The Revision of an Obsolete Heritage; A Description of the Visual Space of Eidisazi Motifs

Manual printing is considered one of the common techniques in the reproduction of art, in which the intervention of the human factor is very high And most of its executive steps, such as design, preparation of printing media, printing and the operations after that, are done by hand. In manual printing, there is usually no customer, and it can be said that the result of the work is considered the final product. By printing and duplicating work, the artist can make cheaper examples available to those interested. Its different methods include hollow printing, embossed printing, level printing, silk printing, batik printing, etc. In this type of art, images are created indirectly and its methods are suitable for expressing the new and creative experience of the artist. The origin of hand printing in the world is related to the effect of hands stained with soot on the walls of stone ancient caves. Its first manifestations in Iran have appeared in the motifs of seals. The term used in Iran for basme with a wooden mold, has a long history. But what we know as Eidisazi was a type of traditional hand printing in the Qajar era In which the artist would carve some decorative wooden molds with different subjects on paper and then paint the resulting images with ink or watercolor. These pictures were bought by Mullahs and Mullahbajis and were given as gifts to school students near Nowruz. Usually, the number of motifs and pictures of each print represented the academic years of the student receiving the gift. This art dates back to the end of the 12th century of Hijri and maybe older, but with the introduction of machine printing in the 13th century of Hijri, this art is declining. There was a lot of variety in the motifs and images of the Eidisazi, but these motifs were different from each other in terms of quality and were not uniform in terms of theme. Perhaps the Eidisazi designs can be found in the motifs of pens, miniatures and oil paintings in the Zand and Qajar eras and religious curtains. The variety of motifs is such that you can see both goat and martial motifs, as well as religious and historical scenes and themes of everyday life. The Eidisazi pictures reflect the aesthetic appeal and taste of the people of the Qajar era. Unlike the official paintings of the court and nobility, which are rich and detailed, their obvious feature is considered. The lines in these prints are very simple and without complications or details. All in all, the patterns of Eidisazi are from the splendor of the nobility of the period, and the complexity of the designs has turned into simple patterns. What is beautiful and catchy at first sight in these images is their simplicity and harmlessness. This simplicity attracts attention not only when compared to the official and courtly art of that period, but it is also evident when compared to folk images (paintings of coffee houses, paintings on tiles, etc.). The narrative that exists in these forms is probably the result of the stories that are mentioned in coffee houses or gatherings of the messengers. Sometimes the design of the figures and objects do not have the correct proportion, but often the figures are expressive and represent the characters' bravery, oppression, anger and worries without any difficulty. The subjects of the images are often taken from folk stories such as Samak Ayyar, Amir Arslan, etc., or religious stories such as the martyrdom of Imam Hussein (a.s.), the story of Yusuf, etc., or mythological stories such as the stories of the Shahnameh or It is taken from everyday life and ordinary people without any stories or anecdotes. Eidisazi as a folk and traditional art that has been formed among the common people has never had a strong supporter. For this reason, our information about it is limited to the images obtained from the number of about 100 molds And unfortunately, most of them are damaged or without birth certificates and titles. The aim of this essay is to introduce as much and better as possible this traditional heritage and folk art, which is done with the approach of structural analysis and graphic dimensions of the motifs of these works. Following this goal, the main question of the research is raised as follows: What are the visual characteristics and visual space of the Eidisazi motifs?
The history of research related to Eidisazi is summarized to the introduction of this type of printing, based on this, the present article also studies the structure of motifs and visual elements of Eidisazi based printing with a brief overview of previous achievements. The research method is descriptive-analytical, which is done by referring to documentary sources and viewing the images of these motifs. The statistical population is the number of more than 30 printed images of basmeh, which were obtained by referring to the above-mentioned records and the online gallery of the Children's Literature history Research Institute. The criteria for selecting the samples was based on the health of the remaining images and ease of access, and the works that had the greatest affinity in providing the goal and answering the research question were selected. The results of the research showed that as a type of traditional art, Eidisazi is a part of Iranian national identity and enduring heritage, whose visual values cannot be ignored despite its obsolescence. The motifs of Eidisazi are derived from the beliefs of the people of the era who gave importance to religious, literary, mythological themes and folk tales and displayed their thoughts in the form of simple and concise motifs. Eidsazi artist has tried to create the greatest impact on the audience with minimal facilities and has presented art that can be accessed and used by all classes and masses. Understanding the visual space of these motifs can play an important role in contemporary art, therefore, in order to answer the research question, the following achievements have been achieved. The free and informal nature of the Eidisazi motifs is rooted in its function, which can also be seen in the components and visual elements of the images. As the main element of the print structure, the line performs several tasks that have led to the creation of various visual effects on the viewer. The dominance of the line element is evident in the Eidisazi motifs and as the factor that separates the shapes from each other, it is also responsible for the lack of elements such as color. The lines of the design have found different expressive roles and have become the cause of darkness-brightness, texture, rhythm and patterning in these prints. The balanced connection of positive and negative levels, the creation of light shadows by linear stripes and black spots, the drawing and decorative texture and the varied rhythm of the lines have given a sense of dynamism and vitality to the images and served the performance and identity of non-courtly and popular art. The surface that is formed by the movement of the line in the space shows its most complete visual expression in Eidisazi when viewed from the front. In general, the surfaces in these motifs appear flat and two-dimensional. The predominance of non-geometric and free surfaces in the images of the prints have appeared in line with the informal and free nature of the themes. The motifs of Eidisazi have a balanced and often figurative composition, which are formed in a closed viewing angle, and its faces and figures have a general similarity; A similarity that is formed according to the aesthetics of the Qajar era and shows the type of coverings of the lifestyle of that period. As the dominant element of basmeh, human is generally located in the center or the most impressive point of the composition, and the way it is drawn emphasizes the power of design, animal bodies are designed in diverse and dynamic forms, and strange characters and imaginary creatures are also in these images. It can be seen that the figures of evil creatures are often drawn by exaggerating the dimensions of the head. The print artist has carved various forms of simple figures with brief lines. Figures that are influenced by the popular Qajar style are short and relatively fat. The soft curves of the lines in drawing the figures and the folds and creases of the clothes and decorations convey a sense of life and reduce the passivity of the spaces. This way of working contrasts with the official subjects of the court and depicts the dynamics of life and beliefs of ordinary people and their popular traditions.