Qajar Art

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Qajar art refers to the art and art-forms of the Qajar dynasty of the Persian Empire, which lasted from 1781 to 1925. Most notably, Qajar art is recognizable for its distinctive style of portraiture. The boom in artistic expression that occurred during the Qajar era was the fortunate side-effect of the period of relative peace that accompanied the rule of Agha Muhammad Khan and his descendents. With his ascension, the bloody turmoil that had been the eighteenth century in Persia came to a close, and made it possible for the peacetime arts to again flourish.

The roots of traditional Qajar painting can be found in the style of painting that arose during the preceding Safavid empire. During this time, there awas a great deal of European influence on Persian culture, especially in the arts of the royalty and noble classes.

While the depiction of inanimate objects and still lifes is seen to be very realistic in Qajar painting, the depiction of human beings is decidedly idealised. This is especially evident in the portrayal of Qajar royalty, where the subjects of the paintings are very formulaicly placed and situated to achieve a desired effect.



Most famous of the Qajar artworks are the portraits that were made of the various Persian Shahs. Each ruler, and many of their sons and other relatives, commissioned official portraits of themselves either for private use or public display. The most famous of these are of course the myriad portraits which were painted of Fath Ali Shah Qajar, who, with his narrow waist, long black bifurcated beard and deepset eyes, has come to exemplify the Romantic image of the great Oriental Ruler.



While the portraits were executed at various points throughout the life of the Shah, they adhere to a canon in which the distinctive features of the ruler are emphasized. Portraits exist of Fath Ali Shah in a very wide assortment of situations, from the armor-clad warrior king to the flower smelling gentleman, but all are similar in their depiction of the Shah, differing only slightly, usually due to the specific artist of the portrait. It is only appropriate that this particular Shah be so immortalized in this style, as it was under his rule as the second Qajar shah that the style truly flourished. One reason for this were the stronger and stronger diplomatic ties that the Qajar rulers were nurturing with European powers.



While Fath Ali Shah himself never visisted Europe, many portraits of him were sent with envoys in the effort to convey the imperial majesty of the Persian court. With the rise of Nassirudin Shah, photography became much more important in the art of the period, and portraiture, while still used for official purposes, fell gradually out of favor. In addition, as Nassirudin Shah was the fist Persian ruler to visit Europe, the official sending of portraits was left by the wayside, a relic of times gone by.



The depiction of nonroyal persons also has a very important place in the explanation and understanding of Qajar art. While naturally not commoners, the subjects of these portraits were often minor princes (of which there were many!), the grandsons, nephews, and great-nephews of the ruling or previously ruling Shahs. These princes, with the wealth and position of their families, had very little else to do but contribute to the arts, so their patronage was certainly less than detrimental to the arts of the time. Often, portraits of this class would be commissioned as depictions of family groups, depicting the male, an idealized, nubile wife, and their perfectly formed child. Other times, they would be in the form of a royal portrait, depicting solely the male commissioner, but with subtle variations making it clear that the sitter is not a Royal.

One way that this was accomplished was through a cartouche that was displayed next to the head of each portrait's subject, clarifying who was being depicted, and any relevant titles (such as Soltān, shāhzādeh, &c.). For the ruling head of Persia, this cartouche is fairly regulated, ("al-soltān Official name Shāh Qājār"), while for anyone else, it may include a longer name, a lesser title or a short genealogy.

[Rasputin]

The Shāhanshāhnāmeh

During the reign of Fath Ali Shah Qajar, a work of literature and art was commissioned that was intended to rival the work of Ferdowsi. This book was called the Shāhanshāhnāmeh (Persian: شاهنشاهنامه, lit. "Book of the King of Kings"). It is apparent to the scholar of Persian art and literature that this is a very blatant play upon the work of art known as the Shāhnāmeh (Persian: شاهنامه, lit. "Book of Kings") which was written by Ferdowsi in the year 1000 . The Shahnameh, in brief, chronicles the quasi-mythical founding of the Persian Empire and the heroes and villains who punctuated its inception. Also, the Shahanshahnameh is related to a long tradition of Mughal literature, in the form of the Baburnameh and the Akbarnameh, similar books which chrnicle the occurrences that punctuated the reigns of their respective Mughal Shahs This Sahanshahnameh is now situated in the National Library of Vienna, Austria/Europe.

The sartorial inclinations of the Qajar period were not so very different from those of earlier period until the latter half of the era. As is evidenced by the early portraiture of Fath Ali Shah Qajar and Mohammad Shah Qajar, the traditional styles of dress in Persia were preserved, but as Western influences became more and more prevalent, the royal portraits began to depict the Shah in a more Western, military style garb (such as the portrait of Nassirudin Shah Qajar above). This is not to say, however, that the traditional textile arts of Persia had fallen into disuse. While the Shah wished to appear advanced and western to European monarchs and diplomats, it was still his duty to exude the pride and ancient glory of the Persian Empire, so court dress retained very strong elements of traditional dress.

[Rasputin]

[Rasputin]

The origin of the boiling fountain of Iranian visual arts that pours eternally from the everlasting source of Divine Knowledge is in the depth of the souls of pious artists who have painstakingly crystallized beautiful and manifestations of the truth and what is concealed in the hearts of human beings. The human beings who are cast away from their divine motherland, with which they were initially so much in love.
Among these arts, portraiture seems to be so endeared that it has found it's desired abode in books, accompanying words, particularly in context of poems, and this celestial combination can unfold an aspect of the dominion of the profound Islamic culture.
Portraiture is a type of drawing, in which the artist's eternal model is the perfect face of his beloved one. Then he keeps portraying an endless number of pictures of that beautiful face on new purely white frame each time. Each of these fine portraits is a combination of the artist's imagination and what he has in mind of his beloved one's face.
That is the reason why we always witness presence of a Divine Covenant between the artists working in this field with the blessed ones and the fairy-faced from the heavens above , which is drawn in the pure framework of color, forms, lines and dots. The outcome of such a blessed art is a harmonious, pleasant work, in which the music of human life is merged with divine manifestations, and the portraiture artist, who is eternally and deeply in love , donates the sweet fruit of his work at the end of each endeavor, to his fairy-faced beloved, and signs it: " The least servant of Thy Throne." The position of servant hood of the beloved one's Throne is the position enjoyed by the religious artists. Those who have gained such a rank have reached a special status in art, whose manifestations in different fields of artistic activities are different versions of the same story.
The highest position in portraiture art is bestowed on those selfless artists, who have diminished their "characteristics" into "selflessness" and traces of their humble personality can only be sought when reflected in portraits of their beloved one.
Once this stand is achieved , the seal and signature of the artist, too, loses their original usage, since the artist draws the heavenly portraits in a selfless state of mind. And it is not an accidental event that those for whom this secret was revealed have left their portraiture works unsigned.
Each of them in turn an authentic presentation of the abode of man, crystallized in epic, mystical, and moral themes.
Among these works you can spot unique and outstanding portraits that are beyond doubt recognized as milestones in art history.
These works often bear the names of revered masters, who have been founders of new methods in the context of this spiritual art.
Pir Seyyed Ali, Mirakm, Kamal-od Din Behzad, Mohammad Siyah Qalam, Qasem Ali, Soltan Mohammad, Aqa Mirak, Mir Seyyed Ali, Reza Abbasi, Aqa Reza, etc., are among the famous and noble names that are registered at high peaks of the history. among them, the name of Kamal-od Din Behzad glows more brilliantly than the others.He was the one who enhanced the portraiture art for good by bestowing a firm and distinguished style to it. His students, and even his contemporary portraiture artists, followed his style and created works that have common characteristics in the field of Islamic Iranian portraiture.
Yet, the cornerstones of portraiture were set by those artists whose abstract mentality and unadulterated vision had enabled them to create portraits that are pure manifestations of the Celestial Abode above.
They are quite familiar with the "perspective" principles. and yet, since they regarded portraiture's status beyond external sense, they never limited themselves to their visual observations. Their job was portraying a dominion that was the interpretation of the discourse and the word. Thus, they had to move towards a kind of abstraction of the objects, which was neither merely manifestations of the appearance of those things nor contradictory with their natural form. all the creatures and objects have two distinctly clear characteristics in portraiture. One of these characteristics refers to the apparent shape of objects and the other reflects the inner aspects. The apparent shape of objects is discernible at first sight. Human beings, animals, plants and inanimate objects , are all manifestaded in their natural appearances. They present all their inner and outer characteristics exactly as they are bestowed on them in their nature to all the viewers.
But after the primary visual observation and after going beyond the story-telling function that are related to the whole texture of those objects, we begin to realize that a deep correlation exists among all of them, that is very evidently clear and cause cohesiveness of them all in shape of the object they represent it is this manner that it defines the unique rule of formation of each object to the viewer.
Portraiture art gained perfection when it got well acquainted with the rich Gnostic, epic and ethical literature. In their initial experiences in this regard, the portraiture artists tried to employ the image based language of literary works, particularly in the realm of poetry, to achieve it's own image-based language.
This acquaintance and companionship led to birth of anew style in portraiture, some manifestations of which are observed in portraiture interpretations of literary works.
But later on, and gradually, while preserving this precious achievement, portraiture found it's own independent language for communication. All the visual art elements, including dots,lines,surfaces,colors,textures, and ,were used with ultimate skill in order to convey the desired meanings in this fine language.
The portraiture artists wisely found the secret of portraits and the key to perfection of their works in the need to move towards their possession, i.e. "the circle", through the medium of Unitary Knowledge. The reason for reaching this brilliant conclusion was that circle could be regarded as a symbol of monotheism. They found out that all the relationships gained through working with a compass were correct relationship, which had an internal unity.
The portraiture artists thus displayed the internal, or the real characteristics of the objects, which are all inclined towards one single "Truth" in designing their shapes. They meanwhile presented the outward appearance, thereby drawing the created aspect of them.
Simultaneous presentation of the Truth-related attributes of the objects, which are stable and lasting, and creation-related aspects, which are transient, has made portraiture art a manifestation of the Gnostic Islamic mentality, and each portrait created in this manner displays a magnificent show of the whole "being and nothingness" of the universe.
The relationship of the elements of the objects used in portraiture work is also all based on Islamic esthetic rules. These relationships were referred to as the "noble relationships" in the past and used in all the Islamic arts, including music,poetry, calligraphy, architecture, all different types of artifacts, and portraiture.
By paying close attention to a portrait , we Will realize that the relationships of the objects and elements are not natural relationships. Each being is viewed from a particular distance, from which it's limits and characteristics, compared to the size of other elements, present relationships that are not natural. Each object is viewed from a certain distance, limits and characteristics of that thing, with comparison with the other elements present in the portrait , defines our general knowledge of that being.

[Rasputin]

Morvarid palace

Morvarid Palace is a palace built by Shams (a royalty of the Pahlavi dynasty) in the 1960s. It is located near Hesarak and Mehrshahr, in the western suburbs of Karaj, Iran.

The palace was designed by The Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation.

The majority of the complex is currently occupied by a local Baseej chapter who are neglecting its upkeep. Small parts are open to the public as a result of pressure from the Cultural Heritage Organization of Iran.

The building was recognized as a cultural value only in 2002, and registered by the Cultural Heritage Organization of Iran. It is currently in need of massive repairs.

[Rasputin]

While in most Islamic societies the art of painting has been restricted in the public sphere to geometric and other non-figural designs, and limited in the private sphere to small-scale narrative illustrations of manuscripts, the Qajar period in Iran (1785-1925 C.E.) manifests something very different. There we find impressive examples of the development of large-scale figural painting. While this has often been interpreted as the result of the influence from European art, Dr. Layla Diba has shown that in fact this perception is in need of correction. Rather than the result of overwhelming influence from European art traditions, the figural styles in Qajar art actually represent the culmination of a very old indigenous Iranian tradition of imagery.

Dr. Diba is Adjunct Professor, Bard Graduate Center for Studies in the Decorative Arts, and Former Hagop Kevorkian Curator of Islamic Art, Department of Asian Art, at the Brooklyn Museum of Art. Dr. Diba has her B.A. from Wellesley College, and her M.A. and Ph.D. from the Institute of Fine Arts, New York University.



Among other positions she has also served as Director and Chief Curator, Negarestan Museum, Teheran; and as art advisor, Private Secretariat of Her Majesty Queen Farah of Iran. She was catalogue author and editor for, "Royal Persian Paintings: The Qajar Epoch, 1785—1925," a traveling exhibition at Brooklyn Museum of Art, UCLA, and Brunei Gallery, London. Dr. Diba is editor and coauthor of Highlights of Islamic Art (forthcoming); her articles have appeared in Woven from the Soul, Spun from the Heart: Textile Arts of Safavid and Qajar Iran; Arts of Persia; Arts and the Islamic World; Muqarnas; Journal of Glass Studies. She is also contributor and coeditor (with Maryam Ekhtiar and B. W. Robinson) for Royal Persian Paintings: The Qajar Epoch, 1785-1925 (New York: Brooklyn Museum of Art, 1998. Most recently, she was the guest editor and contributor for a volume of the Journal for the Society for Iranian Studies 34.1-4 (2001), devoted to the topic "Qajar Art and Society."

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Niavarān Palace Complex is situated in the northern part of Tehran, Iran. It consists of several buildings and a museum. The Sahebqraniyeh Palace from the time of Nasir al-Din Shah of Qajar dynasty is also inside this complex. The Niavaran Palace was the primary residence of the last Shah, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi and the Imperial family until the Iranian Revolution.