Faculty of Visual Arts

Overview

Visual Arts are among the major commutative means between different societies and people .Art is a language that has no boarder line, and through a charming expression, conveys thoughts, views and values of a nation to the future generation far beyond the geographical borders. Today image just as word carries special meaning and message which has general and specific audiences. Since communication through image has a large-scale messaging, it is most effective in conveying message and establishing artistic taste and concepts transmission in vast and various dimensions. It is necessary to run a high quality course that can train competent and efficient people and capable of sending and transmitting cultural and civil concepts of the country to the world  and has continuous deal with the excessive influence of foreign cultures. 

Department of Painting and Sculpture

Painting and sculpture courses of the faculty are among the first courses in faculty of fine arts which was established 70 years ago along with architecture.

Primary caregivers of the two courses were respectively: the late Ali Mohammad Heidarian and the late Abolhassan Sedighi who were both outstanding students of Kamalolmolk and who had undeniable impact in the position of the courses. The first and fourth generations of cotemporary painters were students of the late Heidarian, who later on became the teachers at Faculty of Fine Arts and made many developments.

Painting Course

The course of painting embodies the occurrence of boiling emotions and feelings of the artist to message notification and expressing definite subjects. A painting artist with the help of shapes, and putting colors on small and large surfaces, with different tools and ways, creates what he/she wants and through them communicates with others. The Soule and sprit of the artist affects his artworks directly and leads them towards the social values and targets.

Sculpture course has also a history similar to that of architecture and painting in College of Fine Arts. The first head of this course was the late Abolhassan Seddighi who was one of the most celebrated students of Kamalolmolk.

Painting course has both BA and MA degrees while sculpture course has only BA degree.

Sculpture Course

The course has two faculty members with teaching and instructor ranks. Now some 85 B.A students are studying in this course.

The painting course has B.A and M.A degrees while sculpture has only B.A.

Faculty members of the sculpture course helping the student enriching their scientific and practical competent make them capable of meeting theoretical issues in sculpture and enable them to create outstanding artistic works. 

Department of Communication and Photography 

Graphics Course

The course was founded by professor Dr.Kuban and Morteza Momayez in 1974-5. They trained around 80 per cent of today's generation of designers about 10 percent of whom being a member of international societies and are internationally well-known. Educational planning of the course is always on base of changes and new methods in and out of the country and its findings and activities are the base of educational planning of graphic courses in other higher schools of the country.

 Most of the teachers of Iran graphic schools are graduated from the college of Fine Arts. The course has BA and MA degrees. 

Photography Course

The oldest course of photography in the country belongs to the department which was founded by Dr. Shafaiei in 1981-2. The target of the course is to train experts and artists who are able to catch up with the increasing needs of the society in different fields of photography.

The graduate is supposed to be competent of various skills among them providing service s to promotional and mass media organizations (e.g. news agencies, tv&radio broadcasting, press etc) as press photojournalists, doing specialized photography along with science and technical experts( using photography in different specialized fields), doing artistic photography and applying photographic art as a mean to communicate with the onlooker(photography as a tableau),doing educational and research activities in the field. The course has BA and MA students. Department of visual communication and photography has 17 teachers in its teaching board ranging from professors to trainers and instructors in rank. The department has 273 students and is conducted by the head of the department and his assistant under the dean of Visual Arts Faculty. Four senior experts, experts and staffs manage the department. 

Department of Industrial Design

Is one of the innovative courses in higher education which as to its importance in economical, social and industrial development of the societies rapidly gained a special position. It was a necessary course in the developing needs of the country and as an art course was first established in the department of visual arts. the requirement of industrial society in one hand and the skills’ of the first graduates of the course on the other hand, led the course to be one of the most distinguished courses in art and was positioned as an independent department in 2003-4.accordingly the majority of the most celebrated students passing the admission exam ( concur) choose the course at the College of Fine Arts as their first major. The course of industrial design has BA and MA courses. Its teaching board consists of 7 teachers with assistant professors to instructors in rank. The department is conducted by the head of the department and his assistant under the dean of Visual Arts Faculty.

So the Faculty of Visual Arts includes three departments: painting and sculpture, visual communication and photography, and industrial design with BA and MA degrees the detail of which is given in a separate table. 

Faculty of Visual Arts Administrative Structure

1- Dean of faculty

2- Vice-dean for education

3- Vice –dean for research and postgraduate studies.

4- Head of painting and sculpture department.

5- Head of visual communication and photography department.

6- Head of industrial design department.

The faculty has 34 faculty members and 11 staff experts working in different sections.

Independent Department of Art Higher Studies

The department started its activity in 1989.obtaining the formal permissions the department admitted a group of students for MA degree in 1990.the first group of doctorial (ph) degree students admitted in 1996. The establishment of the course aimed at fulfilling the specialized studies in theoretical fields and theorizing in the various artistic disciplines (visual arts, architecture, music and dramatic arts). While compiling the syllables of the courses in its new planning, the department aims at admitting students in three separate fields (e.g. art history, art criticism, philosophy of art). In near future it will attempt to admit students in order to study different categories of art with a professional and scientific attitude towards the views of Iranian experts and theorists.

The Course program "research art" which has been developed in the past and carried out so far will be implemented and replaced by the above mentioned three syllabuses. The first group of art research doctoral students have been graduated in 2003.A large number of MA students are taking the course and graduated. The department enjoys the cooperation of other colleges and universities affiliated faculty members to make up its teaching board.

The department has four faculty members with professor and assistant professor in ranks and has five affiliated faculty members from other College of Art Campus. Some 55 graduate students and 22 ph degree students are now taking their courses.

Administrative structure of the department is as following:

1- Head of the department

2- Assistant of the department 

Department of Graphic Design, Photography and Illustration 

History

Amazing examples of Iranian graphic design on the pottery of prehistoric and Islamic antiquity and on  metals , seals, tiles, stuccos, carpets, books, textiles and clothing are abundance and at hand in Museums and Art Collections in Iran and around the world.

Iran Contemporary Graphic Design appeared in the late 19th century in the form of design and illustration for newspapers and magazines of the era and gradually expanded.

The Establishment of Tehran University on 15th February in 1928 and setting its academic degrees in accordance with the international credible research and teaching level, made it stand alongside the world accredited universities. faculty of Fine Arts as one of seventeen Tehran University faculties, was founded in 1934 and in 2004 according to Tehran University Board of Trustees decision, in order to accelerate the scientific development considering the extensive scientific training and research activities and increasing various impressive academic disciplines, and students, set to promote Administrative structure of the faculties to university colleges each of them embodying a number of faculties among them college of fine arts which have four faculties as faculty of Visual Arts, Architecture, Urban Planning and Performing Arts and Music. Faculty of Visual Arts was created from the combination of visual arts department visual communication, photography and Illustration, Painting and Sculpture Department, Industrial Design Department and the Department of Art Higher Studies.

How the Graphic Design Course Established 

The establishment of the course took eight years, starting from 1968 until 1975. The course  was first began under the late Morteza-Momayyez efforts who had just joined the faculty members, and with the presence of teachers specializing in graphic design department, after two years when Sima Kuban, Jalal Shabahanghi and Mohammad Ehsaie joined to the teaching board, the establishment of a course program as graphic design was sought. The three studios: photography, engraving and hand printing by the above mentioned teachers also greatly contributed to establishing the full range graphic course which was for several years taught on the base of students choice and major along with other courses of painting and sculpture. Finally, by the hard works of the teachers, the establishment of graphic design course as well as industrial design course was approved and new teachers such as; Mohammad Hussain Halimi, Hadi Shafayeh (Photography), Hossein Ganjineh  (hand printing specialist) and Hossein Sasan (graver) started their effective educational collaboration with  graphic design department.

Student’s appreciation and interest in the new disciplines initially led graphic design and photography courses taught separately, but later on and following the establishment of University College of fine arts and the changing visual arts departments into the visual arts faculty, which occurred in 2002, independent departments including Department of graphics, photography and illustration arose.

Currently, the department covers MA degrees in graphic design, illustration and photography and graphic design undergraduate courses and photography, and is about to run master degree in "animation".

Photography Course 

 In winter of 1982, when the first groups of photography students were taking their course, one of the most important objectives of education planners, was to train skillful photographers to narrate the war or the holy defense more accurately and in best way. But a few years later in the summer of 1987 when the first group of students in this field graduated the war was already over, thus various arenas opened in front of them.

The first groups of Students while doing photography workshops and gaining specialized courses, were sent to the front to experience documentary photography, especially war photography under the supervision of their teachers, but as the war ended, teaching photography concentrated more on areas of nature photography, social documentary, news, advertising, architecture and portraits.

At the begging, Faculty of Fine Arts Department of Photography, started its activity under Dr Hadi Shafayeh and contribution of some of the most important photography artists, and teachers of the country, thus prepared a new generation of leading artists to be present in various social life stages of the country. Now photography students in MA and BA degrees, in addition to theoretical and technical discussions learn other artistic aspects of photography and the graduates along with creating artworks and working in the professional areas have the opportunities to Critic artworks and or can teach photography courses. 

Illustration course 

The history of illustration in Fine Arts College goes back to the early1970s. At that time Professor Jalal Shabahangi taught the studio course of illustration with the same title in BA level. After two years and under the efforts of the late Morteza Momayyez and other faculty members such as Mohammad Hussein Halimi, Jalal Shabahangi, and Sayyed Mohammad Fadavi (the then head of the department) the MA in Illustration was approved by the Ministry of Science and added to the faculty syllabus in 1992.  

Now the educational inclination of the degree is towards its applied aspects as well as theoretical courses. Experienced professors such as Farshid Mesgali, Qobad Shiva, Sayyed Mohammad Fadavi, Mohammad Ali Bani-Asadi and Mahnush Moshiri, make up the teaching board of studio and professional programs of illustration. 

Faculty members of Graphic Design, Photography, Illustration Department 

The late Morteza Momayyez, Jalal Shabahangi, Muhammad Ehsaie, Dr Yagoub Azhand, Dr Sayyed Mohammad Fadvi, Dr Mohammad Sattari, Dr Sedaghat Jabbari, Mohammad Ali Bani-Assadi, Mostafa Asadollahi, Hamid Reza  Noruzitalab, Sasan Afsharzadeh, Mehran Mohajer, Mehrdad Najmabadi, Yusoph Zeynal Zadeh, Dr Morteza Yamani, Mohammad Reza Doost Mohammadi.

In addition to the regular faculty members of graphics, photography and illustration department, a large number of most experienced and leading designers of the country are invited to promote the quality education as a visiting and fellow faculties among them: Qobad Shiva, Sadegh Borayrani , Farshid Mesghali, Hadi Shafaiyeh, Yahya Dehgan Poor, Masud Masumi, Bahman Jalali, Dr Reza Sheikh , Farhad Fakhrian, Mehrnoush Moshiri, Bijan Jenab, Habib Sadeghi, Ali Reza Mustafa Zadeh, Majid Abbasi, Saed Meshki, Farzad Adibi, Reza Abedini Abbas Yazdi etc. 

Educational Spaces and Facilities Department 

Administrative Office located on the ground floor.

 .Four studios equipped with video projection

 Three audio visual halls equipped with TV and VCD.

Hand print studio located in the basement of Visual building

Color photography studio capable of providing services to 16 students simultaneously

 Black and white photography studio capable of providing services to 20students simultaneously.

 Photography lighting studio equipped with lighting facilities, and large format cameras.

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