Photographic negatives featuring Iranian painter Kamalolmolk discovered

TEHRAN,Nov.1 (MNA) – Ten black and white photographic negatives featuring the Qajar era painter Mohammad Ghaffari known as Kamalolmolk as well as his students, guests and colleagues have recently been discovered. The negatives had been preserved by Abolhassan Seddiqi, one of the students of the art school supervised by Kamalolmolk, managing director of Iranian Tandis Magazine Mohammad-Hassan Hamedi told on Monday. “I have been conducting research on Seddiqi (1894-1995, the sculptor of great Iranian luminaries like Ferdowsi and Khayyam) when I received the negatives from his daughter Nushin,” Hamedi said. “The developed negatives show Kamalolmolk among his students and guests at the school posing proudly for a photo in front of the camera, as well as three photos showing copies of works by the master,” he said. “I was astonished to see that they have survived intact. My research shows that only two of the negatives were already developed and the rest had remained intact,” he noted. Hamedi added, “I believe that the negatives were left at the school after Kamalolmolk was forced into exile. Seddiqi had probably found them when he took the helm of the school in 1932 and had taken the negatives home in order to preserve the old memoirs.” Kamalolmolk was forced into exile in an abandoned village near Neyshabur due to his inclination toward the Constitutional Movement. He died in exile and his body was buried in the courtyard of the tomb of the Iranian poet Attar in Neyshabur. The recently discovered treasure will go on show at the Malek Museum and Library opening today. The Malek Museum and Library has set up a new section to put on display a number of works by Kamalolmolk and his descendants. Ten paintings by the artist along with eight works by members of the Ghaffari family, who are Kamalolmolk’s descendants, will be showcased in the section. In addition, visitors will have access to images of over 100 works by the painter through monitors, which will be set up in the section.