At the end of the 15th century, the Timurid ruler Sultan Husayn Bayqara had a splendid court in the city of Herat, in present-day Afghanistan. He commissioned the manufacturing of an illustrated... Show moreAt the end of the 15th century, the Timurid ruler Sultan Husayn Bayqara had a splendid court in the city of Herat, in present-day Afghanistan. He commissioned the manufacturing of an illustrated manuscript of the Bustan or “Orchard”, a book of counsel written by the Persian poet Sa’di two centuries before. For this manuscript, the master painter Kamal al-Din Bihzad made a painting to illustrate the anecdote of the seduction of Yusuf, in which he depicted Zulaykha chasing Yusuf from room to room in a labyrinth-like palace. Show less
The field of research of my dissertation is nineteenth-century Iranian portrait photography. The goal of this research is to demonstrate that photography is always a construction of reality,... Show moreThe field of research of my dissertation is nineteenth-century Iranian portrait photography. The goal of this research is to demonstrate that photography is always a construction of reality, regardless of the photographer's nationality. I am specifically interested in exploring how indigenous Iranian photographers constructed their own realities in contrast to how foreign photographers constructed Iranian’s realities. My approach to early Iranian photography is an analytical one based on the visual analysis of photographs taken by Iranian photographers in the nineteenth century. While applying visual analysis, I take into consideration the cultural components of the image. The research undertakes a comparative study of the Iranian painting tradition and nineteenth-century Iranian portrait photography. The elements identified and analyzed are: mirror-like composition due to the visual laterality phenomenon, defined here as the influence of the direction of writing on the composition in works of art, particularly in photography; use of calligraphic inscriptions or text within the photographic space; use of traditional Iranian portraiture poses, such as kneeling; the understanding of space in photographic composition: isometrical perspective, vertical composition, grid structure layout and diffuse compositions; and the mixed aesthetics present in nineteenth-century Iranian photography due to the appropriation of Western elements. Show less
