Symbolic Analysis of Love and Hate in the Coffee House Painting "The Calamity of Karbala" by Mohammad Modabber

Coffee house painting is one of the distinctive Iranian painting traditions that dates back to centuries ago; but after the introduction of the oil painting into Persian Art under Safavid rule, experienced drastic developments and since, has striven to evolve in Persian visual tradition along Qajar period and has gone through ups and downs in later periods. The painters of this art style generally depicted religious, epic and folk themes; but basically, the main focus of the patrons and hence the painters was on the catastrophic religious epic of Karbala which narrates the martyrdom of Imam Hussein, the key holly figure in Shi’a School iconography, and his companions in the first century of the Islamic history. One of the most important paintings of the coffee house tradition is the Calamity of Karbala by Mohammad Modabber (d 1967): the second co-founder of the coffee house painting. Working along with his contemporary companion, Hossein Ghullar Aghasi tried to attend Kamal-Ul-Molk courses in order to make new developments in the folklore tradition. Seemingly Ghullar could not come along with the naturalistic style taught there and tried a more symbolic style for his works, but Modabber managed to make a new fusion in-between the two traditions and took his own personal way which later proved to be fashionable among more common citizens and even peasants living in rather remote villages, showing much passion for the visual- verbal narrative performances called Naghali. The whole tradition shows a rigor taste for a restricted number of themes and subjects; namely the religious epic of Karbala, and few subjects stemming out of the National epic of Shahnameh. The visual language of the works is usually astonishingly simple and easy to understand due to the low expectations for taste and understanding of the originally intended audience of the genre, hence makes it appealing to explore the visual system. Analysis of the works show a great application of binary oppositions in production of the narrative in the first sight. Thus, two basic questions will rise: How does this system function in the work; and how generalizable will the verdict be. The present article aims to find answer to the first question through a case study. The notion of binary oppositions was first raised by structuralists, and according to them, it can be considered as the basis for the formation of human language and consequently cognitive frameworks. The present study tries to address the issue of reading the love/hate opposite in the painting "the Calamity of Karbala" by Muhammad Modabber, as one of the most magnificent paintings in the period, based on Roland Barthes’ three-level semiotic model of analysis. The model basically published in his 1964 article, “Rhetoric of the Image” severs the textual meaning of the image into the lingual, iconic and visual levels and analyses each in its exclusive code system. The research is based on a descriptive-analytical method and collecting textual and visual data, with library research (articles and books), and seeks to answer the question: How does the love/hate sign system in the coffee house painting "the Calamity of Karbala" produce meaning through the denotative and connotative referential functions? In this way, the polarization of love/hate is pursued as a fundamental binary opposition in Iranian visual culture. The research findings acknowledge that: in the painting "the Calamity of Karbala" by Mohammad Modabber, the concepts love and hate show obvious dialectic relations in which love overcomes hate, symbolizing a body of opposite concepts in the same manner: obedience, loyalty, spirituality and sacredness, bravery and martyrdom, in opposition to treason, rebellion against the truth, idolatry and profaneness, cowardice and tyranny. Symbolic units provide no meaning independent of the whole set of the work; and it could be noted that the whole system of all these opposite meaning production units lead to a passionate system of emotional reflections alongside with the core narrative of the work, producing an active dialectic interaction between the work and the audience. Hence the work shows a full interaction of all three levels of image reading suggested by Roland Barthes, namely the linguistic, the iconic and the visual in a full range. Furthermore, the denotative message of the painting "the Calamity of Karbala" depicts a neutral narrative of an ordinary historical-religious event; yet, on the contrary the connotative messages, referring to alternative folklore understanding of the catastrophe of Karbala, tries to imply the spiritual superiority and victory of Imam Hussein's army against Yazid's army. In the Lingual level, the presence of the Imam Sajad, the succeeding Imam after Hussein is ignored and despite the figure depicting his holiness, resting as a result of his then sickness, there is no reference to his name in the work. In the iconic level, depiction of the supernatural entities, guardian lion and presence of the fictionally believed Indian army of Sultan Gheys, tending to help Imam Hussein are evident to provide the superiority of his forces; Even the visual management of the elements of work and the styles and expressions suggesting calmness and delight, are shown in figures and faces of all the companions of Imam Hussein during the fight and even their martyrdom. Figure of Imam Hussein in the middle of the upper half of the work is bracketed in-between a row of the deceased prophets on one wing and genies who have come to help on the other. This bracketing will function as a demarcation of the figure, yet the isolation of the holy figures in contrast to the lower sectors and the maleficent army, produces a sense of privacy and spirituality. Most of the righteous army is depicted in white robes against the dark siders in full amour; and white horses of the truth show a salient dominance on the dark horses. Although the account is in contradiction with the reality of the historical documents testified by the canonical authorities, yet it proves to be reflecting the spiritual tendencies of the believers to even change the course of history. In a general view, the image resists and tries to deny the reality of the drastic consequences of the event of Ashura and in order to defy its own believed account seeks to hold on the alternative folklore narratives. Hence the overall atmosphere of the work shows the tendency of love and its superiority over hatred in the work and tries to suggest the love and passion the artist and potential audience for the companions, historical and fictive figures and even the holly figure of Imam Hussein, which in turn could be interpreted as the contextual love of the whole culture for him; A cultural expression that could be identified as a symbol for resistance of folklore culture against the officiality of history.