Examining the Illustration of Kalila and Dimna in the Ilkhanid Era with the Illustration of the Contemporary Era of Iran

Abstract
Always being attractive for children, teenagers, and even adults due to its educational nature, the book Kalīla wa-Dimna has been the focus of illustrators since ancient times; and since the influence of painting works is observed in many illustrations works in the contemporary era, the present study was aimed at answering to the question posed here. Have contemporary painters taken the advantage of the examples of ancient paintings in illustrating the subjects of Kalīla wa-Dimna? This research was conducted by library method and based on the existing available works. According to the research findings, in today’s era, a variety of illustrations are observed for children’s books; since the target audience includes children in different age groups, and given the progress and diversity in drawing and illustration tools as well as the different execution techniques and styles. Of course, Iranian literary stories like Kalīla wa-Dimna are not an exemption and they have been illustrated in different styles and techniques. In general, the research results indicated that the study of selected contemporary examples reveals that the existing works have not been significantly influenced by the paintings of the Ilkhanid period.
 

Introduction

Iran is a country with a long history which has always been a forerunner in the domain of culture and art in its region. During multifarious historical periods, numerous styles and schools have appeared in this country, each of them has its own characteristics. One of the most important artistic schools of Iran that its works have remained is Iranian painting, which has been performed in various periods with its own styles.Perhaps the acme of it can undoubtedly be attributed to the painting of the Safavid era, when the painters have created unique works with the utmost precision and elegance.The point is that Iranian painting has continued along its evolution until the arrival of modernity in Iran and familiarization of Iranians with European art that can be found with the prevalence of mural painting and the paintings presented in the murals of the Forty Pillars Palace.Therefore, undoubtedly, the efficacy of this style in contemporary painting can be recognized by examining Iranian painting and contemporary painting Kalila and Dimna under the title of a book that has had its special attractiveness for children, teenagers and even adults due to the inclusion of instructive factors, has drawn the attention of designers, painters and illustrators since ancient times.The illustration of the manuscripts concerned with the stories of this old book has been a platform for stating the notion of illustrators who have left incredibly beautiful paintings.Book illustration is one of the factors that has a deep effect on the audience both from the perspective of increasing the visual attractiveness and in terms of augmenting the amount of information.However, mostly from the perspective of public, the illustration has been limited to the books of children and teenagers, the adult’s books have benefited from illustration to make it more attractive to the audience.For instance, the illustration of scientific and historical books or references in which the possibility of accessing to illustrations is scarce relates to to this group.
1.1. Detailed Research Method
According to the purpose the current research is a fundamental-theoretical type that explores the nature of phenomena, and the type of research is on the basis of the nature and the method is based on descriptive-analytical type.Moreover, the research method for implementing this study has been based on contrastive history and the collection of information has been implemented through library research.In this research, at first the constituent parts of the illustrations have been described, and eventually, the illustrations have been analyzed with regard to the determined theoretical foundations.This research has brought up the effectiveness rate of contemporary illustrators over the methods of Kalila and Dimna illustration in Ilkhanid school and the differences and similarities between the Kalila and Dimna illustration in the contemporary works and the aforementioned school.At first the selected illustrations were described and then analyzed and compared on the basis of the following characteristics:1- Visual elements including:texture, line, surface, color and simulating volume.2- Illustrative elements are as following:shapes, animals, trees, mountains and anything that has been defined as shapes.3- Visual features such as:rhythm, balance, movement, accumulation and separation, composition, and so on.

Discussion

As stated in the analysis of the Kalila and Dimna illustration, in general, new compositions, distinctive colors, applying gold, red, blue and yellow backgrounds, conical hills, large flowers, placing trees in background, painted robe and garments and the painting of water lily arising from Chinese fabrics can be referred among the painting school in the Ilkhanid era.In the paintings of this era, the landscapes are often dreamlike that these characteristics are not seen in contemporary works.The effect of ancient methods can be seen in some works of contemporary illustrators as changes including simplification and new technical possibilities.Furthermore, considering the introduction and examination of the contemporary illustrated works concerned with the Kalila and Dimna book on behalf of two masters(Mahdi Hosseini, Parviz Kalantari), it is that in comparison with the ancient paintings of this valuable collection, the new paintings have been depicted from a more distinct and modern perspective and the principles of visual literacy including the appropriate coordination of colors, the correct form drawing, perspective, and … have been applied so artistically.In the event that the illustrated paintings of Kalila and Dimna done by Mehdi Hosseini and Parviz Kalantari seem to be simpler to a great than the earlier versions of this book, they will have abundantly attractive drawings at the same time.Moreover, in Bani Asadi's paintings, the compositions have been depicted in a completely different method and the drawings have been combined with each other by using digital tools, and this shows that it is possible to use modern tools as computers and digital techniques in order to illustrate the ancient and classical literature beside traditional methods and by using imagination and the world of the mind from different perspective. Furthermore, since the book of Kalila and Dimna is deemed as one of the fables and refers to imaginative animal, illustrators can gather an attractive collection of illustrations beside this rich literature by using creativity and the element of fantasy.As we can see, nowadays artists use whatever they can access to them in their works and they do not have any limitations in performing the work that this gives the way to create illustrated works for any kinds of literatures and for any age group.

Conclusion

Traditional and modern graphic elements in Kalila and Dimna illustration can create a closer relationship with the audience between the illustrations and all the valuable words and advices of the book's subjects that has been stated in the framework of the story in the language of animals with regard to the colors and motifs which carry educational content and aesthetic values and it also paves the way for increasing the attraction of the reader towards the book and following its stories.The effect of modern technological tools in the contemporary illustration of Iran and the quality of book layout in contemporary Iran has given a new valuation to the book of Kalila and Dimna.The research conducted in the domain of comparing Kalila and Dinma illustration in the current era and in the Ilkhanid school demonstrated that the illustrations had not been affected by the ancient schools sufficiently.By studying in the domain of painting schools to a great extent, illustrators can become familiar with the illustration of artistic schools in Iranian painting and try to use Iranian painting visual sources for illustrating books particularly for Iranian literary stories, and present it for its audiences with creativity and innovation.In this case, children and teenagers will get familiar with the atmosphere of Iranian illustration to great extent as well.Moreover, the current research is a step for expressing the historical, cultural and artistic valuation of the book of Kalila and Dimna.It is suggested that researchers try to recognize other valuable works and introduce them to today's generation.

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