Kaveh Rafie (PhD 2025) publishes essay in Smarthistory on Jalil Ziapour’s Public Bath (1949)
Introduction
Rendered on a large canvas, Jalil Ziapour’s Public Bath, 1949, is anchored by the gazes of two figures on the right looking directly at the viewer. A crouching bather is attended by a standing male—likely a dallāk (bath attendant) wearing a red loincloth. Their heads turn toward the viewer, breaking the pictorial plane and implicating the observer as an uninvited witness. Nearby, a trio of women—two kneeling and one standing with raised arms—are scrubbing themselves. Their bodies are schematized with large buttocks, elongated necks, and skin tones ranging from yellow to pink and dark brown. Their faces are rendered with a uniform, mask-like impassivity, marked by large almond-shaped eyes and sharply-arched eyebrows. Above, a celestial figure—perhaps an angel—hovers. On the rooftop beyond, a man stands on a vaulted arch, hanging or collecting laundry.
READ MORE: https://smarthistory.org/jalil-ziapour-public-bath/