.: Meshkinfam Art Museum, Iran.

The building, in which the Museum stands, is approximately a century old and belongs to the Forugh-ol-molks, members of the famous Qavam family. The structure itself is approximately 1100 square meters, has three stories. Including a basement. This building, representing traditional Persian and Islamic architecture, is divided into two sections, namely the outer (biruni) and the inner and more intimate quarters (andaruni). It has two separate courtyards, the main structure, the fountain, the bath, and the kitchen, in addition to other quarters.

The structure is located in the old part of the city of Shiraz, in an area known as Sangeh Siah (The black stone), behind Imam-zadeh Bibi Dukhtaran.

From 1950 to the mid 1970s the building was used as an elementary school. However, since 2001 the council for the Cultural Development of the Province of Fars motioned to have the building renovated and restructured by local agencies, and the city Municipality, and converted into the Meshkinfam Museum of Art.

The contents of the Museum include hundreds of art pieces collected by the Meshkinfam family over a period of more than half a century. The collection can be divided into two parts. The first is the art work of the Meskhinfam family and the second is the art of contemporary artists of Fars Province, divided into separate classifications, depending on the type of art is represents.

Carvings and Reliefs

In this section the works of Habib Meshkinfam (1915-2001) on various stones could be seen, which includes flowers, animals, Islamic texts including verses from the Holy Quran, which are carved in a masterful fashion both in an embossed and indented form. Besides these, one can notice other works, such as slabs of stone ready to be carved, initial and original drafts of carvings, plans, and tools, and handwritten orders for stone carvings by Karbalai Gholam-hussein Hajjar Shirazi, father of Hajji Habib Meshkinfam (A.D. 1871-1951) and grandfather of the present artist, founder of the Meshkinfam Museum. It is to be noted that a number of the carvings of Hajji Habib Meshkinfam is presently located in the Hafezieh, Shah Cheragh and in other historic places.

Calligraphy

This section includes three separate but yet interconnected sections as follows:

a) The works of the famous calligrapher, Habib Meshkinfam

b) The works of Hajji Habib’s circle

c) The works of famous calligraphers of Fars and Iran

Habib Meshkinfam learned the art of calligraphy as a supplementary art to stone carvings from Ebrahim Meshin Qalam, the great master of calligraphy in Shiraz, who is noted for his own particular Nastaliq style. He was in contact with other contemporary artists of his time and his workshop was a gathering place of artists for nearly half a century. Numerous works of his on calligraphy, poetry, and architecture which is on display in this Museum, emerged from this very circle.

In the section on works of famous calligraphists of Fars and Iran, works of such grand masters such as Mirza Koucheck Vessal Shirazi, Mohammad Qudsi Shirazi, Fath Ali Hejab Shirazi, Agha Hashem Esfahani and others will be on display.

These very special art pieces were a life long project and part of the private collection of Habib Meshkinfam. This section also includes the names, photographs and works of other famous, famous calligraphists of fame belonging to the Fars province, and includes the inkpot and calligraphic tools and materials belonging to Habib Meshkinfam.

Painting

The paintings in the Meshkinfam Museum of Art consist of a very special and expensive collection comprising modern artists of Fars, including that of Hasan Meshkinfam, as follows:

Works of contemporary Artists of Fars

In this section the works of about 330 artists, representing the works of three generations of contemporary artists of Fars is on display. These works have been collected over a 30 year period by Hasan Meshkinfam. Some of these individuals are now renowned artists in Iran or abroad. Together with this collection, carvings and statues by Hedayatollah Yusefi and an archive of photographs and documents of Past and contemporary artists of Fars.

Paintings of Hasan Meshkinfam

In the past 30 years, Hasan Meshkinfam has created numerous and diverse art works which can be divided as follows in accordance with the subject and techniques involved.

Water colors have been his favorite medium and this includes scenic sights from Shiraz and Fars to scenes in the form of Naturalism, Pointillism, Impressionism to other more flowing and romantic forms. Meshkinfam’s sketches can also be divided into several groups. The first represent bazaars, streets, passes and old mills of Shiraz with it’s characteristic representations of people and places in the early eighties. The second is sketches of modern images of Fars and include hundreds of drafts from academic and artistic personalities of modern Fars and Iran, drafted from real life. The third is a set of sketches from the famous poet Nima.

These sketches were inspired by the poetry of Nima Youshij in commemoration of his 100th birthday held in 1996 and uses diverse techniques of silk print, collage, monotypes and drafting.

Oil paintings of Meshkinfam can also be divided into various periods representing Realism, Impressionism, Fauvism, Surrealism and Romanticism and include nearly 100 different pieces.

An imitative study of the great works of art is an experience which an artist experiences during his lifetime. A portion of Meshkinfam’s works during the past three decades represents his interest of great masters which is put on display in a separate section of the Museum. This includes imitation of such artists as Correggio, Raphael, Rubens, Delacroix, Constable, Shishkin, Wyeth, Doré, Zund and others.

The Museum also includes a section entitled "Meshkinfam from the perspective of others". This includes tens of sketches and paintings covering the years 1973-2003 painted live by artists and various personalities whose names appear on each piece of work. To compliment these works is the handwritings of contemporary artists and personalities commenting on the works of Meshkinfam.

Photography

This section includes photographs from contemporary personalities of Fars including more than 200 academic and artistic characters.

They were taken by Meshkinfam himself over a period of more than two decades and include a biography of the personalities involved. To compliment this collection is an archive of photographs of other distinguished personalities of Fars, collected from various sources.