Responsible of visual arts treasury at the central museum of Astan Quds Razavi said, "Four paintings of Tajan River Bridge, Best Land (today's Behshar), Poul Kojour village (near Noshahr), and Shilat River of Farah Abad have been put into public display. These valuable works depict some beautiful views of Mazandaran province in 1254/ 1875".
Saying that Kamal-ol-molk created all these works before his travel to the Europe and when he was in Mazandaran province, Jamshid Amirian added, "The style of these paintings is naturalism and they have been produced using technique of oil painting on painting canvas". He also said, "Size of these works is 100× 70 cm".
He continued, "Kamal-ol-molk's works are unique in terms of plan accuracy, high quality of colors, and precision. He used renaissance style and followed painting styles of Rafael, Van Dyck, Velázquez, Titian, and Rembrandt. Also, he was trying to offer, in his paintings, a combination of styles of Van Dyck and Rembrandt ".
Regarding the life of this Iranian prominent painter, Amirian stated, "Muhamad Ghaffari (1227-1319/1848-1940) was the son of Mirza Bozorg Alavi. He passed his childhood in a village near Kashan and in an artistic and cultural family".
"He came to Tehran while he was twelve years old. He started his education in Dar ul-Funun school and succeeded to receive a scientific certificate after a while. Drawing his school principal's effigy and attracting the attention of Naser al-Din Shah in 1261/1882, he was called painter (Naqqash Bashi). In 1269/1890, he also took the title of Kamal-ol-molk. ", he added.
Responsible of Astan Quds Razavi's treasury of visual arts stressed, "After Naser al-Din Shah's death, he traveled to the Europe and studied for three years there. He came back to Iran during Mozaffar al-Din Shah's age. Also, he lived in Karbala and Baghdad for a while and created some paintings such as Fortune Teller of Baghdad, Goldsmiths in Baghdad, and Karbala Square.
Saying that Kamal-ol-Molk created many paintings after his return to Iran, he added, "After constitutional movement in Iran, he established the School of Fine Arts in 1298/1919. He was chairing the school until 1307/1928 (before his migration to hosein Abad, Neyshabour). This prominent painter was passed away on Mordad 27, 1319/ August 17, 1940 and was buried in the tomb garden of Attar in Neyshabur".
It is reminded that fifteen paintings of Kamal-ol-Molk are kept by Astan Quds Razavi. Also, Haj Hussein Agha Malek bought eleven other paintings from the Heydar Qoli Khan, Kamal-ol-Molk’s son, and presented them to this holy organization. These paintings are now kept at the national museum and library of Malek.
It is worth mentioning that during this summer, all the interested people can visit the treasury of visual arts of Astan Quds Razavi which is open between 08:00am and 20:45pm. This treasury is in the first floor of Astan Quds Razavi's central museum located in Kousar courtyard.
Sunday 22 December 2024
