Observation of subject and aesthetic in the religious naive fresco in Licha Boghee (holy mausoleum) from Gilan

This article is a survey on motifs and naïve aesthetic of wall painting from holy mausoleums (boghee or Imamzadeh) in gilan. The province Gilan in north Iran had very holy mausoleums (boghee). Over walls of most these mausoleums had painted religious Icons, figures and inscriptions in naive style. Among the holy mausoleums, Licha mausoleum is quite popular of which walls and columns had painted religious fresco. In this issue intend observe about the causes of choice the religious subjects and the usage of naive aesthetic on frescos of Licha Boghee. The Licha mausoleum is the Tumbe of Agha seyed Mohammed Yomni, the son of seventh Imam of shia, Imam M?s? ibn Ja‘far al-K??im(A.S.). It is located in the village Licha in the zone of Lashtenesha , a city in west Gilan. However over the walls this boghee can man see the similar frescos too, but these unique frescos are one of the most interesting ones among anothers. The subject s of these fresco demonstrate the innate interest of the aboriginal people to religion and Ahle beit (the children of prophet Mohammad like Imam Hosein(A.S.). They have been really interested in religious subjects. One of another special point in this research is it that these frescos had created by vow and devotion of locale people. According of the consequence of local research the characteristic of these frescos are their popularity and distance from academic and formal arts. Though the artists of these frescos did not have any academic instructions, they succeeded to occupy a place in Iranian artistic history for themselves. Of course most of themes are religious motifs and they are inspired by people will, while Boghee painting is purely imaginary and the painter does not have any model and what painter draws is merely that which goes in his mind. Observing the present evidences he draws an imaginary picture of, for example, Karbala event, Ashura epic, meraj rasulallah(S.), Resurrection day and some epical pictures which indicate the imagination and enthusiasm of painting. Boghee painting which is called Imaginary painting, is an art with its recognized principles. Its main feature is retaining the genuinenes of portraits, in a way that even in dealing scenes of karbala epics, the painter makes his outmost effort to paint the faces. This feature is due to the fact that “state” and “motion” are limited in this type of painting. In each fresco the faces convey the subject intended by painter to onlookers. The painter of this style is an earnest narrator who consciously or unconsciously represents the protagonists or antagonists with due emotions towards them. For example in imam Hossein(A.S.)and his son Ali Asghar(A.S.), Imam’s face occupies a large place in the painting and this shows the painter’s love of Imam. In a religious fresco the face of enemies and vicious people are as ugly as possible.