Editing Iran (section)

=== Art ===
{{Main|Persian art{{!}}Iranian art|Arts of Iran|Iranian modern and contemporary art}}
[[File:Mirror Hall by Kamal-ol-molk.JPG|thumb|[[Kamal-ol-molk]]'s ''[[Mirror Hall]] of [[Golestan Palace]],'' often considered a starting point in [[Iranian modern and contemporary art|Iranian modern art]]<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |encyclopedia=Encyclopوdia Iranica |url=http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/kamal-al-molk-mohammad-gaffari |title=Kamāl-al-Molk, Moḥammad Ḡaffāri |volume=XV |pages=417–433 |access-date=13 July 2017}}</ref>]]
Iran has one of the richest [[art]] heritages in history and been strong in many media including [[architecture]], [[painting]], [[literature]], [[music]], [[metalworking]], [[stonemasonry]], [[weaving]], [[calligraphy]] and [[sculpture]]. At different times, influences from neighbouring civilisations have been important, and latterly Persian art gave and received major influences as part of the wider styles of [[Islamic art]].

From the [[Achaemenid Empire]] (550–330 BC), the courts of successive dynasties led the style of Persian art, and court-sponsored art left many of the most impressive pieces that remain. The Islamic style of dense decoration, geometrically laid out, developed in Iran into an elegant and harmonious style, combining motifs derived from plants with Chinese motifs such as the cloud-band, and often animals represented at a smaller scale. During the [[Safavid dynasty|Safavid Empire]] in the 16th century, this style was used across a variety of media, and diffused from the court artists of the king, most being painters.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Komaroff |first=Authors: Suzan Yalman, Linda |title=The Art of the Safavids before 1600 {{!}} Essay {{!}} The Metropolitan Museum of Art {{!}} Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History |url=https://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/safa/hd_safa.htm |access-date=2024-07-06 |website=The Met’s Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History |date=October 2002 |language=en}}</ref>

By the time of the Sasanians, Iranian art had a renaissance.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/Sasanian-dynasty |title=Sāsānian dynasty |encyclopedia=Encyclopوdia Britannica |date=18 July 2017 |quote=Under the Sāsānians Iranian art experienced a general renaissance. |access-date=20 July 2017 |archive-date=21 January 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210121184437/https://www.britannica.com/topic/Sasanian-dynasty |url-status=live}}</ref> During the Middle Ages, Sasanian art played a prominent role in the formation of European and Asian mediaeval art.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.parstimes.com/history/title.html |title=Iran – A country study |publisher=Parstimes.com |access-date=18 June 2011 |archive-date=28 July 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110728142527/http://www.parstimes.com/history/title.html |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.levity.com/alchemy/islam16.html |title=History of Islamic Science 5 |publisher=Levity.com |access-date=18 June 2011 |archive-date=5 June 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110605031853/http://www.levity.com/alchemy/islam16.html |url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="Iran in Britannica">{{cite encyclopedia |last=Afary |first=Janet |title=Iran |year=2006 |encyclopedia=Encyclopوdia Britannica |access-date=29 October 2007 |url=https://www.britannica.com/eb/article-9106324/Iran |archive-date=2 November 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071102225221/http://www.britannica.com/eb/article-9106324/Iran |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite encyclopedia |encyclopedia=Encyclopوdia Iranica |url=http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/art-in-iran-xii-iranian-pre-islamic-elements-in-islamic-art |title=Art in Iran |trans-title=xii. Iranian Pre-Islamic Elements in Islamic Art |volume=II |pages=549–646 |access-date=15 July 2017 |archive-date=23 July 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170723171932/http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/art-in-iran-xii-iranian-pre-islamic-elements-in-islamic-art |url-status=live}}</ref> The Safavid era is known as the Golden Age of Iranian art.<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Q6i8NQAACAAJ |author=Canby, Sheila R. |publisher=British Museum Press |year=2002 |title=The Golden Age of Persian Art: 1501–1722 |isbn=978-0-7141-2404-9}}</ref> [[Safavid art]] exerted noticeable influences upon the [[Ottoman Empire|Ottomans]], the [[Mughal Empire|Mughals]], and the [[Deccan sultanates|Deccans]], and was influential through its fashion and garden architecture on 11th–17th-century Europe.

Iran's [[Iranian modern and contemporary art|contemporary art]] traces its origins to [[Kamal-ol-molk]], a prominent [[realism (arts)|realist]] painter at the court of the [[Qajar dynasty|Qajar Empire]] who affected the norms of painting and adopted a naturalistic style that would compete with photographic works. A new Iranian school of fine art was established by him in 1928, and was followed by the so-called "coffeehouse" style of painting. Iran's [[avant-garde]] modernists emerged by the arrival of new western influences during World War II. The contemporary art scene originates in the late 1940s, and Tehran's first modern art gallery, Apadana, was opened in 1949 by Mahmud Javadipur, Hosein Kazemi, and Hushang Ajudani.<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cSKMk4dmPVwC |title=Picturing Iran |trans-title=Art, Society and Revolution |first1=Lynn |last1=Gumpert |first2=Shiva |last2=Balaghi |page=48 |year=2002 |publisher=I.B. Tauris |isbn=978-1-86064-883-0}}</ref> The new movements received official encouragement by the 1950s,<ref name="IrMo">{{cite encyclopedia |title=Art in Iran |encyclopedia=Encyclopوdia Iranica |url=http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/art-in-iran-xi-post-qajar- |access-date=15 July 2017 |volume=II |pages=640–646 |trans-title=xi. Post-Qajar (Painting) |archive-date=28 July 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170728133830/http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/art-in-iran-xi-post-qajar- |url-status=live}}</ref> which led to the emergence of artists such as [[Marcos Grigorian]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Art in America: Modernity and revolution: a recent show of Iranian art focused on the turbulent time from 1960 to 1980, juxtaposing formally inventive works of art with politically charged photographs and posters – Art & Politics – Between Word and Image: Modern Iranian Visual Culture |date=25 November 2004 |website=looksmart |url=http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1248/is_2_91/ai_97551434 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20041125121857/http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1248/is_2_91/ai_97551434 |archive-date=25 November 2004}}</ref>