In “Bihzad and Authorship in Persianate Painting”, Roxburgh discusses the flaws and issues surrounding the Eurocentric views of art, focusing on the study of the work of Kamal al-Din Bihzad. These modes of stylistic analysis used by European art historians prove to be unsatisfactory and flawed when studying works outside the European canon. This is an incorrect assessment of art as the Persian art was not created under the same societal, cultural influences as European art. The focus of artists from Europe and from Persia, through their approach to realism and depictions of the human form, differ widely. A key issue in the study of Persian art also presented by Roxburgh is found in the lack of matching texts to be aligned with art works. Therefore, it is difficult for historians to place these works in historical context or be given a literal interpretation of the work. This opens the door for highly opinionated interpretations, tainted by one’s own society and experiences. There are also flaws in the physical matter of the artwork, as this also differs greatly from works in the European canon. The literal pigmentation of the works varies greatly, leaving it difficult to discuss in terms of the European standards of art. The criteria for realism within the Persian art ideal also lies outside the comprehension of the European standards, as Roxburgh states on page 122: “the image is understood as a continuous field of signs, each one given equal legibility, and their cumulative power is to overload the senses with visual information by which the painting becomes “real””.
This piece displays the need for the art historian, when evaluating a work, to understand of the culture in which the work was created. To achieve this though one must first be sure to not allow their own preconceived notions surrounding aspects of life such as preconceived notions of beauty impact their evaluation of the work. This openness as well as knowledge of the concepts of beauty of the culture of the piece allow for a more full and complete understanding of the piece.
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