Iran
Art from Iran, from Persepolis reliefs and Persian manuscripts, carpets and tiles to the Saqqakhaneh movement, film and photography.
No works indexed yet · 10 related artists
No open-access works for Iran are in the index yet. They will appear here as more collections are indexed.
About
At Persepolis, Achaemenid kings of the 6th and 5th centuries BC lined staircases with relief processions of tribute bearers from across their empire. After the arrival of Islam, Iranian artists excelled in the arts of the book: the Safavid Shahnameh made for Shah Tahmasp in the 16th century holds hundreds of jewel-toned paintings. Shah Abbas I rebuilt Isfahan around a vast square framed by tiled mosques, and knotted carpets reached a peak of design in the same era. Qajar painters later produced tall, stylised portraits of the court.
In the 1960s, artists of the Saqqakhaneh movement, including Charles Hossein Zenderoudi and Parviz Tanavoli, drew on religious talismans, script and folk objects for a modern art of their own. Monir Shahroudy Farmanfarmaian reworked mirror mosaic, and Mohammad Ehsai turned calligraphy into painting. Abbas Kiarostami's films and Shirin Neshat's photographs and video carried Iranian art to wide international audiences.
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