Tehran 9th international Bismillah festival Kicks off
The 9th edition of International Bismillah Festival has kicked off in Tehran’s Niavaran Cultural Complex, exhibiting various Qur’anic artworks.
Iran's Minister of Culture and Islamic Guidance Seyyed Muhammad Hosseini and the Deputy Culture Minister for Artistic Affairs Hamid Shahabadi alongside many artists attended the inauguration ceremony of the international Qur’anic arts expo on August 3.
Tehran 2012 Qur’anic Art Expo has announced Jalil Rasouli’s calligraphic painting ‘Bismillah Bird’ as the top-priced work of this year’s event. The experts have estimated the price of Rasouli’s masterpiece at about $40,000, said the expo organizer Muhammad-Reza Kamarei. ‘Bismillah Bird’ features a bird-shaped calligraphy of Bismillah in oil and acrylics on two plates of gold in size of 2x2 meters.
Unveiling the best artworks of the previous editions of Bismillah festival, published in three books, was among the programs presented at the opening ceremony.
The first book covers calligraphy works, drawings and graphic designs while the second one reviews different architectural styles from the 11th century until the contemporary era with photos of mosques, minarets and Islamic monuments. The photos come with descriptions written by Iranian architecture experts.
Published by Mashq-e Honar Press, the third book contains paintings of mosques and Islamic monuments.
The festival’s jury selected 132 artworks from among 4875 submitted works in the 3 categories of graphic, photography and painting.
About 62 graphic works inspired by the Arabic word, Bismillah, which is used as the collective name of the phrase Bismillahi-r Rahmani-r rahim meaning 'In the name of God, Most Gracious, Most Merciful,' have been showcased at the exhibition.
Moreover, some 70 paintings with the central theme of creation were also selected to be presented at the event.
Iran as one of the leading countries in art of calligraphy has held various international exhibitions during recent years. Many eminent Iranian calligraphers have been also honored in a number of international competitions so far.
Source: presstv.com
