Iranian art movement of the 1960s. The artists of the Saqqakhana movement introduced in their work a new vocabulary of motifs derived from Iranian folklore and Shi`ite folk art. The term was first used by the Iranian art critic Karim Emami to describe the paintings of Hussein Zenderoudi at the third Tehran Biennale in 1962. For Emami, Zenderoudi’s paintings captured the mood of Shi`ite folk art, and he used the term saqqakhana, the Persian word for traditional public drinking fountains found on street corners, to describe it. These votive fountains comprise a niche with a water tank, metal bowl and other items and usually contain the portrait of an imam, metal trays with candle-holders and small locks or pieces of rag fastened to symbolize pious wishes. Zenderoudi had been influenced by Shi`ite folk art as early as 1959, when he visited Rayy, a Shi`ite centre south of Tehran, with PARVIZ TANAVOLI, and saw posters that employed simple forms, repeated motifs and bright colours. The sketches he made on the basis of these posters were the first Saqqakhana works. He continued to paint works inspired by Shi`ite folk art in the 1960s, while Tanavoli experimented with religious subject-matter in sculpture.

• Saqqakhana
  • Iran, §2: Painting, sculpture and calligraphy
  • Tanavoli, Parviz
  • Zenderoudi, Hussein