the artist’s works stands in front of these paintings, he understands features like dignity and decency, humility and eloquence, power and pride, trick and crafty which are the reflection of the artist’s point of view and opinion about the characters, from their appearance.

Throughout the Safavid era, Armenians from various ethnic groups and minorities were in Isfahan and built numerous churches, which a few of them have remained. The Orthodox Christian denomination has certain doctrinal principles and rituals, some of which have influenced the body and architectural arrays of churches. The purpose of this research is comparative comparison and identify the impact and manifestation of these principles and rituals on the spatial structure of architecture and arrays of Orthodox churches in Isfahan and Armenia. The research method is qualitative and is based on descriptive-analytical method between the common Armenian churches and new Julfa churches. The data were collected through library studies in the field of principles of belief and rituals of Christianity, and field studies in the form of direct presence of researchers in the churches of Isfahan, and then have been qualitatively analyzed. The results show that the architecture of the Armenian churches in Isfahan is a combination of Iranian and Armenian architecture. East-west orientation, rectangular geometric shape, spatial hierarchy, having at least one large dome all follow the architecture of Armenian churches. The arched dome, the material, the type of large windows of the domes and the type of minaret are modeled on Iranian architecture. Also, some of the additional extension arrays of Armenian churches, such as rose, clover windows and three-part windows, have been removed. And the arrays that belong to the inside of the church are like murals, and some of these arrays, such as the cuckoo pigeon, the triple domes, the Bible reading table, the cross or crucifix, the window or the images of the sufferings of Jesus Christ and the resurrection of Christ, have been used in the interior of churches. Arrays representing Christian Religions are the arrays of the Devil’s Exit, the Last Supper, the Sanctuary, the Priesthood, and the Porch which can be seen in all churches

Maces are a long-standing (old) and powerful tool used in hand to hand and group wars. In addition to the martial aspect, they have had ceremonial, ritual, and mythical aspects. Mace is one of the most ancient weapons in the world and one of the most widely used weapons of the Hindu and European heroes and gods, and has been mentioned as the gods and heroes warfare in Avesta and Islamic texts. Due to the development of warfare, maces of simple forms into transformed the various geometrical, spherical, conoidal, bladed, chained, zoomorphic, dimonic and anthropomorphic forms. Often it has a strong body of wood or metal, and a heavy head of copper, bronze, iron or steel. Maces with various sizes can be regarded as symbols of power. Now the question is that how was the formation process of war maces in illustrations of these three Shah names, Baysonghori, Tahmasbi and Rashida? The purpose of this study is to know the types, evolution and depicted version of war maces in illustrations of three mentioned shah names. The reason of the transformation of the maces was the belief of gods and heroes, climatic and social conditions and progress in the manufacture of war weapons. Maces show the bravery of heroes and to create fear in the enemy. Mythological stories and the ceremonial aspect of war maces have been illustrated by the illustrations in these Shahnamehs. The research method is descriptive-comparative and the data are collected by using library studies, documents, creditable scientific sites and museums.