In the closing weeks of every summer, the walls of Tehran and Shiraz were adorned with posters for the Shiraz Arts Festival—posters that announced the emergence of modern Iranian art at the crossroads of East and West. Today, these works are regarded as some of the most significant examples of modern Iranian graphic design from the 1960s and 1970s. Their role extended far beyond publicizing an international cultural event; they played a crucial part in shaping the visual identity of the festival and in fostering the modernist movements that transformed Iranian art and graphic design.
The posters combined traditional Iranian motifs, Persian typography, and the modern principles of international graphic design. Each one captures a chapter of Iran’s modern art history and is recognized as a distinguished work in its own right. Held over eleven editions between 1967 and 1977, the Shiraz Arts Festival became one of Iran’s most important international cultural events. It brought together artists from Iran, Asia, Europe, and the United States in the historic settings of Persepolis and Naqsh-e Rostam, helping to introduce a new vision of Iranian art to the world.
The Figures Behind the Shiraz Arts Festival
The idea for the Shiraz Arts Festival emerged in the mid-1960s within the framework of the Pahlavi government's cultural policies. The project received strong support from Empress Farah Pahlavi, who played a prominent role in Iran’s cultural and artistic institutions at the time.
The festival was organized by a committee that included Reza Ghotbi, Farrokh Ghaffari, Shahrazad Afshar (Director of Music and Dance), and Khojasteh Kia (Director of Theatre until 1972, succeeded by Bijan Saffari). Later, Farrokh Ghaffari assumed full responsibility for both film and theatre programming. The renowned graphic designer Qobad Shiva was responsible for the festival’s visual identity, including posters, brochures, catalogs, daily bulletins, and promotional materials.
Public relations and publicity were first managed by Iraj Gorgin and later by Karim Emami. Distinguished literary and artistic figures such as Houshang Ebtehaj, Arby Ovanessian, Dr. Dariush Safvat, Hormoz Farhat, Fozieh Majd, Davoud Rashidi, and Mohammad-Bagher Ghaffari served as advisors throughout the festival’s eleven editions.
Together, they sought to create a festival unlike conventional European models. The result was a unique event where traditional Iranian arts, Asian performance traditions, Western classical and experimental music, and the latest international artistic movements coexisted within a single program.
What Made the Shiraz Arts Festival Unforgettable
Over its eleven-year history, the festival hosted some of the most celebrated artists of the twentieth century. Among its most notable musical events were the performances of the legendary Indian musician Ravi Shankar, whose appearances in Shiraz attracted significant international media attention. Other distinguished participants included Yehudi Menuhin, Karlheinz Stockhausen, Iannis Xenakis, and Maurice Béjart, all of whom presented works that were considered among the most innovative artistic experiments of their time.
In theatre, the presence of visionary directors such as Peter Brook was especially significant. His celebrated production of Orghast in 1971, staged at Persepolis and Naqsh-e Rostam, remains one of the defining moments in the festival’s history. Created in collaboration with the British poet Ted Hughes, the work drew upon multiple languages and mythological traditions in an attempt to invent a universal theatrical language. Its presentation amid the monumental ruins of Persepolis received worldwide attention and is still regarded as one of the most ambitious theatrical projects of the twentieth century.
Another defining feature of the festival was its commitment to Iran’s ritual and traditional arts. Renowned Ta'zieh performers from across the country presented their work in Shiraz, introducing many international scholars to this dramatic tradition for the first time. Storytelling performances (Naqqali), painted-scroll recitations (Pardeh-khani), the regional music of Khorasan, the musical traditions of southern Iran, and numerous other local performance practices formed an essential part of the festival’s programming.
Posters: Images of Iranian Art
The festival’s posters were designed by some of the most influential artists in modern Iranian visual culture. Through their bold compositions, vivid colors, innovative use of Persian calligraphy, and reinterpretation of traditional visual motifs, these works presented a distinctive image of Iranian culture to both local and international audiences.
Today, the posters of the Shiraz Arts Festival stand as historical and cultural documents from a period when Iran’s intellectual and artistic communities were striving to achieve a global artistic language while remaining deeply rooted in their own cultural heritage. They have been featured in numerous exhibitions and scholarly studies on the history of Iranian art and graphic design, and they continue to inspire contemporary designers.
Encountering these works today offers a rare opportunity to revisit the aspirations, imagination, and artistic ambitions that shaped one of the most remarkable periods in the history of modern Iranian art.