On Persian Design and Fashion in Twentieth-Century France: The 1930 Jean Pozzi Catalogue of Persian Art

The Shaping of Persian Art. Collections and Interpretations of the Art of Islamic Iran and Central Asia, 2013

« Persian Art in France in the 1930s. The Iranian Society for National Heritage and its French Connections », in Yuka Kadoi, Ivan Szanto (dir.), The Shaping of Persian Art. Collections and Interpretations of the Art of Islamic Iran and Central Asia, Cambridge Scholars Press, Newcastle, 2013, pp. 192-212.

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This paper retraces some of the first steps in the creation of private collections of Persian art in nineteenth-century England. Apart from a couple of major figures, these collectors are now largely forgotten; but some traces of their activities may be found in their collaborations with the great national museums then setting up departments of Islamic or Oriental art, or with the few national exhibitions then held on the subject. Special attention is also given here to the part played by gentlemen’s clubs, in which knowledge and scholarship – as well as objects – could be circulated. Finally, the paper questions the role of English artists – painters or specialists of the decorative arts – in the process of discovery of Oriental art, showing how their keen awareness of these distinct artistic sources helped revivify national productions.

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Fashion Theory: The Journal of Dress, Body &# …, 2007

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(for images from referenced album, see: http://www.harvardartmuseums.org/collections/object/311885), 2017

This essay analyzes the use of traditional costume and foreign dress seen in "An Album of Artists' Drawings from Qajar Iran." Though it, I address questions of temporality, modernity, and memory in a period of dynamic change in nineteenth-century Iran. I examine the varied source material for these costume designs circulating in Iran. I explore how Qajar artists negotiated their relationship between a visibly composite past and their outward-facing present. Since the accompanying facsimile could not be uploaded here, the full album discussed in the essay is available online at Harvard Art Museums (http://www.harvardartmuseums.org/collections/object/311885)

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This is the text of a lecture given at a conference on Safavid Isfahan, held at Arrabida in Portugal in July 2007 by the Fundação Oriente. The paper traces the evidence for European influences on the art and fashion of Isfahan in the seventeenth century.

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2023

The colloquium is organised by the University of Geneva (UNIGE) and the Musée d'Art et d'Histoire of the City of Geneva (MAH) . Since the beginning of the 20th century, Switzerland, particularly Geneva, has been home to artistic treasures that witness rich cultural exchanges between peoples and regions. Among these treasures is the exceptional Pozzi Collection of Persian paintings housed at the Musée d'Art et d'Histoire in Geneva. Transmission of knowledge and exchange of expertise are notably discernible in the Indo-Persian world, where languages, religions and cultural materials have been shared over several centuries. Art amateurs from Europe, fascinated by Indo-Persian and more generally by Islamicate arts and material cultures, assembled rich collections from the end of the 19th century. To what extent have these exchanges and fascination been reciprocal, and in which domains are they more perceptible today? Moreover, while gender studies have received ample attention in several subfields of global studies in art and literature, they have been overlooked in Indo-Persian studies. This international colloquium aims to show the importance of these exchanges and to offer a critical dialogue to contribute to the understanding, knowledge, preservation and respect of material and immaterial heritage. Internationally renowned scholars, curators, conservators and artists are invited to share their scientific and creative research and expertise with the public. This hybrid event is accessible in person, within the limits of available places, and online.

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Scholars have recently begun to consider how costume albums of Near Eastern bazaars aided diplomats in distinguishing palace officials and city figures through dress. However, these albums also had a role in the Islamicate world. The question remains of how these types of images or images of typology appealed to more than curious travelers, engaging both a local popular audience and even the court itself in the Ottoman and Safavid Empires. Yet to understand this phenomenon, we must consider the social contexts from which they emerged. How do these album interact with regional genres of literature, and a cosmopolitan market of bazaar artists, who drew from both European printed sources and emerging artistic trends at court? Additionally, in scholarship costume albums have been treated largely in an Ottoman context. Yet by discussing one of the earliest examples of a Safavid costume album, I will explore a wider trend in the illustration of costume in the Near East. My paper examines two Safavid and Ottoman costume albums made for European travelers during the late seventeenth century: the Ralamb Costume Album (1657‐58) and the album of Dr. Engelbert Kaempfer (1684‐85). Both albums were made for members of Swedish embassies into these respective empires. First I examine the compilations of bazaar miniatures by their European patrons and how these individuals could have used them during their journeys as guidebooks to new societies through their dress. Next I examine how the same miniatures within them also have a distinct relationship to a shared Persianate genre between these empires: şehrengiz/shahrashub. This poetic genre sought to catalogue the beauties of a city through costume elements, accessories of trade, guilds, and physical attribute. Thus I illustrate how bazaar artists catered the same stock of miniatures to both local and foreign audiences as a transcultural product.

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Throughout history, fashion and architecture have repeated each other in terms of form and appearance. It seems quite natural that they share not only their initial function, which is to provide shelter and protect human; but also show skills in creating space and volume beyond the two-dimensional plates and materials. In recent years, the relationship between clothing design and architecture has become more significant. Computer tools and software have changed the borders of designing each one. Buildings are more fluid and clothes are more architectural. The architectural alphabet in fashion from one hand, and on the other hand the fashion ideas and methods used in architecture as well as experiencing similar themes in both domains are among the features of these arts. The exploitation of such common points among the two areas challenges the conventional ideas and pre-defined concepts of design, putting forward new solutions and experiences for designers. In this research, some of these common ideas have been studied and how these ideas are linked within both of these domains. The method of this research is descriptive and analytical; and data are collected from documents and research materials including books, articles, photos and electronic resources. This research seeks the common ideas in architecture and fashion and their mutual interaction with each other and provides some examples in both arts. The results of this research show that architecture has an effective role in shaping fashion and the attitude to the clothing design.

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