A Unique Collection of Its Kind

TT Art Desk - Tehran Times - Tehran, Iran
Thursday, October 18, 2007

Iranian artists illustrate Rumi’s Divan of Shams

The Iranian Academy of Arts is to publish a version of Rumi’s Divan of Shams illustrated by Iranian artists.

The book contains 50 illustrations by contemporary artists compiled by Mehdi Hosseini and will be published to commemorate the 800th birth anniversary of Rumi.

According to Hosseini, the project was initiated two years ago by the secretary of the Academy, Bahman Namvar-Motlaq, who invited artists to participate in the task.

On the process of the work, he said, “We provided the artists a copy of literature professor Mohammadreza Shafiei Kadkani’s version of the Divan of Shams, and each artist began the illustration work based on personal preference.”

Hosseini went on to say that the book will be a unique collection of its kind, adding, “This is the first time that the Divan of Shams is being both calligraphed and illustrated. This was only done for other great poets of the past”.

“The book contains a combination of modern painting with traditional calligraphy. Illustration and calligraphy works in the past were only created using traditional methods,” he explained.

Sedaqat Jabbari will do the calligraphy for the book, which will also feature English and French translations.