Iran Contemporary Painting Biennial Kicks off at Saba Institute

Cultural Heritage News - The 8th edition of Iran Contemporary Painting Biennial opened Thursday with a new glance at the paintings of the Herat School.

Organized by the Visual Art Department of the Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance, the biennial opened at the Saba Art and Cultural Institute after a four-year hiatus.

The biennial was inaugurated in the presence of Tehran Museum of Contemporary Art Director Mahmud Shaluii and a group of artists and officials.

One of the highlights of the biennial this year is reviewing the Herat School to encourage youths to study this part of their art history, secretary of the biennial, veteran artist Ahmad Vakili said in a press conference held last week.

The Herat School is a 15th-century style of miniature painting that flourished in the Persian city of Herat (now in western Afghanistan), under the patronage of the Timurids. Shah Rokh, the son of Timur (Tamerlane), founded the school, but it was his son Baysunqur Mirza (died 1433) who developed it into an important center of painting.

Over 130 works are on display in the Herat School section, and 186 are on show in the free untitled section in Tehran.

Also on the side section, several workshops were arranged in Neyshabur in Khorasan Razavi Province on December 26 and 27, where the top works were selected and awarded.

Iranian artists Ahmad Khalilifar and Dariush Hosseini as well as Yuri Dolan from Slovakia judged works by 40 participating artists.

Erfan Shahyad, Hamid Khandan, and Maryam Mahdavi were the top selected winners of the workshops.

All the participating works are now on show at the Artin Gallery in Mashhad.

Dolan regarded works by Iranian young artists as good enough to be displayed in other countries.

He also said that he loves Iran and he knows Iranian artists.
 

Khalilifar also praised works created by the youths at the workshops and said that the workshops were arranged aiming to pay due attention to the history of the art of Iran.
 

The biennial will be running for one month at the Saba institute, which is located on Mozaffar St., off Taleqani Ave. near Felestin Square.