This paper aims to present for the first time the innovative usage of text in the extraordinary compositions found in lithographic books from nineteen-century Iran. Calligraphy and the usage of text in contemporary art has become the symbol of the post-modern. Today it is not unusual to see visual artists presenting their ideas in pure text. In Iran calligraphy has always had an elevated status as an art form, and in fact beautiful handwriting was probably the only art form widely studied and practiced throughout Iranian history. Yet, text and calligraphy as visual compositional elements were quite an extraordinary and advanced usage of the medium for the early modern era.
In the nineteenth century lithography added a new medium to the Iranian artistic heritage. Iranian scribes used a body of text to create landscapes, glacial charts and maps, and so fort. Artists' spatial understanding of both calligraphy and lithography allowed them to create complex compositions while conforming to the mechanics of reading. These abstract compositions were an innovative way of applying the medium. Garden design is the recurring theme of these compositions.
In what I would like to call ' the Garden of Text' Iranian artists use calligraphy in complicated, sophisticated, playful, interesting compositions. This metaphoric garden reminds one of the symbolic role of the garden in other art forms such as carpets, tapestry, and tile work. Scribes used text as a visual element shaping compositional forms in lithographic books, which also made reading these texts interesting and playful. Most of these books were religious texts prepared and published by various publishers in nineteen-century Iran, and although the scribes are often unknown, there is enough information about the publishers to distinguish between different scribes employed by them. The origins of this art might be found in what is called Hashie Negary, Zirnevis or footnote scribbles. Along with the versatility of the medium of lithography, which allowed flexible ways of writing on stone, text is transformed into a new element of visualization. The complicated and imaginative use of space and layout took a great deal of spatial knowledge and imagination to develop. In this paper I will examine the history of text paintings, technical developments, spatial knowledge, and the influence of this art form on the contemporary and modern aesthetic of Iranian art.
