Religious illustrations of children’s books evaluated
18 Jul 2012 16:58
During a session held in assessment of religious illustrations of children’s books, Iranian author Mohsen Parviz, illustrator Kazem Talaee and book expert Sadegh Mousavi said that consensus sensitivities about illustrations and the weak backgrounds of religious researches in religious books are some of the problems of religious illustrations.
IBNA: The session was held on Tuesday, July 17, with the attendance of Iranian author Mohsen Parviz, illustrator Kazem Talaee and book expert Sadegh Mousavi.
Firstly Mousavi talked about the growth of children’s books following the revolution saying that considering the statistical increase of the publication of religious books and the authors’ devotion to the Fourteen Infallibles, illustration problems will naturally occur.
Talking about the consensus sensitivities about children’s books, he added: “ Children’s books failed to pay appropriate respect to the religious figures. Moreover some believe that children may not know why the faces of the Infallibles are illuminated, a method used for sanctifying them.
Talking about the methods of drawing the Fourteen Infallibles’ faces he added: “The presumptive faces should be drawn illuminated, the body and the face should be not be directly shown to the readers and finally a robe should be used for them.”
However some books have illustrated the Infallibles’ faces which indeed received objections, he added.
In Iran, the ambiguity of the religious views, consensus sensitivities and the lack of skills in illustrating the holy figures’ faces are among the factors of unsuccessful religious illustrations. Considering the obstacles, the publisher, author and illustrator prefer to use light for the book to be released faster, he said.
In other news, Talaee talked about the religious illustrations of Christian’s books saying: “Foreign religious books hold great illustrations. Some of their works are perfect while sometimes they have passed the redline by drawing caricatures or even insulting the figures. Taking help from the illustrators and experts we also should set some rules.”
The illustrator added: “The researches of Ali Mohammad Rafei is a complete research source about religious illustrations. He believes that no restrictions exist on prohibiting illustrations. So I think that we can easily make some laws through which the frameworks of religious illustrations will be determined as well.”
Furthermore Mohsen Parviz said that in order to solve the problem, basic researches should e carried out and religious illustration made in Iran and foreign countries should be gathered.
Mousavi went on say to that we can even picture the angels however they shouldn’t be drawn as girls since they are derived from Christian instructions. Moreover making pictures of dogs and pigs should be according to religious instructions as well; thus the dogs can’t be pets and pigs should be kept at farms.
The session was held on Tuesday, July 17.
