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Neo-traditionalism and modern Iranian painting: The Saqqa-khaneh school in the 1960s

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2022

Hamid Keshmirshekan
Hamid Keshmirshekan*
Affiliation:
St. Cross College, University of Oxford
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Information
Iranian Studies , Volume 38 , Issue 4 , December 2005 , pp. 607 - 630
Copyright
Copyright © 2005 The International Society for Iranian Studies

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Footnotes

This article is based on a section of my PhD thesis—Contemporary Iranian Painting: Neo Traditionalism from the 1960s to 1990s—carried out under the supervision of Dr. Anna Contadini, to whom I am very grateful, at the Department of Art and Archaeology, School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), University of London, 2000–2004.

Unlike other fields of modern Iranian studies, such as socio-politics and economics, one of the immediately obvious problems in the compilation of a well-balanced body of research on different aspects of contemporary Iranian art is the scarcity of any precedent. This article has drawn upon what little Western and Persian literature on the history of modern Iranian art exists. However, it provides a scholarly discussion of certain aspects of the subject for the first time. Kamran Diba in Contemporary Art from the Islamic World, edited by W. Ali and E. Bisharat (London, Amman, 1989) writes a very brief but helpful basic introduction to pre-revolutionary Iranian art in the twentieth century. Among others, the best documented and reliable sources that have been used in this article are those of Karim Emami and Ruyin Pakbaz. An art journalist and critic active mainly during the 1960s and part of the 1970s, Emami has written materials on the Saqqa-khaneh movement. He is also the writer of “Art in Iran, XI: Post-Qajar,” (1987) in Encyclopedia Iranica. Although Emami's information about Saqqa-khaneh artists and their works is original and the main source of the few similar works, it lacks analytical and critical arguments and, above all, the parallel socio-political contexts. Pakbaz, an intellectual art critic and art historian who has been active mainly since the early 1960s, has produced invaluable works on modern Iranian art, among others, the Encyclopedia of Art (1999). The point that makes this work very precious is the presentation of documented sources, though encyclopedically, while there is a great lack even of well-balanced descriptive historical materials such as dates, events, and names required for research in this area.

References

2 Although the Saqqa-khaneh School includes two distinguished sculptors, Parviz Tanavoli and later Zhazeh Tabatabai, it is remarkable mainly for painting rather than sculpture. Here, our emphasis is also on painting as the main content of the article.

3 This narrative is quoted from Emami, Karim, Saqqakhaneh: Saqqakhaneh School Revisited,” (Negahi dubareh beh maktab-i Saqqa-khaneh), Catalogue of the Exhibition (Tehran, 1356/1977), 3Google Scholar. It might be that the artists mentioned now contest the story. However, it was undoubtedly the outcome of the friendship of these two artists and their joint searches in Iranian folk culture that resulted in the formation of this new style.

4 A shrine in the town of Shar-i Rey in the south of Tehran that today forms part of Greater Tehran.

5 Emami, Saqqakhaneh: Saqqakhaneh School Revisited, 2–3.

6 Emami, Saqqakhaneh: Saqqakhaneh School Revisited, 3.

7 Emami, Saqqakhaneh: Saqqakhaneh School Revisited, 3.

8 This description of Saqqa-khaneh is quoted from Yarshater, Ehsan, “Contemporary Persian Painting,” Highlights of Persian Art (New York, 1979): 368Google Scholar, and it refers mainly to the traditional form of Saqqa-khaneh. Today, the simple form of Saqqa-khaneh (not including the decorative or traditional elements) with the same origin still exists in most cities in Iran.

10 Willson, P.L., “The Saqqa-khaneh,” Catalogue of the Saqqa-khaneh Exhibition (Tehran, 1356/1977): 18Google Scholar.

9 According to the Islamic belief, Zamzam is the name of the spring of eternal life, which flows in paradise.

11 Diba, Kamran, “Iran,” Contemporary Art from the Islamic World (London, Amman, 1989): 152Google Scholar.

12 Clark, John Anthony, Modern Asian Art (North Ryde, 1998), 219Google Scholar.

13 Its name was changed to Danishkadeh-i (faculty) hunar-hay-i taz¨ini a few years later.

14 Pakbaz, Ruyin, Encyclopedia of Art (Tehran, 1378/1999), 893Google Scholar.These graduates could not easily enter the Faculty of Fine Arts at the University of Tehran. The system at the Faculty mainly preferred other secondary school graduates who were more successful in the Entrance Examination because they had a better theoretical background than art graduates.

15 Pakbaz, Encyclopedia of Art, 893.

16 The Dean of the Hunarkadeh, Houshang Kazemi, himself lectured on “decoration” and acquainted the students with the treasure-house of Iranian ornamental ware.

17 Emami, Saqqakhaneh: Saqqakhaneh School Revisited, 3.

18 Yarshater,“Contemporary Persian Painting,” 356.

19 According to Emami's declaration in the Saqqa-khaneh exhibition's catalogue, and also statements by such artists as Oveisi and Tabatabai, they were later not satisfied that their names should be included as members of the School. However, they are listed here because of the aesthetic affinities and similarities of their works to the Saqqa-khaneh style, the presence of their works in the formal exhibitions and, above all, their intentions were identical with those of the Saqqa-khaneh School.

20 Tabrizi, Sadeq, “Interview with Artist,” Hunar-hay-i tajassumi, vi (1377/1998): 93Google Scholar.

21 Miremadi, Manijeh, “Parviz Tanavoli,” Quarterly Tavoos, i, (1999): 62Google Scholar. Kaboud Atelier was founded by Parviz Tanavoli with some financial support from the Department of Fine Arts in 1960. Gradually, this Atelier became an artistic center for modernist artists such as Zenderoudi, Grigorian, Melkonian, Sheybani, Saffari, and Sepehri. The pioneer of Saqqa-khaneh, Charles Hossein Zenderoudi, held three exhibitions there (with the encouragement and support of Tanavoli).

22 Tabrizi, “Interview with Artist,” 93.

23 Although he is preferably categorized as an abstract artist in his Saqqa-khaneh period, he himself and some critics considered him a figurative artist who looked at subjects in an abstract way. In fact, his name can be put between abstract and figurative artists among the other members of the School. Qandriz, Mansur, “Man beh suhulat-i bayan va azadi-i iradeh iman daram,” Firdawsi, dccxiv, (1344/1965): 16Google Scholar.

24 “…the most familiar use of the term in a contemporary context is as a minimal negative definition, to denote works of art that are not ‘representational’, that is, which do not seem to represent other bodily objects. […] An attempt at a positive consensus definition might be that an abstract work of art is a production that creates a highly singular and effectively unprecedented visual experience” Lynton, N., The Story of Modern Art (Oxford, 1980), 2Google Scholar.

25 This kind of viewpoint might have been influenced by the major concept of Abstract painting. According to Evans, “one of the modernist characteristics in terms of artistic expression of the art work is that […] modernist painting has, for example, sought to create nothing more than the ‘pure’ self-referential image—abstract, non-verbal, free of representation, reference and narrative—although this interpretation of modernist works was fortified by elaborate verbal discourses of modernist art theory” Evans, J., Visual Culture: The Reader (London, 1999), 11Google Scholar.

26 The initial works of Zenderoudi before the Saqqa-khaneh period included a series of images that illustrated the different events that occurred at Karbala. Also, in some of Pilaram's later works (in the late 1970s), he illustrated some Qur'anic subject matter. Therefore, both artists chose the religious content of their works quite deliberately.

27 It is, however, worth noting that the artist's presence in Paris and the influences of such contemporary movements as lettrism (the Paris based avant-garde movement which was still at its apex when Zenderoudi moved to Paris) could have had a definite impact on him.

28 Pakbaz, Ruyin, Contemporary Iranian Painting and Sculpture (Tehran, 1974), 33Google Scholar.

29 Issa, Rose, Iranian Contemporary Art (London, 2001), 20Google Scholar.

30 In particular, one can cite the permanent presence of decoration with use of various motifs and ornamental elements and the multiplicity of elements in most parts of the canvas. Also to be noted is the use of the color schemes of Iranian folk art consisting of gold, green, red, black, lapis lazuli, turquoise, and vermilion.

31 One of the favorite subjects of Qajar court painting was representation of young female dancers, musicians, and acrobats. The facial features of the females with joined eyebrows, almond-shaped eyes, puckered lips, and flamboyant hair-styles reflect these paintings, which depict the ideal form of beauty in that period.

32 Yarshater, “Contemporary Persian Painting,” 370.

33 Yarshater, “Contemporary Persian Painting,” 370.

34 Yarshater, “Contemporary Persian Painting,” 370.

35 Emami, Karim, “Modern Persian Artists,” Iran Faces the Seventies (New York, 1971): 357Google Scholar.

36 Yarshater, “Contemporary Persian Painting,” 374.

39 R. Pakbaz & M.R. Jowdat, Fa¨aliyyat-i ma keh dar Talar-i Iran shikl migirad, Talar-i Iran (Qandrız), Ketab-i sal-i Talar-i Iran (Qandriz), clxxxxviii, (1341/1965), 1.

37 There were five Tehran Biennials before the Islamic Revolution in 1979. The first Tehran Biennial was held with the recommendation and artistic advice of Marcos Grigorian in 1958. This was in fact an influential event in introducing modern art to Iran. The first four biennials included the works of Iranian artists which reflected official sanctioning of the modern artistic movements. The fifth Tehran Biennial was a regional exhibition in 1966, which included artists from Iran, Pakistan, and Turkey.

38 It was the name of the gallery which started its activity in Tehran in 1964. With attempts of Mohammad Reza Jowdat and Ruyin Pakbaz, this gallery was founded as an active cultural center holding painting, graphic, photography, and sculpture exhibitions, introducing the young artist's works, translating and publishing various art and architecture books and artistic anthologies (until 1977) over a period of thirteen years. This Talar was first called “Talar-i Iran” after the death of Qandriz (1965), and in honor of his memory named, “Talar-i Qandriz” (Pakbaz, Encyclopedia of Art, 154).

40 According to their viewpoint, having a national characteristic presented by the modern language of art was the main criteria that could make an ideal national school of art. And the Saqqa-khaneh was an example typical of this art.

41 This issue was specifically described in the introduction to the Fourth Tehran Biennial. This point mentions that the Saqqa-khaneh School can include all characteristics that the contemporary Iranian painting needs. Introduction to the Fourth Tehran Biennial, (Tehran, 1343/1964).

42 The Department of Fine Arts of the Country was established in the Ministry of Culture in 1949. This department changed to Ministry of Culture and Art in 1964. It was in charge of preparing and supporting the development of art and culture and presenting, improving, and introducing the ancient heritage and civilization of the country.

43 The Catalogue of the Third Tehran Biennial, (Tehran, 1341/1962).

44 In addition to organizing the five Tehran Biennials, two exhibition galleries (Aftab and Mihrshad) were set up. Gradually, many government institutions and private companies became patrons of modern art. Some of them included the Farah Pahlavi Foundation, Ministries, National Iranian Radio Television, banks, corporations led by the Behshahr Industrial group, Prime Minister Amir Abbas Hoveida, Ehsan Yarshater, and the Lajevardi Foundation.

46 Boroujerdi, Mehrzad, Iranian Intellectuals and the West: The Tormented Triumph of Nativism (New York, 1996), 132Google Scholar.

45 An example of this belief is Zenderoudi's statement. Explaining the way in which he used the folk art, he declares: “I took the inspiration from numbers, astrolabes, metal plates' prayer writing, etc. and came to know that these humble treasures of alleys and street, coloured by all civilizations, are the origin and basic essence of Iranian civilization. […] Those treasures existed before. They are only materials, objects, places or cultural values in need of one who can summarise them and add polished elements.” (Zenderoudi, www.zenderoudi.com/eng/inter/html)

47 Short term for “Popular Art.” This term has been applied to two phenomena that emerged simultaneously in Britain and the United States, although they were virtually independent of each other. Pop Art is more associated with the early 1960s when Time, Life, and Newsweek all ran cover stories on it. The movement was both a reaction against Abstract Expressionism, which was seen as too elitist and non-objective, as well as a celebration of post-war consumer culture. The work of American Pop artists, often graphic designers by training, was based on illustrations of objects produced by mass culture. The expression “Pop Art” should not, however, be interpreted too literally. These artists did not “manufacture” “popular pictures;” they provided a sophisticated artistic commentary on some of the activities and effects of the culture of the mass media. By appropriating marketing techniques and accepting the changed role of the artist, Pop Art was the first movement to clearly take into account the relationship between art and commerce. (M.L., The Time and Hudson Multimedia Dictionary of Modern Art, Times and Hudson).

48 Diba, “Iran,” 153.

49 Diba, “Iran,” 153

52 Mansur Qandriz, one of the major members of the School, died in a car accident in 1965.

53 Emami, Saqqakhaneh, Saqqakhaneh School Revisited, 5.

50 Jowdat, M.R., “Nimayishgah-i dasteh jam©i-i naqqashi,” Talar-i Iran (Qandriz), clxxxxviii, (1344/1965): 10Google Scholar. See also Aghdashloo, Aydin, “Baqi hameh harf ast,” Hunar-i mu'asir, ii, (1372/1993): 44Google Scholar.

51 There was no actual doctrine written by the Saqqa-Khaneh School. Rather, here, our use of the word “doctrine” is to express the main principles of the School's aim, including its attention to the issue of cultural and artistic identity by reference to pictorial heritage with consideration of complex realities of modern life with a neo-traditional approach.

54 Some eminent Saqqa-khaneh artists, such as Charles Hossein Zenderoudi who had left Iran and cut their link with the Iranian art scene after the Revolution perhaps, because of lack of attention to their works, were now invited to the Tehran Museum of Contemporary Art to exhibit their works in solo or group exhibitions.