Iranian biennial to highlight Herat School of painting

TEHRAN,Dec.27 (MNA) – Organizers of the Iran Contemporary Painting Biennial will be opening its eighth edition on December 29, with a new glance at the paintings of Herat School. Organized by the Visual Art Department of the Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance, the biennial is to open at the Saba Art and Cultural Institute after a four-year hiatus. Mashhad and Neyshabur, the two cities of Khorasan Razavi Province will be also be hosting the event simultaneously, Tehran Museum of Contemporary Art (TMCI) Director Mahmud Shaluii said in a press conference held on Sunday. One of the highlights of the biennial this year is to review the Herat School and to encourage youth to study this part of their art history, secretary of the biennial, veteran artist Ahmad Vakili said at the conference. The Herat School is a 15th-century style of miniature painting that flourished in the Persian city of Herat (now in western Afghanistan), under the patronage of the Timurids. Shah Rokh, the son of Timur (Tamerlane), founded the school, but it was his son Baysunqur Mirza (died 1433) who developed it into an important center of painting. About 1600 artists have submitted their works to the secretariat of the biennial, out of which 131 will go on display in the Herat School section, and 186 in the free untitled section, Vakili added.