Local Portraiture
Through the Lens of the 19th-Century Iranian Photographers
9789087281564
Distributed for Leiden University Press
Local Portraiture
Through the Lens of the 19th-Century Iranian Photographers
This thoughtfully and meticulously researched book explores the work of indigenous Iranian photographers and the way in which their photographs reflect their society and surroundings. In order to highlight how photography reflects local culture, Carmen Pérez González, a photographer herself, offers a comparative visual analysis of nineteenth-century Iranian photographs and paintings created during the same time period and in the same place in order to show that aesthetic preferences are rooted in the socio-cultural habits of artists. This lushly illustrated book is a testimony to the unique power and historical value of photographic portraits and their enduring power to capture local realities.
328 pages | 24 color plates, 164 halftones | 6 x 9 | © 2012
Art: Photography
History: Middle Eastern History
Table of Contents
Foreword
Acknowledgments
Acknowledgments for the images
Introduction
Acknowledgments
Acknowledgments for the images
Introduction
Brief Introduction to the History of Photography in Iran
1. Visual Laterality: The Relationship between the Direction of Writing and Composition
1.1 Definition of visual laterality
1.2 Nineteenth-century Iranian portrait photography
1.3 Visual brain and visual perception in art
1.4 Asymmetries of the photographic space: Brain mechanisms or artistic conventions?
1.5 Reading habits versus aesthetic preferences: A neurological approach
2. The Written Image: Text and Photography
2.1 Persian calligraphy and type of scripts
2.2 Text and nineteenth-century Iranian portrait studio photography: Type of script versus content and meaning of the inscription
3. Pose, Gesture and Objects Held by the Sitter
3.1 Gesture, posture and pose
3.2 Pose and gesture in the Persian painting tradition
3.3 Pose and objects held by the sitter in nineteenth-century Iranian portrait photography
4. Arrangement of Space
4.1 Spatial characteristics of Persian miniature painting
4.2 The use of space in Persian miniature painting
4.3 The use of space in nineteenth-century photography in Iran
5. Interactions between Western and Iranian Photography
5.1 Schema of positions in portrait photography
5.2 Western photographers versus local sitters: Photographing the Other
5.3 Interaction between Western and Iranian photographers
5.4 Hybridity versus Appropriation
1.1 Definition of visual laterality
1.2 Nineteenth-century Iranian portrait photography
1.3 Visual brain and visual perception in art
1.4 Asymmetries of the photographic space: Brain mechanisms or artistic conventions?
1.5 Reading habits versus aesthetic preferences: A neurological approach
2. The Written Image: Text and Photography
2.1 Persian calligraphy and type of scripts
2.2 Text and nineteenth-century Iranian portrait studio photography: Type of script versus content and meaning of the inscription
3. Pose, Gesture and Objects Held by the Sitter
3.1 Gesture, posture and pose
3.2 Pose and gesture in the Persian painting tradition
3.3 Pose and objects held by the sitter in nineteenth-century Iranian portrait photography
4. Arrangement of Space
4.1 Spatial characteristics of Persian miniature painting
4.2 The use of space in Persian miniature painting
4.3 The use of space in nineteenth-century photography in Iran
5. Interactions between Western and Iranian Photography
5.1 Schema of positions in portrait photography
5.2 Western photographers versus local sitters: Photographing the Other
5.3 Interaction between Western and Iranian photographers
5.4 Hybridity versus Appropriation
Conclusion
Afterword
Bibliography
Appendix: Photo Chronology
About the author
Index
Photos
Appendix: Photo Chronology
About the author
Index
Photos