Modern and Contemporary Art in Iran

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

A cursory glance at the history of art reveals the social, political and economic conditions have always played a major role in the emergence of new artistic currents and styles. In Iran, the social and political developments of the 1940s radically altered the evolution of this country’s plastic arts and entirely altering its natural path.

The modern art movement in Iran had its genesis in the late 1940s and early 50s. This was the period after the death of famous Persian painter, Kamal-ol-molk (1852–1940) and thus symbolically the end of a rigid adherence to academic painting.

The 1949 opening of the Apadana gallery in Tehran, and the emergence of artists like Marcos Grigorian in the 1950s, signaled a commitment to the creation of a form of modern art grounded in Iran.

In 1977, the Tehran Museum of Contemporary Art opened, boasting an important collection of both Western and Iranian artists.

[edit] Prominent figures in Iranian modern art

Tehran Museum of Modern Art is based on some traditional Persian elements such as Badgirs, and yet has a spiraling design reminiscent of Frank Lloyd Wright's Guggenheim.