These findings go beyond the local Iranian context, showing the limitations of the traditional and static conceptualization of Western modernity when studying art histories outside the Western world. Methodologically, the book employs postcolonial theory and iconographic analysis of the artworks to dismantle imperial conceptions of modernity and potentially decolonize the history of modernist Iranian art.

Their artistic expression was closely tied to a critique of the Western modernity adaptation, often referred to as “westoxification” (gharbzadegi), as well as the country’s political struggles for liberalization and democracy. The artists developed their own specific form of modernism, one that aimed to be both modern and distinctly Iranian. Instead, they reflected broader questions of modernity and modernization in Iran. These artistic productions went beyond mere local experiments with Western modernity. During this period, artists skillfully incorporated their visual Iranian heritage with modernist techniques, resulting in the creation of artworks that engaged with global artistic discourses and addressed the unique challenges posed by Iran’s modernization programs. This book highlights that Iranian modernist art was a vibrant and culturally significant form of artistic expression.

My book, The Cultural Politics of Art in Iran – Modernism, Exhibitions, and Art Production, revisits the era of modernist art production in Iran from the 1950s to the 1970s.

Iranian artists licence