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History of Iranian Photography

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lightbulbAbout this topic
The history of Iranian photography examines the development, evolution, and cultural significance of photographic practices in Iran from the 19th century to the present. It encompasses the influence of socio-political changes, artistic movements, and technological advancements on the medium, as well as the role of photography in shaping national identity and historical narratives.
lightbulbAbout this topic
The history of Iranian photography examines the development, evolution, and cultural significance of photographic practices in Iran from the 19th century to the present. It encompasses the influence of socio-political changes, artistic movements, and technological advancements on the medium, as well as the role of photography in shaping national identity and historical narratives.

Key research themes

1. How did early technological and institutional factors shape the emergence of Iranian photography during the Qajar era?

This theme investigates the introduction and establishment of photography in Iran from the 1840s through the early 20th century under the Qajar dynasty. It focuses on how technological transfers, royal patronage, and institutional developments influenced photographic practice and its initial uses in Iran. Understanding these factors highlights how photography was appropriated locally and adapted into Iranian socio-political and cultural contexts, contributing to the foundation of an indigenous photographic tradition.

Key finding: This paper provides a detailed timeline documenting the introduction of photographic apparatus into Iran by diplomatic gifts in the early 1840s, highlighting Nasir al-Din Shah’s personal engagement with the medium, including... Read more
Key finding: The paper confirms the Qajar era as a flourishing period of Iranian photography with extensive royal patronage, particularly under Nasir al-Din Shah, who transitioned photography from a foreign craft into a domestically... Read more
Key finding: Analyzing early stereoscopic photography in Iran, this paper reveals the technological experimentation and limitations of Iranian photographers like Reza Akkasbashi, the first court photographer appointed in 1863. It... Read more
Key finding: This article elucidates the political role of photography under Nasir al-Din Shah, showcasing photography as a modern medium to construct royal imagery and its interaction with Persian painting traditions. It highlights that... Read more
Key finding: The paper contextualizes early 19th-century Iranian photography within its broader European origins and local developments, presenting key early practitioners like Antoin Sevruguin and examining Nasir al-Din Shah’s role in... Read more

2. What role did Iranian photographers and aesthetic innovations play in the emergence of ‘fine art’ photography in Iran during the mid-20th century?

This theme explores the transformation of photography from documentary and technical practice into a recognized artistic medium in Iran during the 1960s and 1970s. Central to this inquiry is Ahmad Aali’s pioneering role in conceptualizing and manifesting photography as fine art, emphasizing modernist aesthetics, innovative uses of space and time, and critical engagement with traditional photographic realism. This shift reflects broader socio-political changes and debates within Iranian visual culture about modernity, artistic autonomy, and identity.

Key finding: The article identifies Ahmad Aali as a seminal figure who bridging the gap between photography and fine art in Iran, formulating a manifesto-like theoretical discourse that challenged static realism and technical limitations... Read more
Key finding: This account details curatorial strategies employed in the 1970s to build an international history of photography collection in Iran aimed at inspiring and educating Iranian photographers toward artistic excellence. It... Read more
Key finding: Research examining the evolution of urban and street photography in Tehran from early documented imagery to innovative formal approaches by Iranian photographers such as Ahmad Aali and subsequent practitioners. The work... Read more

3. How do Iranian photographic practices engage with historical memory, political resistance, and social narratives?

This theme addresses how photography in Iran functions as a medium of historical reflection, social critique, and cultural resistance, particularly through the reinterpretation of history and the articulation of political dissent. It considers both historical and contemporary photographic practices that challenge official narratives, visualize absences, and construct multi-layered memories, thus contributing to ongoing debates on power, identity, and representation in Iranian society.

Key finding: The article theorizes contemporary Iranian artists' use of photography as a hauntological tool to evoke unsettled relationships with historical memory, political history, and cultural identity. It argues that photographic... Read more
Key finding: Focusing on visual protest art, including photography, in reaction to the 1953 Coup and subsequent political repression, the study illustrates how Iranian artists used visual media to critique authoritarianism and... Read more
Key finding: This research examines how photographic absence functions as a narrative and historiographical device in Iranian photography, enabling the visualization of what is omitted or suppressed in official accounts. Through absence,... Read more
Key finding: This editorial overview contextualizes Iranian photography within the evolving dynamics between king and citizen, emphasizing how photographic imagery has documented and shaped historical narratives. It highlights... Read more
Key finding: By focusing on marginalized figures in Qajar photographic archives, this exhibition and accompanying research reveal how photography documented socio-political hierarchies and the hidden lives of women and subaltern groups,... Read more

All papers in History of Iranian Photography

In the 1350s Iran various picture books with religious themes were designed and published for children and teenagers. Despite their historical value and the rich range of information they provide about the cultural and social developments... more
Although the roots of the thought and emotion embedded in the term "nationalism" are indebted to ancient ethnic nationalism, nationalism is considered a completely modern phenomenon that arose from the American and French revolutions in... more
This article explores the emergence of fine art photography in Iran during the 1960s and 1970s, bringing to the fore the significance of Ahmad Aali and his early photographic works for this transformation. It sheds light on the confluence... more
This article explores the emergence of fine art photography in Iran during the 1960s and 1970s, bringing to the fore the significance of Ahmad Aali and his early photographic works for this transformation. It sheds light on the confluence... more
عکاسی ددپن عکاسی بی‌حالت، سرد و فاقد هرنوع حس در چهره‌ی سوژه‌های انسانی‌است. ویژگی‌های ددپن‌را به‌جز در آثار مشخص‌شده با همین عنوان می‌توان درنمونه‌های دیگری از عکس‌ها نیز مطالعه‌نمود. در بسیاری از عکس‌های خصوصی‌وخانوادگی در گذشته، افراد... more
Both Sides of a Coin
Machine Struck Coins of Iran
1979-2021
The purpose of this study is to investigate the functional aspects of modern photography and cinema arts in the Mashruteh era (Constitutional Era) and its role in changes in this course of Iran’s history. These modern arts, with their... more
Balkhari, H. (2007). Farabi's innovations in the concept and function of imagination. Journal of Humanities, No. 53, 90-75. [In Persian]. Carbon, H. (2006). History of Islamic Philosophy, translated by Javad Tabatabai, fifth edition,... more
Problem statement: Few studies have examined the role of documentary photography in the political, social, and cultural structures, in reflecting the events of the 1979 revolution and the war against Iraq, with social documentary, news,... more
رسانه عکاسی علاوه بر نشان دادن سویه‌های معنادار از جریا ن‌های هنری در طول زمان، توانایی نشان دادن غنای فرهنگی یک مرز و بوم را داراست. هر قوم و ملتی با اعتقادات ویژه و آداب و رسوم متفاوت خود، دارای فرهنگی خاص می‌باشد. همان طور که هر شئ... more
The duality of private-public arena is one of the important dualities of women's historiography. The different forms of this duality can be seen in the lives of women in the modern and also in Iran during the Qajar era, especially in... more
In 1842, three years after its announcement in Paris, photography, as a gift, was brought to Mohammad Shah Qajar’s palace by both England’s and Russia’s legations. It was later put into the hands of Naser al-Din Shah Qajar (r. 1848-96)... more
One of the strategies available to scholars challenging the Western art-historical canon is the use of case studies of the careers of pioneering artists from the "periphery". This essay will tell the story of a long forgotten chapter of... more
Since the start of the Qajar period, many travellers have been able to provide rare information about women. The beauty of Iranian women is one of the things that caught the attention of European tourists. One can see the reflection of... more
Conceptual photography is a type of photography that is designed to attract more attention to a message. Although the message is not explicit and clear, it requires more attention from the viewer to help them understand the scene and have... more
What has been represented in family photos in Iran since Naser al-Din Shah’s day thus far, is not all that had happened in reality of the everyday lives of Iranian families, rather some topics and individuals have always been removed from... more
هر چند امروزه در طی فرآیند ساخت یک کالا، عواملی چون فن‌آوری بسیار پیچیده، سامانه‌ها‌ی تولیدی بسیار وسیع، تقاضاهای غیرقابل پیش‌بینی در بازار، عمر بسیار کوتاه کالا، و همچنین رقابت شدید در بین شرکت‌ها‌ بعنوان چالش‌های مهم مطرح است، لیکن... more
Problem statement: Few studies have examined the role of documentary photography in the political, social, and cultural structures, in reflecting the events of the 1979 revolution and the war against Iraq, with social documentary, news,... more
One of the strategies available to scholars challenging the Western art-historical canon is the use of case studies of the careers of pioneering artists from the “periphery”. This essay will tell the story of a long forgotten chapter of... more
With the development of the concept of context, text is not just the criterion of context, and any interpretability phenomenon can be regarded as context. Therefore, any contextual phenomenon can be studied using text reading methods. The... more
اکثر پژوهشهایی که بر روی آثار سیندی شرمن انجام شدهاند بر جنبه فمینیستی این آثار تمرکز دارند و موضوع مُد و زیبایی در آنها مورد غفلت قرار گرفته است. پژوهش حاضر با در نظر گرفتن جنبههای فمینستی و غیر قابل انکار آثار شرمن، به بررسی مُد و... more
Problem Statement: The quality and meaning of life are continuously attached to the presence of elements, objects, things, people and concepts; the absence means denying and depriving the presence, has strengthen this concept, hence has... more
This study examines the visual messages Iranian women shares on Instagram in order to perceive how they are represented on the social network. The research applies John Berger’s Ideological approach, and considers every single picture as... more
There have been conducted a few numbers of researches with protest-related subjects in visual arts in a span between the two major unrests, the 1953 Coup and the 1979 Islamic Revolution. This study tries to investigate how the works of... more
Persian translation by Hadith Al-e `Ali of 'European Ceramics in Iran in the 19th and Early 20th Century’, American Ceramic Circle Journal Vol. 20 (2019) pp. 117–143. Published in 'Faranama' 2/8, 1398, pp. 95-128.
رابطه‌ی تنگاتنگ عکاسی با واقعیت به‌عنوان واقع‌گراترین شکل بازنمایی، به آن قدرت اقناعی منحصربفردی بخشیده است. همین امر باعث می‌شود که عکس به ابزاری بی‌رقیب در انتقال پیام‌های سیاسی یا ترویج ایده‌های خاص در جامعه بدل شود. هرچند استفاده... more
Photography is taken as one of the modern disciplines of the art world. Social documentary photography, with its realistic, impartial and truthful nature, is aimed at keeping a record of social events. It is a document of an event... more
Ce document est protégé par la loi sur le droit d'auteur. L'utilisation des services d'Érudit (y compris la reproduction) est assujettie à sa politique d'utilisation que vous pouvez consulter en ligne.... more
Problem Statement: The quality and meaning of life are continuously attached to the presence of elements, objects, things, people and concepts; the absence means denying and depriving the presence, has strengthen this concept, hence has... more
چکیده عکس سیاه و سفید بدون رسانه رنگ، توانسته است در قلمداد شدن عکاسی به عنوان یک هنر، نقش بسزایی ایفا نماید. درجات عکس سیاه و سفید و تفکیک آنها، برای قوه ی بینایی ما حائز اهمیت است. از آن جا که هنگام آفرینش این عکس ها، برخی از روش ها می... more
Aim: This research aims to examine criteria for evaluating documentary heritage in Memory of the World Programin order to identify components of such criteria for historical photos of Iran from Qajar era. Method: Data for present research... more
Article qui propose une lecture de quelques directions artistiques prises par le médium photographique contemporain et ses liens directs avec les technologies actuelles. En posant la question « Où va la photographie ? », on s'intéresse... more
تاريخ هنرعكاسى نزد ارمنيان به دلايل جغراسياسى و تاريخى،محدودهاى به گستردگى جهان دارد. باوجود اينكه اين مقوله كمتر مورد تحقيق پژوهشگران قرارگرفته،ميراث هنرى به جاى مانده ازعكاسان ارمنى نيمة دوم سدة نوزدهم تا نيمة نخست سدة بيستم ميلادى،... more
This is a Persian translation of "Ethical photojournalism in the age of the electronic darkroom" by Nigel Warburton. In this chapter Nigel Warburton argues that digital photography marks a qualitative change, potentially establishing a... more
In studying the history of Qajar photography, historians have considered Nasser al-Din Shah as the main supporter of photography at the beginning of its introduction to Iran. On the other hand, they have considered the confinement and... more
Long years before the Mashrooteh era and particularly during the reign of Nazareth and Mozaffari economic foundations of photography and photo in Iran’s market had shaped slowly. With the beginning of the revolution and Iran's Mashrooteh... more
تاثیر سیاست اعزام محصلین عصر قاجار به اروپا بر پیشرفتِ آموزش های هنری ایران (مطالعه موردی نقاشی 1300-1226ق)، چاپ کامل، یازدهمین کنگره پیشگامان پیشرفت، تهران، آذر 1396.
Unveiling the Veiled Royal Consorts, Slaves and Prostitutes in Qajar Photographs Photo exhibition curated by: Dr. Pedram Khosronejad Associate Director for Iranian and Persian Gulf Studies, Oklahoma State University A special Exhibit... more
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