Exhibition of Coffee House Paintings

Farda Art Gallery in Tehran opened an exhibition Friday featuring works created in the style of coffee house painting.

Coffee house painting is an Iranian narrative painting style with epical, religious and festive themes from the early 1900s on the basis of Iranian folklore art traditions. It is a special genre of Persian folk art, resembling Persian miniature painting.

At the event dubbed “A Review of Coffee House Painting,” 23 works are on show created by a number of masters and pioneers of the particular style including Mohammad Boloukifar, Mohammad Modabber, Hassan Esmaeilizadeh, Hossein Hamedani, Mohammad Farahani, Ali Akbar Larni and Javad Aghili, Shabestan News Agency reported.

As the mourning month of Muharram is near (starts September 11) most works selected for the exhibit depict the Ashura tragedy and the martyrdom of Imam Hussein (PBUH), his family, close aides and companions.

Muharram is the annual mourning period marking the martyrdom anniversary of Imam Hussein (PBUH), the third Shia Imam and the grandson of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH). The Imam and his 72 family members and companions were martyred by the army of Yazid, the Umayyad caliph, in the historic Battle of Karbala (in Iraq) in 680 AD.

The mourning ceremonies have long been intertwined with Iranian culture and are often manifested through the arts. Farda Gallery is located at No. 2, 6th A’rabi Alley, Hosseini Street, Karimkhan Avenue. The artworks will be on display for two weeks.