Parallel Histories: A Comparative Study of Modern Art in the Works of Jalil Ziapur (Iran), Shakir Ali (Pakistan), Javad Salim (Iraq)

Comparative study of modern art in Iran, Iraq, and Pakistan explain aspects of indigenous in modern art. In this article we examine these questions: how did avant-garde artists in these countries attempt to find and match modern art with indigenous art? How did they experience indigenous modernities in art? In this article, by adopting a historical-comparative sociological approach, we analyze the experiences of modern art in the works of Jalil Ziapour (in Iran), Javad Salim (in Iraq) and Shaker Ali (in Pakistan). The results show that the structural similarities in the art of these countries, which can be called parallel histories, can be examined at three levels: 1) The social context of the time: Especially in the middle of the 20th century, when the discourse of nationalism was influential in the formation of national culture, and governments sought to create a stream of national art that was both historical and modern, 2) Dominant artistic models of the era: Specifically the art academies of Paris and London, which transmitted the methods of teaching and art schools to international students and 3) Trying to shape the national school of art: Artists from peripheral countries were looking for an art form that represented both the universal language of art and the ability to build a national school. Cubism style was the answer to this problem and played an important role in shaping the national school of art. Three artists tried to return to the historical heritage and connect it with the combinations of Cubism. Javad Salim sought to integrate Islamic images and the heritage of Mesopotamian art with modern formalism and cubism; Jalil Ziapour emphasized the Iranian origin of Cubism, that is, the geometry of Islamic motifs as the background of modern abstraction; Shakir Ali, as a avant-garde artist, tried to learn traditional miniatures, because he believed that there is a link between this historical heritage and modern art. The achievements of these artists cannot be considered only as a modality of European art; Just as they sought to go beyond the formalist adaptation of modern art to indigenous subjects and experience a indigenous modernity in art.