While researching for the dissertation titled Rupture and Unity in the Work of Monir Farmanfarmaian, I became aware of the book Sense of Unity: The Sufi Tradition in Persian Architecture. This is the book that accompanies my studies of Islamic art and is one, I believe, that is both coherent and enriching. 

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The preface reads: 

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Tradition as thus understood is the "presiding Idea" of a normal society and the animating principle of the whole life of a people. In fact, the arts are among the most important and direct manifestations of the principles of the tradition, for men live in forms and, in order to be drawn toward the transcendent, they must be surrounded by forms that echo transcendent archetypes. Islamic civilization presents an eminent example of a traditional civilization wherein can be clearly observed the presence of certain immutable principles that have dominated the whole civilization in both time and space. Islamic art is no more than a reflection in the world of matter of the spirit and even of the form of the Quranic revelation.1  

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Traditional man lives in a universe that is meaningful. The cosmos reflects the Divine Principle and so does man. Therefore, man is himself intimately related to the cosmos. He is the microcosm and, like the cosmos, reflects the Metacosmic Reality. All of the correspondences between man and the cosmos described in so many Islamic texts… represent a profound reality and reveal the nexus which binds the different levels of man's existence to the corresponding levels of cosmic existence. 2 

 

My dissertation looked at at how the Sufi iconography was employed by Farmanfarmaian in the modern and contemporary context. 

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The book The Sense of Unity describes the birth of shapes from a single dot. This is seen in this detail from Farmanfarmaian's piece Shazdeh Garden 02, 2010. 

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Farmanfarmaian refers to it as a ‘fountain of geometric forms’ from octagon down to triangle.3 Together and on their own these forms symbolise the main principle of Islam, tawhid, ’unity’.4 Farmanfarmaian’s painstaking notes on the margins of the Sense of Unity summarise: first is the point as the sign of unity and harmony, then, polarity comes from two separate points connected by a line like a pendulum, third is the connection of three lines making up a triangle which stands for all geometric shapes and is a symbol of the intellect (man and knowledge) and fire.5 

 

Notably, fragmentation is a ubiquitous process that characterises natural phenomena from asteroid collision to nuclei breakup.6 This complex relationship was illustrated by Ardalan and Bakhtiar in the Sense of Unity through the Sufi philosopher ibn ‘Arabi: He is, and there is with Him...nor union nor division...He is the One without oneness and the Single without singleness.7 This does not have to refer to a transcendental unity lamented on by the Sufis, but these ideas reflect the underlining paradox of concepts of ‘fragment’ and ‘unity’ that are at the heart of all Farmanfarmaian’s fragmented works.8

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In the 1960s Iran was a fertile ground for artistic practice. Iranian modernism similar to modernisms in Arab countries like neighbouring Iraq and the Middle East at large 9 was characterised by ‘nativism’ which describes the search by Middle Eastern intellectuals for sources of progress within their native context.10 The tendency was also to move away from the Western cultural aesthetic, a move made by her contemporaries like Parviz Tanavoli (b. 1937) a leading Iranian modernist. Nevertheless, he like many artists in Iran advocated for government support for the arts and relevant institutions promoting the integration of Iranian modern art within the international context.11 Farmanfarmaian did not reject American abstraction and travelled multiple times in the 1970s to the USA to invite American artists to participate in the Shiraz Arts Festival founded by Queen Farah Pahlavi.12 At the same time, she became friends with Harvard educated Nader Ardalan and Laleh Bakhtiar, who in the early 1970s advocated for a return to indigenous traditions as a way to develop modern architecture in Iran.13 The two later wrote the book the Sense of Unity, which I argue is the key to putting the mirror work of the artist in its proper context.14 It was the time when she began to realise the potential offered by geometry as conceptual basis for her future work.15

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The line between Sufi iconography and her work is as thin as gaps between fragments in this piece. There is a danger in interpreting her work in a simplistic light within contemporary scholarship which arguably favours secularism. She was a secular individual but traditional iconography and ideas associated with it whether religious or not are an inextricable part of her work. She says: ‘...for me inspiration always comes from Iran, from my history, from my childhood... I always go with the feeling of my eyes, and with my heart, and that is my main inspiration’.16

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I encourage the reader to consult the book The Sense of Unity: The Sufi Tradition in Architecture and my dissertation Rupture and Unity in the Work of Monir Farmanfarmaian.

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Bibliography 

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1. Ardalan Nader, Bakhtiar Laleh, The Sense of Unity: The Sufi Tradition in Architecture, Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1973, p. xi

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2. ibid, p. xii

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3. M. Farmanfarmaian, O. Ulrich, M. Karen, Monir Shahroudy Farmanfarmaian: Cosmic Geometry, Dubai: Damiani Editore Third Line, 2011, p. 27

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4. Ardalan Nader, Bakhtiar Laleh, The Sense of Unity, p. 6

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5. Media Farzin quoted in [Farmanfarmaian et al, Monir Shahroudy Farmanfarmaian: Cosmic Geometry], p. 69

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6. F. Kun, H. Herrmann, “Transition from Damage to Fragmentation in Collision of Solids”, Physical Review, vol. 59, no. 3, (1999), p. 2623

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7. M. ibn 'Arabi, “Risalat al-ahadiyyah (thirteenth century)” in Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society (1901), p. 809

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8. K. Khvesenya, Rupture and Unity in the Work of Monir Farmanfarmaian, Bachelors Dissertation, published in ZigkurArt Project, 2022, p. 19 

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9. A. Lenssen, S. Rogers, N. Shabout, Modern Art in the Arab World: Primary Documents, New York: Museum of Modern Art, 2018, p. 109

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10. K. Tagharobi, A. Zarei, “Accomodating an Unexpected Guest. The intellectual trends of modernity in the Middle East” In The Modernist World by Allana C. Lindgren Stephen A. Ross, Routledge, 2017, p. 439

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11. F. Daftari, L. Diba, Iran Modern, London: Asia Society, 2013, p. 54

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12. ibid, p. 55

 

13. S. Cotter, Monir Shahroudy Farmanfarmaian: Infinite Possibility: Mirror Works and Drawings 1974-2014, Porto: Serraves Museum of Contemporary Art, 2014, p. 20

 

14. K. Khvesenya, p. 8

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15. S. Cotter, p. 20

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16. M. Farmanfarmaian, O. Ulrich, M. Karen, Monir Shahroudy Farmanfarmaian: Cosmic Geometry, p. 22