Rebellious Reformer

Riza-yi 'Abbasi stands with Bihzad as one of the greatest of Iranian artists. As the leading painter at the court of Shah 'Abbas I (1587-1629), Riza often expressed the progressive mood of Safavid Iran in his work. During the early years of 'Abbas's Reign, when the Shah was occupied with the unification of the country, Riza's paintings and drawings depicted the young, the hope of the future state. By the 1620s he had begun to copy drawings by Bihzad, the great Timurud painter, and he continued to produce many portraits of rare insight. Each stage of Riza's development exerted enormous influence; working within the idiom he had popularized, Iranian artists maintained a distinctive style until the end of the seventeenth century, when Western attitudes and practices inundated the traditional art of Iran. Rebellious Reformer provides a complete catalog of Riza's work and analyzes the relationship of his life to his stylistic development. All available extant works signed by or attributed to Riza are included.