Modernity and Innovation in Safavid Art

The book Modernity and Innovation in Safavid Art, written by Ya‘qub Azhang, Professor at the University of Tehran and the author and translator of several volumes on the history of Iranian art, has been published in one introduction and six chapters, in a 408-page, full-color, royal-octavo edition by the Art Research Institute Press and Matn Institute of the Academy of Arts.

As a prelude to the subject, Azhang devotes the introductory section to the concept of modernism or artistic innovation, and the first chapter to “Theoretical Foundations: Concepts and Instances.” This chapter itself consists of three sections titled “Farang and the European in Iranian Culture,” “The European Principle in Iranian Decorative Arts,” and “Farangi-Sazi: Concepts and Techniques.” In the second chapter, titled “Innovation in Communications and Relations,” the author addresses, in three sections, “Influential Factors,” “European Painters in Iran,” and “New Political, Social, and Economic Foundations.” In the remaining four chapters, Azhang explores artistic modernity in Iran under the themes of The Dawn, Consolidation, Continuity, and Diversity of Artistic Modernity. With a focus on Safavid-era art, he analyzes the innovations of artists such as Sadiqi Beyg Afshar, Reza Abbasi, Mo‘in Mosavvir, Mohammad Qasem, Mohammad Yusuf, Mirafzal Hosseini, Minas, Bogdan Saltanov, Aliqoli Beyg Jabbadar, Mohammad Zaman, and Mohammad-Ali Beyg Naqqashbashi.