An Analysis of the Works of Saniʿ al-Mulk and MehrʿAli, with a Focus on the Concept of Hyperreality from the Perspective of Lyotard’s Views

Abstract

Qajar painting, by its very nature, is intertwined with multiple intellectual perspectives. In effect, it is an art form that was adapted from Western art. The painter–artist of this period paid close attention to the visual and objective elements of the subject matter. The purpose of these paintings was to emphasize the importance and legitimacy of the monarch. For this reason, more than any other art form, painting became a victim of the dominant system of totalizing representation. If the visual art of the Qajar period is considered from Lyotard’s perspective, it must be stated that the political, social, and cultural factors of Qajar art led to a transformation of beliefs during this era. From Lyotard’s point of view, diverse narratives merely reexamine the problem rather than resolving it. He believes that from the fifteenth century CE onward, the function of painting has been to confer legitimacy upon social, political, and religious structures. Focusing on the works of MehrʿAli and Saniʿ al-Mulk, this article seeks to examine how the concept of the collapse of metanarratives is manifested in the works of prominent painters of this period from Lyotard’s perspective. With the aim of analyzing the paintings of these two artists, the main research question addressed is: how has the concept of hyperreality in Lyotard’s thought been represented in the paintings of Saniʿ al-Mulk and MehrʿAli? The present study adopts a descriptive–analytical method and, drawing on selected examples of Qajar artworks housed in museums, examines the concept of hyperreality in Qajar painting from the perspective of Lyotard’s views and postmodern philosophy. The findings of this research indicate that the painting of this period reveals a latent conflict embedded within the formal system of Qajar art, bearing witness to the painful conditions prevailing in the Qajar political system.