فهرست مطالب hasan bolkhari

The Sovar al-kavakeb of Abd al-Rahman Sufi is one of the most significant Arabic treatises on astronomy of the Islamic era. Written in the middle of the fourth century AH, this work contains an extensive list of stars in a stellar table for 48 constellations12 constellations belong to the zodiac, 21 constellations belong to the northern forms and 15 constellations belong to the southern forms., which are inspired by Almagest of Ptolemy. Sovar al-kavakeb has had considerable influence on the history of astronomy and has been copied and illustrated by many scientists and enthusiasts in different eras. The aim of this article is to investigate the criteria for illustrating the Perseus constellation in Sovar-al-kavakeb. To achieve this goal, the form and the content of the Perseus constellation in previous resources have been studied and analyzed based on the comparative method. This study is an attempt to find the similarities and differences in the image of the Perseus constellation in accordance with the original text and to obtain the criteria of its form and content. The findings reveal that the scientific illustration of Perseus was according to the descriptions of Perseus constellation in Almagest as the main source and in terms of form and content, it was influenced by the images and descriptions of star Mars in the works earlier than Sovar al-kavakeb. The methodology of this research is descriptive-comparative, and the information about the mythological background and the effective patterns on the formation of images of Perseus constellation at different times and places has been gathered based on a case study. The correspondence between Perseus constellation and some myths in the East and West has been accomplished by analyzing the configuration and investigating the visual resemblance as well as differences of this constellation in various resources. Keywords: Abd al-Rahman Sufi, Sovar-al-kavakeb, the Perseus constellation, star Mars.

Relation between pleasure and Beauty is one of the most durable rations in Art philosophy and esthetic arguments. Philosophers’ Historical thoughts, from Plato and Aristotle to Kant, Croce and Heidegger, are the solid reasoning in this claim. Muslim thinkers got some basics from Greek wisdom (Hikmat) in translation movement, and by creative thoughts and critic mind and with being affected by Islamic teaching blew a new sprite to them. For example Khaji Nasir has called 8th article of Asas al-Ightibas “Assaertion” but relied on publicity and sermon in Quranic Verses there: (16: 125- 126); “call to the way of your Lord with wisdom and godly exhortation and have disputations with them in the best manner.”  In this article, pleasure and its relation with beauty and virtue (Hosn) is discussed, As we see, in this verse “goodly” (Hasana) is an adjective for exhortation, and “the best” (Ahsan) for disputations. This meaning beside scholarship discussion of Khaji Nasir about mimesis and imaginative creation, which mimesis is the basictheory in art philosophy, have been mentioned in deep arguments about aesthetic in Islamic civilization. There, he has presented an exact definition on pleasure, and then has explained it and its necessities, and the conditions and factors which affect in creating it (like imagination and ambiguity (fancy) and …). He mentioned the role of pleasure in creating beauty sense not only in chapter 8 but also in 9th chapter in explaining imaginative creation and mimesis and perception of human Aesthetics. He emphasizes that people have vast tent to mimesis and imagination because of nature pleasure of mimesis. Then he mentions that poem makes aesthetical perception of human which causes pleasure and wonder of sprit (Nafs). This article will discuss the relation between pleasure and beauty which is the basically discussion in Art philosophy and Aesthetics in Khaji Nasir’s view.

Iranian old paintings, especially ones which appeared until the beginning of the 11th century AH are one of kinds of illustration marking the authentic Persian poetry and literature. Persian authoritative literary texts were main reason for the fame of ancient Iranian paintings. Under the supervision of powerful kings and rulers, Iranian painters turned important parts of Persian literary texts and poems into paintings. These paintings were placed in the form of illustrations between the pages of books. The most important texts used by Iranian painters included books such as Shahnameh by Ferdowsi. Other books such as Golestan and Bustan by Saadi Shirazi, Lily and Majnoon, Khosrow and Shirin, Haft Peykar, Iskandarnameh and Makhzan al-Asrar by Nezami Ganjavi, Haft Orang by Abdolrahman Jami and Hafez Shirazichr('39')s poetry collection have been sources for other painters. Due to the poetic nature of the texts, these sources introduced the imaginations and daydreams in the minds of Iranians into the painting space. Therefore, many features of Iranian painting are contrary to the real world. The strong link between Persian painting and Persian literature has led to the hypothesis that Iranian art, inspired by the Persian allegories, depicts the sky in a golden or yellow color and night sky in azure color. By this assumption, the study of the colors of the sky in Iranian art and its literary, content and aesthetic roots are the object of the present study, but due to the large number of works of Persian painting, this research has identified these features in the works of one of the most important painters of Iranian history. His name is Sultan Mohammad Painter. Among the works attributed to this artist, seventeen works certainly belong to him, and all of these seventeen works have been selected as examples of this study. By examining the color of the sky in these images and matching colors with narratives about the day or night of the occurrence of events, colors used for day and night skies, two colors of gold and azure were detected. Similarly, in most of the paintings, the full compliance of the writer with the narrative of the text or the followers of the typist from the dominant context of the text, was determined to express the day or night according to the story time which is important and palpable. But in a few cases, the painter who has paid a little or almost no attention to the literary text and relied on his artistic or aesthetic discovery has gone a different way, opposite to these rules; this was the path that came from the lack of awareness of the spaces that led to the creation of images in the halo. This left us left with a historical ambiguity. In this way, the present study, through a descriptive and analytical research and with a quantitative and qualitative approach to the works of Sultan Muhammad, has identified the roots of determining the colors of golden and lazy colors for the heavens in Persian poetry and literature, and the aesthetic criteria of this assignment together with the maximum adherence to the descriptions of literary texts and the minimal compliance of the personal taste of the typographer.

Iconography has profound origins in human’s perspective and understanding of the world. Ancient murals, Christian religious icons, and eventually the manifestations of the modern age, have been created and used in the same quality in human cultural life. They have almost the same ultimate destination and goal that can be detected in them. Iconography has constantly been accompanied by  a kind of fear, to dominating what can happen in the future, and, in order to avert disasters and death, and to achieve forgiveness, prosperity and bliss. After the invention of photography, by putting the photographs alongside the icons which in some cases are derived from religious texts, not only does photography introduce itself as an iconography device, but it has also been influential in producing paintings iconographies with creation of the photographic realism. The main question is that how photography especially those about the social issues and among them the private and family photos, as a modern medium has an iconic origin, and how photography is able to have an unrealistic and metaphysical usage in the context of today life with its inherent characteristics being clarity, accuracy in details, signifying the being-there (dasein) of the referent and as a result, the photographic realism? This issue can be studied based on the most important theories of photography in the twentieth century. It is concluded that photography, in its philosophy and existential position, not only has carried on the iconic characteristics of the past, but has also has emphasized its originality and textual identity more broadly, so that it has given a photographic originality to modern iconography.

In contemporary times the philosophy of human figure and the discourse of gender has become one of the greatest cultural narratives and concerns of the west. In the postmodernist art and philosophy, inclination towards extroversion is one of the main constituents, which means an extra leniency to expose gender through repetitious trials and unheroic representations of figures. According to Baudrillard, in contemporary times because teleonomic power has replaced theological power, pornography by doubling the sexual signs and relying on the power of media has become so widespread that everything in contemporary culture is related to sexuality. Signs of sexuality and seduction shadow culture, media, art, power exchanges, capitals and even politics. But in semiotic structures however, no sign in its function is distinct, abstract or self-standing and its presence only becomes valued and identified by multidimensional and differential relations with other signs of meaningful disciplines. It can therefore be said that since the extensive presentation of meanings and sexual images in the media and other arenas have become as signs of sexuality, then in fact nothing is sexual anymore and the widespread signs of sexuality have lost their fetishistic quality. For the same reason, at times even the human figure in contemporary art appears as an object in which the relation between the parts and organs has been altered. The element of part-object in contemporary art is abundantly considered in lieu of visual design and a replacement for the human figure in whole. This extends to the point that more daringly in order to objectify the body and the issue of sexuality, mutilated dolls represent human figures, placing it in the genre of still life on one hand and human as a victim of post- modernist era on the other. Such bodily tokens simultaneously portray seductive attributes and emasculation. In fact, it can be said that the proliferation of signs and their coherence in various meaningful disciplines has caused the post- modernist sexual wisdom to decline to the point of vanish and become only simulacrum. The representation of ‘human figure’ in the arts also follows this philosophy. Naked images in contemporary art are neither symbols of mystic salvation or symbols of humanity nor are they instruments of provocation. They have no fetishistic properties or a form of social objections and ultimately they are not even sexual beings (male/female) but only a sign has become a form of imminence of culture as result of endless repetitions and blending with various cultural areas and for that matter it has become meaningless and close to its last horizon of existence. In the current article, the method of research was qualitative. Considering that the study was conducted utilizing the findings that related to the past and critiques and analysis and review of artworks involved past events, therefore this study is one of a historical research. The compilation of information in this article involved study of library documents and books. The information obtained were eventually for analysis through scientific inductive method in the sense that by putting together of details, more general results were obtained.

Iconology as an approach- method in Art history Studies which has had a long history and in Iran has always been the center of attention and many books and articles have been compiled about this method. The studies in which this method is used، the studied works has had historical record. In spite of using this method in modern art، it has never been used in interpretation of an Abstract works of art. Using Iconology in mere interpretation of a historical work paved the way to utilize it in Abstract art. In fact، the objective of this feasibility Study is the possibility of using the method of Iconology in interpretation of the Abstract Visual works. The hypothesis of this research is that whether the method of iconology wants recognition of meaning in front of form. In interpretation of the Abstract works (regarding the multiplicity of meanings and relativity of the meaning) is that a practical method or not. According to the hypothesis، iconology is on the basis of the meaning and this meaning in the relative world of Abstract art is inaccessible fundamentally multiple، and relative. The method of collecting informations is library method and the method of this research is analytical-historical. The finding of this research is that understanding the primary and immediate meaning in abstract nonrepresentational art is not feasible، because Iconology seems a deficient method for interpretation of Abstract works of art according to its bases that is a method attends to Content versus of Form. There is no Image in many of Abstract works of art and those contain some line and color spots that shape nothing. In many works of art، the visual elements have no symbolic modes because they are nonrepresentational and there is no icon or symbol in them and iconology emphasizes on symbolic values. Then about the nonrepresentational works of art، iconology is ceased in the first step. In abstract works which carry image is not possible to get access to a unified meaning through the form and the recognized identity does not reconcile with essence and nature of the work because one of the structures of the Abstract art is multiplicity of meanings in a single form. According to attitudes to relative ideas in science، philosophy and art across the modern world، it seems no way to finding the meaning of works of art. In many of artworks the meaning that the artist wants to say، is not the meaning that the viewer recognizes and there are many differences between the intention of artist and perception of viewer. Many of works of art no represent any thing of the nature، then the viewers cannot recognize any thing in the work of art that exists in the nature environs them. Consequently، it should be said that iconology is applicable on the representational works of art works that taking their identity from the texts، oral culture، and generally from the nature، not for the Abstract art which has a relative identity.

Throughout history، art in its many existing applications has been a receptacle for the expression of religious believes and rituals. The various religions’ approach، since the most ancient ages of human civilization، has been one of portraiture and human figure representation has sometimes been regarded as instruments of propaganda of religion and at times inhibiting. The perceptions of various religions of human figure، which sometimes appear as symbol of divine portraiture and sometimes as indecent because of man’s sinful and self-exhibitory presentation brings the discussion of human figurative art to the center of attention. From prehistoric to contemporary art the subject of human image is in the center of attention. Sometimes like in the art of cave dwellers، Akhenaton age imagery in Egypt، Buddhism، Judaism، Islam and the Byzantine iconoclasm movement، the human iconography is forbidden. In some ages and religions، like in ancient Greece، ancient India، Vishnu worshipping rituals، and the age of Renaissance، the representation of naked human figure freely becomes the subject of art. The union of art and religion in the world of tradition is deep and lasting and sometimes stellar but this seemingly unbreakable connection began to come apart by the emergence of new social forces in the age of Renaissance and brought about a free and independent form in the arts. The representation of naked human figure that in some ancient traditional cultures bore holiness and mystery was replaced by self-exhibitory manifestation of human figure that reflected the self-centeredness of mankind in the Renaissance and his freedom from divinity. In this article، after a study of different religions and cultures approach on human iconography، contrariety and contradiction in the meaning of naked imagery and the dichotomy in the implication of this concept from the viewpoint of terminology will be reviewed with mention of different types of nude imagery in history and culture. After the study of nude pictures by a closer look at Iranian art the change in the Qajar era artist’s approach to human pictures will be closely reviewed. Although، prior to this period traditionally the human dignity was always posed as an element spiritual element in painting but due to new humanist teachings the modern Qajari artist found a chance to portray a different form of human; a human who with belief in his supremacy remained in the center of the universe. The passage from semi-idealistic semi-realistic portraits of Fath Ali Shah to completely naturalistic pictures of the Nasseri era followed by nude pictures with epicurean approach was the product of the advancement and perfection of this concept. The Iranian reading of western humanism changes the position of man while rubbing off its idealism brought the materialistic aspects of human life to the center of attention. Spiritual concepts and artistic sacredness changed to materialistic and humanistic tendencies. This process brought in new subjects such as nude painting in the Qajar art.

Although primarily based on the Quran and Sunna, the Islamic interpretation of numbers and mathematics is also inspired by the pre-Islamic Persian culture and the Greek philosophy. Therefore, numbers and geometry not only serve the purpose of building sacred monuments, but they also become instruments for spiritual symbolism demonstrating the divine manifestation in creation of the material realm. This symbolism is used by the distinguished theosophist philosopher of his time, Seyyed Heydar Amoli (c. 1322~1382 AD). In his famous book—Jame’-ol-Athrar wa Manba’-ol-Anwar (A Compendium of Ciphers and a Source of Enlightenment)—he employs a fine allegorical language with particular reference to reflection of light in an ornamental mirror finishing. The close association of such mystical interpretations and architectural form lends itself to a hypothetical causality between Islamic philosophy and modes of Persian architectural expression.

Probably there is only one artistic work, which shows a saint or god, stands on a lotus. It is in Tagh Bostan that shows Mehr or Mitra standing on lotus which has a Sacred planet) Barsom) in his hand. There isn’t another example of depicting a saint or god standing or sitting on lotus in Persian art.In Upanishads lotus is flower of manifestation. In Jainism, Buddhism and Hinduism lotus is placed under the foot of one saint or god. In other words, it is under the foot of one who has holy origin. Therefore, lotus clarified this holy situation.Certainly, it was in Hinduism books in which lotus situation had been explained. Iranian books like Bondahish, which relates a flower to an especial god, for example lotus to Anahita, are the latest and have been affected by Hinduism stories about lotus. There is an important question: Bondahish or Hinduism books have affected the only illustration of lotus in Iran, which is in Tagh Bostan?This essay tries to explain that Iranian and Indian wisdom have had a deep and contemplated thought about lotus, so they have tried to use and represent it in their artistic works. Therefore, as other ancient civilizations, art in Iran and India manifests their beliefs, cults and thoughts.This manifestation about lotus has been very vest in India so it is completely clear in their art and architecture. Nevertheless, in Iran, lotus has been only in cults and there have not been any function in proving someone holiness or goodness except one case, which is discussed in this essay.

In the history of Islamic- Iranian culture there are some texts and treaties which bear the name of critique on; some of them are as follows:Naghd o’ sher by Ibne Ghatibeh Ayyar o’ Shoara by Ibne Taba Taba Naghd o’ Sher by Abol Kharaj GHodameh Ibne Jafar Naghd o’ Sher by Nashi We can add to this list the sophisticated and artistic critique by Aboo Hayyan Tohidi in the works such as “Almata and Almavanese” and “Alhavamel and Alshamavel” and also the careful critique by Jahez on poetry and literature as a whole. Although these works are concerned with the criticism of poetry and literature of those eras, the researches done on them, the definitions, and approaches display the concept of criticism in the early years of Islamic Iranian culture. It is the strong and deep bond between poetry and music and the key position of music in philosophy that inevitably stretches the discussion into the area of art. This article studies Ibn Ghatibeh’s, Ghodameh Ibne Jafar’s, Jahez’s, and Aboo Hayyan Tohidi’s ideas on the concept and meaning of criticism