Document Type : Original Article
Authors
1
PH. D. student, َ Faculty of Advanced Studies in Arts and Entrepreneurship, Art University of Esfahan, Esfahan, Iran
2
Assistant professor, Department of Painting, Faculty of Visual Arts, Art University of Esfahan, Esfahan, Iran
3
Assistant professor, Department of Art Research, Faculty of Theoretical Sciences and Higher Art Studies, Iran University of Art,
10.22034/scart.2025.142600.1638
Abstract
The reign of Nasser al-Din Shah was a period of the emergence of new genres in painting and the widespread use of realism in paintings influenced by European art. Landscape painting was one of these new methods of illustration that had not previously been common as an independent genre and new techniques and methods of representation. In the history of Iranian painting, landscape painting was often a complementary part of the image and was used to fill empty spaces or separate parts of the painting from each other or to create images in the background. In this article, while examining the contexts for the emergence of landscape painting in a new style, the following questions are pursued: What was the relationship between the institution of power and the components and characteristics of landscape painting in the Nasserian era? How did landscape works become the arena for the emergence of power and make the royal gaze and the bias of power relations in the Nasserian era visible? The methodology of the present article is based on discourse analysis to answer the research questions. By studying documents, images, and selected works, the relationship between the institution of monarchy, the power of the king, the new education system, and the impact of photography on landscape painting is analyzed. The research findings indicate that landscape painting in the Nasrid era, in recording topographies and urban landscapes, emerged from the discourse of modernity and modernism of the king. Views of territorial landscapes during Nasser al-Din Shah's travels and urban landscapes from the perspective of the palace, and Nasser al-Din Shah's imaginations are all in line with the royal gaze. Landscape images were in fact a political medium for recording the boundaries and depths of the enclave and the king's possessions, and the apparatus of the royal gaze established what to see and how to see from the perspective of Nasser al-Din Shah.
Keywords
Main Subjects
)