Studying the Effect of the Political-Social Development in Qajar Era on Murals of the House of Imam Jom’a in Tehran

Upon the rise of Qajar Dynasty in the history of this country and following the progress and consolidation of the social, economic and cultural propositions, and also the expansion of foreign relations with the western countries, familiarity of the Iranians with the modern world and the concept of modernism, and the beginning of westernized living experiences, imagism and more specifically the mural painting underwent significant changes due to economic interaction and the flow of capital toward the society to some extent (which resulted in individual possessions and class conflict). Moreover, the promotion of education level and the awareness of the aristocratic women of Qajar (who were out of sights by being confined to the indoor areas) and their participation in the society followed by the western women, and on the other hand, the opening of new places such as DarolFunun[1], creating modern methods such as nature drawing and the like, in the form of perspectives, making light-dark and perspective, photo printing, and producing artificial colors and the rise of painters like Kamal-ol-Molk and Mazin-ol-Doleh, all and all led to changes of thought in the society and laid the foundation for the dominance of modern technology across the society. The mural painting, which was exclusively possessed by the royal families, entered into the social life of the first class strata and subsequently into the lives of the people around them and due to the fast propagation of this wave into the daily affairs, it appeared in the social lives of the wealthy people insofar as ordinary people, who were in contact with those strata and the people who enjoyed such artistic issues such as mural painting, assumed ownership in their own lives. The spirit of that period in the mental body of the time also allowed the ordinary people to use this privilege, in the light of which the government somehow managed to achieve its governmental pseudo-legitimacy and subsequently, it could respond to the motivations of the society as well as the people’s personal affairs (Democracy), and in return, it could legitimize people’s satisfaction by creating emotional and instinctive motivations; because the images of the European women on the walls of the wealthy people houses and also their postal cards were easily available for the public through printing and using modern methods. Of course, further in the process of these changes and the extensive possibility of being influenced by the West, the Kings of Qajar tried to imitate the performance of Iran’s former powerful governments (like the Achaemenid Empire & Safavid Dynasty) in order to attach more legitimacy to their own governments; and following these imitations, some aspects of Iranian archaism were reappeared in the imagism of this period. The outcome of the entire mentioned factors led to the lack of a comprehensive and specific art style in painting and mural of this period, and this multiculturalism was clearly evident at all the levels of the society and art; However, a general classification can be made of the paintings of Qajar period, and that would be: 1. Iranian-Traditional, 2. Iranian-Western, 3. Westernized, 4. Street Painting (Graffiti). In this paper, library and field research techniques were employed for data collection, and the author investigates mural developments and the intellectual interpretation in this area in Qajar Dynasty using interpretive historical method within inferential reasoning framework. The basis of the political-social developments together with the role of painting and the motives of statesmen in giving meaning to the exploitation of the virginal nature of painting alongside governmental pseudo-legitimation resulted in the appearance of new components which are the outcome of sharing such areas, which solely leads to the correct interpretation of the spirit of the time and the conditions prevailing it. Therefore, in order to realize this important principle, we have to answer the following question: How are the effects of the political-social developments of Qajar Dynasty on the murals of the house of the leader of the day of congregation[1]?  This answer will lead to the production of important criteria for challenging the mind of the audience, which depicts the reason for the connection of these developments with the concepts underlying the mural paintings of that period. This is where the cryptography of concepts comes into view, and one can realize the principle governing this type of art (mural painting) through interpretation. Thus, the author attempts to investigate the themes of the codes and interpret the mural paintings drawn in wide spectrum of designs in this house by taking advantage of the produced components in the mentioned areas, which leads to the emergence of a modern line of thought in mural painting and its themes and even the consolidation of the modern attitude toward this matter in a period of history, which, from the view of the interpreters, might lie outside of the principal meaning, and it might pave the way for its reinterpretation so that we may realize the value of this field of art, which is in form of mural painting, in Qajar Dynasty.