Welcome to Show & Tell, this is a column about new, weird, old, effective and overall really cool pieces of art that I come across in my life. This will give you a quick overview of the main idea, purpose or function of a piece of art. In addition to that, this will give you a bit of historical context too. To me, art is not simply limited to classical styles or "high-art" such as paintings or sculptures. In this column, I'll take you all across the artistic spectrum from instrumentals laden with hip-hop beats and jazz, old cracked vases with writings & images, architectural masterpieces and even some really old Italian cars. Hopefully, I inspire more people to look at the art we produce a bit more closely, as not only are they beautiful, but heavily interwoven with meanings ad emotion.
DISCLAIMER: I am not an expert and I'm not claiming that I'm an expert in any of the art pieces, movements, or art history. I am merely a 20-something that knows practically nothing but has a love and appreciation for all things artistic & creative. My only goal with this piece is to share my appreciation of art, spark an interest and to start a conversation.
An Introduction to The Art
On this week's Show & Tell, we will be spotlighting Miniature Persian Paintings. They are something I came across during my reading of S. I. Hayakawa's Language in Thought and Action. Hayakawa compared contemporary advertisements to the Persian miniatures. The Persian artists only had a specific size of canvas and space to use, just like how a creative director only has about 30-60 seconds to create a television spot. Because of this, advertisements (and miniature paintings) had to fit a lot into a little (more on this later, when I do an analysis of a miniature), they had to fit as much color, symbolism, shape, and direction as they could onto their pieces. Because of this shared creative handcuffing, both Persian artists and creative directors have to be very precise & calculated with their decisions.
The History
Starting in the 13th century, Persian miniatures didn't peak until the 15th and 16th century. The miniatures are influenced by Chinese art, as it shares many similarities in terms of style and mythical creatures depicted. Which leads to the popular notion that Persian miniatures originated from Chinese influence. Heavily laced with Persian mythology, religion, and poetry, the paintings were used to convey the total culture of the Persian empire. They were also used as a medium to depict the myths and heroes of the culture. It probably shares the same cultural significance to the Persians in that time period, as Youtube is to us Americans (with the exception of Logan Paul and his compatriots). The pieces took up to a year to make and were extremely expensive. Meaning that only the wealthiest of patrons were able to purchase them, and they were a cultural phenomenon in terms of collectivity and status.
The Form
The content of the painting is the primary focus of the 15th-century Persian artist. Things such as color, surrealism or emotion are put aside for the content and form. While the colors are vibrant and wide, the painter does not distort the colors but merely reflects the Persian culture's use of colors in their garments and furniture. Sharing a sort of perspective dysmorphia as ancient Egyptian art, the miniatures can feature various perspectives depending on the particular part of the piece you happen to be looking at. Not only does this create a sense of space and three-dimensional feel, but it is vital to the storytelling aspect of the pieces. Consider the piece below, the rug at the foreground of the painting is from a top-down perspective and as your eye travels farther back (or up) the painting the perspective is now that of a normal eye-line view. The perspective layering allows the painter to show the ornamental rug, while also showing the gate, small building and the forest in the back.
The painting shown above is quite simple for a miniature. Usually, the miniatures are extremely complex, sometimes taking up to days to fully analyze every single detail within the piece. To finish off this week's Show & Tell, here are three of my favorite Persian miniatures!
"A Camp Scene"
"Nighttime in a Palace"
"Yusuf Rescued"
For a more in-depth look at Persian miniatures click here.