Pages: 1-11

Abstract

Iran's painting has undergone great changes during various historical eras, affected by various social, political, religious, economic and cultural factors, kings’ tastes and the orders of art-lover clients, and interaction with the Far East and the West. In this paper, we will study the features of the image of female musicians in the Qajar paintings, based on the works remaining from this era. In the paintings before the Qajar era, women often had a mythical position and were depicted in a non-naturalistic design, and were of visual value like the other elements of the picture. But in the late Safavid era and with the onset of Qajar rule, the freedoms created for women at society led to many changes in the paintings of women; one of which was drawing their portraits and ultimately women's activities in that era. Meantime, the desire to experience the modern world encouraged arts such as playing music among women in the community, emerging as the phenomenon of female musicians in the context of the artistic community of that era. Certainly, with the emergence of female musicians, the appearance of these women in the paintings of this period seems certain. In the present study, which is a historical, descriptive and analytical research on the image of female musicians in Qajar paintings, it is attempted to study the characteristics of women images during Qajar era. To this aim, the female musician's images are investigated visually and examined from different aspects such as dressing and cover, veil, action, gesture and figure.