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As an original school seeking to preserve the identity of the valuable standards and fundaments of Iranian artistry, ''coffee-house'' painting came into being, thanks to the judicious efforts, of anonymous, unpretentious popular artists, during the early 20th century, when Iranian painting, with all its mature, proficient past, was undergoing an inevitable decline due to the situation prevailing in Iranian art and culture.
On the one hand, following the return of a host of Iranian artists from European countries and their ensuring dissemination of Western painting manners which contrasted with the rules and principles of Iranian painting, the very roots of the country's traditional art were threatened of collapse and on the order, notwithstanding the persistent fidelity of traditionalist Iranian painters to the preservation of the standards of traditional Iranian art, and in reason of their overall unwillingness or lack of interest to assume a new outlook upon Iranian art, a general trend of stagnation in the sterile repetition of time-honored masterpieces was insidiously gaining ground.
It was under such grave, portentous circumstances that several talented, truthful artists arisen from among the common population and backed by the perennial legacy of original Iranian art, set upon paving the ground for the emergence of a new artistic approach which was to become famous as ''coffee-house'' painting. In reality, their principal aim and ideal was to express the respect of the religious and traditional beliefs of the ordinary people, who expected their artists to depict their religious sagas and national epics, whether on canvases or in the form of mural paintings. For this reason, the artistic evaluation of the creativity of the “coffee-house'' painters, and even more significant, the understanding of the artistic and cultural foundations of their school, obviously requires a study, albeit rapid and brief, of this painting manner's roots in the history of Iranian art.
Making up with ever scare means and notwithstanding the lack of any patronage enabling it to shine in the face of official art, popular art, which has always flourished in accordance with the unadulterated tastes and beliefs of ordinary people, was nevertheless able to play a significant, fundamental role in the preservation and continuation of the traditions and the lofty religious and national values of the Iranian nation throughout its history, acting as a solid dam against the fierce, repeated assaults of  alien cultures seeking to overcome the religious and national foundations of our country. For example, under Safavid rule, during the period spanning the 16th and 17th centuries, although Iranian art was able to achieve worldwide frame in the field of figurative arts in virtue of the astonishing creativity of artists active in those days, yet, with the establishment of diplomatic and cultural relations between several European countries and the Safavid rules, and the subsequent arrival of various foreign ambassadors into their capital, Esfahan, which stood as a brilliant symbol of Islamic Iranian art, that resplendent city was turned into a parading arena for foreign cultures.
Being commissioned to decorate the royal palaces and aristocratic mansions there, the European painters not only captured the attention of kinds and courtiers but also caused a number of the local court painters to begin emulating European patters. That insidious influence bore the omens of cultural and artistic colonialism, and of the impending discredit of Iranian religious and national artistic foundations. Indeed one has to regretfully admin that, from then on, that enticement time and again lured Iranian artists into neglecting their own original creativity and resorting to mere imitation, thus hindering the survival and evolution of pure Iranian art.
It was in such an atmosphere of deep change that a group of little known but highly talented painters, relying on their sincere faith and unaided by the powerful patrons and the official artistic circles, began reacting by depicting religious events of the past on a vase scale, at once standing up against the pale courtly art which had become totally infatuated with the standards of European art and winning the undivided favor of ordinary people by putting forth works imbued with holy religious contents. In this way, they soon became known as “iconographers”, and their works began to be carried around the county by “icon holders”, who used them to illustrate their narrations, so that the works in question shortly gained popularity far greater than that of the paintings cloistered in palaces.
Although the rich, original works of the “iconographers” began losing their luster following the downfall of the Safavid dynasty and the ensuing political and social disarray in Iran, their continuity, like that of other popular arts, was assured thanks to the unreserved support of the people, occasionally even appearing in Persian literary works, particularly Ferdowsi’s Shahnameh, or on the tilework surfaces of both religious and secular edifices.
With the spread of the constitutional movement in Iran during the early 20th century, popular arts took a new direction. Religious narrations and national epics once again achieved their former popularity, and numerous writers, poets and painters, paying tribute to this novel social, political and cultural trend, made efforts to comply with the cultural and artistic needs of ordinary citizens, And it was in the course of that new development – entailing the disuse of pompous arts and literature alien to the character of ordinary people – that the urgent need for some sort of reversion to the forgotten religious and national values incited the unpretentious, genuine artists to take action.
They did so, perpetuating the painting style of the “iconographers” and “icon holders” in their own time, creating a new school which was to become famous as “coffee-house” painting and open a new chapter in the history of Iranian art.
This effort of theirs was all the more meritorious considering that they had had no training in official, governmental painting academies, and that whatever experience they had gathered was often due to lifetimes spent experimenting in various fields of traditional art, such as tilework designing or stucco carving. In fact, they began their experimentation with the desire and ideal of promoting the holy religious precepts and the tales and admonitions to be found in Persian prose and poetry. Disregarding the rules and principles of occidental painting, including those of perceptive and realism, they rather called upon their vast imagination, so that, while remaining faithful to the archetypes of religious events and nations tales, they took a memorable step in reviving the values of original Persian painting.
It should be noted that the logic of expressing one’s imagination and avoiding the objective, visible manifestations of nature is and old concept in Iranian painting. In fact, it is the essential motive in this country’s traditional painting, and the success of Iranian painters has ever been due to this far reaching imagination of theirs, which allowed them to display facets of their inner thoughts instead of merely making a show of their mastery at creating precise depictions of their subjects. In other words, it has been this ability to abandon themselves to their inner visions rather than to the apparent manifestations of shapes that has assured them a distinctive status in comparison with the other painters in the world at large. Thus, rare are the viewers able to contemplate this country’s works of art, particularly its miniature paintings, without feeling compelled to cogitate about them.
Perpetuating this time-honored Iranian artistic logic, the daring, talented “coffee-house”” painters were so insistent in their endeavor that, in the analyses left behind about their works, many critics have alluded to their movement as the “school of imagination”, calling them “imaginists”, which indeed seems an adequate epithet.
Also notable is the fact that referring to their manner as “coffee-house” painting implicitly speaks of the significant role played by the coffee-houses, where this school came into being, and the coffee-house owners, how were the first dedicated, faithful promoters of the destitute painters we are talking about. At the time when “coffee-house” painting was being born, coffee-houses were the only places in Tehran and other large and small cities of Iran where people would gather to rest and socialize. But, beside ordinary citizens, the main group to be found there was made up of artists and artisans active in various fields of traditional arts. Every evening, having finished their daily chores, they would come together there for a bit of rest and often estimated exchanges of views, so that the coffee-houses progressively came to be regarded as centers of artistic debate.
At nightfall, the “narrators”, whose art was to recite epic poems from Ferdowsi’s Shahnameh and other national literary masterpieces, also did their best at chanting the good deeds of the revered heroes of the past and recalling the ill fate of famous wrongdoers. By doing so, they actually played a significant role as educators of the society. And the coffee-house owners, considering the necessities of their business, which required them to attract as many customers as possible, called upon a number of able artists to illustrate the themes used by the “narrators” on large canvases. In this way the walls of their coffee-houses were turned into galleries wherein the religious, national and mythological scenes described could be admired. This was the starting point of the movement which was soon to be pursued in centers of the religious congregation, traditional sporting clubs and public bath-houses.
The “coffee-house” painters came to produce superb, delicate scenes conforming with the desires and needs of the ordinary pollution from among whom they had arisen, to the extent that they soon began receiving orders – apart from those of the coffee-house owners – from their fellow citizens, who, not-withstanding their scarce means, thus displayed their appreciation of the art of their own painters. And, in return, the “coffee-house” painters, who had always lived in dire need, ever gave up their communication with the people, sometimes giving away their masterpieces in exchange for a meal or a few glasses of tea offered by the admirers.
Among the better known “coffee-house” painters, the names of Hossein Qollar-Aqasi and Mohammad Modabber are worthy of particular mention. These two able, talented masters significantly contributed to the establishment and development of “coffee-house” painting.
Hossein Qollar-Aqasi was the son of master “Ali-Reza Qollar-Aqasi, a famous and experienced designer of tilework patters. In his childhood, he had acquired the rudiments of traditional painting in his father’s workshop. Following the death of master “Ali-Reza, he resolutely devoted his efforts to the development of “coffee-house” painting, creating magnificent canvas works and mural frescoes based on religious traditions and national epics. He was enraptured with vivid colors, and in his paintings he sought every pretext to reproduce the lively tones found in ancient Iranian illuminations and tileworks. He was a prolific painter deeply in love with the pure traditional painting of hi country. During the forty years or so he was active; he trained numerous capable pupils and put all his talent and faith at the service of developing “coffee-house” painting. These efforts continued until the year 1345, when he dies till quite poor and almost unknown.
Mohammad Modabber, the good friend and collaborator of Hossein Qollar-Aqasi, also learned the rudiments of traditional Iranian tilework designing beside his friend, in the workshop of the latter’s father, soon also joining the group of “coffee-house” painters. Having lost his father in early childhood, he began earning his livelihood by acting for a while in passion plays, thus acquiring considerable knowledge in the field of religious traditions. Owning to this background, he devoted most of his talent to drawing liturgical panels, leaving behind a wealth of superb works in this field. Yet, unlike his dear friend, Hossein Qollar-Aqasi, who was a resolute follower of the “school of imagination”, he sometimes resorted to the use of perspective and other elements found in the works of European religious painters, departing in this sense from the fundaments of “coffee-house” painting. Nevertheless, he was able to display such mastery in his works that, according to numerous specialists of “coffee-house”” painting, he must be counted as one of the greatest exponents of this school. His death occurred one year after that of Hossein Qollar-Aqasi in 1346, at a time when he was utterly destitute and without a decent shelter.

From Coffee House Painting Books by Hadi Seyf