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Pouran Jinchi

(Iranian, active United States, born 1959)

Tajvid Red, from the series Recitation

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Object Details

Artist

Pouran Jinchi

Date

2009

Medium

Ink on paper

Dimensions

156 × 53 inches (396.2 × 134.6 cm)

Credit Line

Acquired through the George and Mary Rockwell Fund

Object
Number

2010.042

The Qu’ran, or the Muslim book of revelations, is the subject of Pouran Jinchi’s Recitation series(…)

The Qu’ran, or the Muslim book of revelations, is the subject of Pouran Jinchi’s Recitation series. Jinchi is a trained calligrapher, and frequently uses Persian and Arabic script in her paintings and drawings. Recitation, however, stands apart from her earlier works in taking a religious text as its source material. The “Tajvid” series, the main component of Recitation, is a group of large ink on paper drawings that unfurl from the ceiling to floor. On these scrolls, Jinchi has copied out selections of the Qu’ran by hand, producing a text that is faithful to the original in every way, but is missing all of the consonant letters. The Qu’ran is the oldest and most sacred book of Islam, and has inspired calligraphic invention since it was first established as an authoritative text in the seventh century. But no matter how elaborate the calligraphy or illumination, the artist is forbidden from taking poetic license with the text itself. Recitation renegotiates this edict. Removing the legibility of its language, the artist calls attention to its status as an object of visual pleasure, while remaining within the bounds of permissible behavior.

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