Persian Carpet as a Media of Communication between Iranian and European Artists A Semiotic Approach to William Morris’ Tapestries

Authors
Bahar Mousavi Hejazi 1
Mojtaba Ansari 2
Habibollah Ayatollahi 3
Mohammad Reza Pourjafar 2
1 Faculty of Arts, Tarbiat Modares University
2 Tarbiat Modares University
3 Shahed University
Abstract
Persian carpet weaving is one of Iran’s most famous industries that has attracted the world’s attention to Persian arts through the centuries. What above all, have given prominence to Persian carpet as a beautiful work of art are the pattern and its composition in a two-dimensional space. The diversity of patterns, use of deep and beautiful colors, good composition, harmony of colors, delicate and poetic composition are among the most outstanding features of Persian carpet. Industrial advancement and development of transportation in the 19th century led the western explorers to travel eastward making them acquainted with the cultural heritage of these civilizations. William Morris, the leading thinker and artist of the British Arts and Crafts Movement is among the first to conduct a research on Persian carpet’s patterns and designs. In this paper, we are proposing a semiotic approach to the transaction between Persian artists who made beautiful and ever-lasting carpet designs and William Morris as a pioneer of Pre-Modern Movements in Europe, who studied and recognized the underlying principles of Persian art (mostly carpet), and applied them in a creative way to his own remarkable hand-made designs.

Keywords

The International Journal of Humanities
Volume 13, Issue 3
Spring 2006
Pages 63-82