Cultural Identity in Children's Literature Book with Entrance of Native Elements in Illustration (Case Study: Works of Parviz Kalantary)

Abstract

1960's were one of important eras affecting Iranian art and culture. It was during these years when artists, writers and intellects tried to find a national-religious identity in their worksdue to illuminations of the age which insisted on going back to ourselves as a social necessity. Private investors and children book publishers also asked illustrators to create works of such quality by applying identity based elements. Present paper studies the hypothesis that native elements appearing in illustration of children books during 60's were essentially a result of identity based beliefs and thoughts. Parviz Kalantary, the illustrator who used the most native and national themes and elements in his works, was able to create works which effected Iranian society's art for over half a century. Present research is a descriptive-analytical study based on data gathered from library resources and documents and it concludes based on a posteriori method. Findings indicate that Parviz Kalantary, based on his knowledge of native characteristics and using ornaments, characters looks and costumes, has created his characters based on national and native identity. His success in identity based illustration had a great influence on Iranian illustration during past decades and has led to a collective national and native memory of his work.

Keywords

• illustration
• native elements
• children's literature
• parviz kalantary