Contemporary Iranian Art

Hamid Keshmirshekan is an art historian, critic and Senior Teaching Fellow at the Department of History of Art and Archaeology, School of Arts, SOAS. He was previously Senior Lecturer at the Advanced Research Institute of Art (ARIA), Iranian Academy of Arts (2013-17) and Associate Fellow at the KRC, Faculty of Oriental Studies and History of Art Department at Oxford University (2004-12). He has been Editor-in-Chief of the bilingual quarterly, Art Tomorrow. His other works include 'Amidst Shadow and Light: Contemporary Iranian Art and Artists'.

PREFACE NOTE ON TRANSLITERATION INTRODUCTION 1. MODERN CULTURE AND ITS AFFINITY WITH POLITICAL AND CULTURAL CHARACTERISTICS OF IRAN 2. NATIONALISM AND ITS PLACE IN IRANIAN POLITICAL CULTURE 3. RELIGIOUS MOVEMENTS AND THEIR RELATION TO IRANIAN SOCIO-POLITICAL CULTURE CHAPTER 1: HISTORICAL BACKGROUND 1. A TRANSFORMATION IN QAJAR ART 2. THE DAR AL-FUNUN 3. THE ESTABLISHMENT OF THE MADRASA-I SANAYI'-I MUSTAZRAFA (SCHOOL OF FINE ART) IN 1911 4. MADRASA SANAYI'-I QADIMA (SCHOOL OF TRADITIONAL ARTS) AND THE FORMATION OF THE SO-CALLED SCHOOL OF TEHRAN CHAPTER 2: DECADES OF HESITANCY AND CONFRONTATION: MODERNISM VERSUS THE STATUS QUO 1. THE BEGINNING OF THE MODERN ART MOVEMENT IN IRAN: THE 1940S 2. THE DEVELOPMENT OF MODERNISM DURING THE 1940S AND 1950S CHAPTER 3 QUESTIONS OF IDENTITY, NATIVISM AND NATIONALISM ALONGSIDE MODERNISM IN ART AND SOCIO-POLITICAL CULTURE: NEO-TRADITIONALIST MOVEMENTS 1. THE NATIONAL SCHOOL OF ART AND THE OBSESSION WITH IDENTITY AND CULTURAL CONCERNS: SAQQA-KHANEH; A NEO-TRADITIONALIST MOVEMENT 2. POST-SAQQA-KHANEH AND OTHER TRENDS 2.1. THE GENRE OF 'NEO-CALLIGRAPHY' 2.2. DEVELOPMENT OF MODERNISM IN THE 1970S CHAPTER 4 POST-REVOLUTIONARY ART 1. THE ESTABLISHMENT OF THE ARTISTIC CENTRE OF ISLAMIC PROPAGANDA ORGANISATION (HOWZEH-I HUNARI-I SAZMAN-I TABLIGHAT-I ISLAMI): REVOLUTIONARY ART AND ARTISTS 2. THE DEVELOPMENT OF TRADITIONALIST TRENDS: CALLIGRAPHIC TENDENCIES AND MINIATURE PAINTING 3. POST-REVOLUTIONARY MODERNISM AND DISCOURSES POST-REVOLUTIONARY NATIONAL ART BIENNIALS, THE STATE AND CULTURAL POLICY: CULTURAL IDENTITY IN QUESTION CHAPTER 5: DEVELOPMENT OF POST-REVOLUTIONARY CONTEMPORARY DISCOURSES: THE MID-1990S ONWARD 1. THE EMERGENCE OF CONTEMPORARY ART AND NEW ARTISTIC DISCOURSES 2. PARADIGMS OF CONTEMPORARY IRANIAN ART 3. CONTEMPORANEITY VERSUS QUESTIONS OF CULTURAL SPECIFICITY CHAPTER 6: IRANIAN DIASPORIC ART BIBLIOGRAPHY ACKNOWLEDGMENTS LIST OF COLLECTIONS INDEX