Persian Drawings From The 14th Through The 19th Century (drawings Of The Masters)

Shorewood Publishers. Fair in Fair dust jacket. 1965. Hardcover. Drawings of the Masters; 30 oz.; 141 pages; HC w/Slipcase musty o/w nice clean/tight condition. Living as we do in an age whose arts so often make a point of reflecting the confusion, tension, and cruelty of the world around us, it is a joy and a relief to turn to the masterpieces of the Persian draughtsmen of the past. They take us into a colm, sunlit world where everything is bathed in a brilliant golden light; the men are all handsome and the girls are all beautiful, the tiled archways and parapets of the buildings resemble the finest jewelry; the rocks are like coral; the trees and plants are always in blossom; the fantastic little spirals of cloud floating in the gold or azure skies could never, one feels, cast a shadow on this fairy landscape. When it is necessary to portray such subjects as executions or battles, they are portrayed in such a way as not to distress us or harrow our feelings. In nine cases out of ten Persian paintings and drawing illustrate some literary text; they are, in other words, "pictures with a story." Apart from effectively illustrating the narrative in hand, the chief aim of the Persian artists was to give pleasure. .