This web exhibition accompanies the current exhibition Bloem van het Oosten, Moderne Iraanse en Arabische affiches at the Dutch Poster Museum in Hoorn, The Netherlands, from April 10 to June 26, 2005. The following text and the reproductions were kindly provided by Frans van Lier, curator of the exhibition.

Tarek Atrissi

Tarek Atrissi

Zeina Maasri & Raya Khalaf

Behzad Hatam

Hatem Imam Poster for Ashura day in memory of the death of Imam Hussein

Iman Raad

Amirali Ghasemi

Sadegh Barirani

Bijan Sayfouri

Reza Abedini

Reza Abedini

From April 10 to June 26 the Affichemuseum in Hoorn, Holland, ( www.affichemuseum.nl ) will present an exhibition of modern Iranian and Arabic posters. The exhibition, called "Bloem van het Oosten" (dutch for Flower of the East), shows some 60 superb posters from the collection of the famous Iranian designer Reza Abedini ( www.rezaabedini.com ). Apart from posters from his own hand works will be shown from Mostafa Asadollahi, Amir Ali Ghasemi, Mohammed Ehsay, Ebrahim Haghighi, Pedram Harbi, Morteza Momayez, Mehdi Saeedi, Ghobad Shiva, Parviz Bayami and others. Thanks to the efforts of the Lebanese designer Tarek Atrissi ( www.atrissi.com ) who is based in Hilversum, Holland, but works internationally, the exhibition also shows a collection of modern posters from Lebanon, including works of Atrissi. During the troublesome days of March he went to Beirut to take from there as many posters as he could lay his hands on. His choice gives an overview of the contemporaneous Lebanese poster culture for social, cultural or other purposes. Posters in the Middle-East are often not shown in the open as outdoor advertising but bring their message mainly indoors, in libraries, theatres, bookshops, offices etc. Therefore the sizes are generally modest. Calligraphy is an important part of the Arabic designs. Especially the Iranian posters are marvels of integrated calligraphy, images, typographic and ornamental elements. The modern Iranian posters have visibly their roots in the ancient Persian refined pictural culture. The new generation designers in Lebanon tries to integrate the traditional Arabic calligraphical design into a modern more Western mix of typography and imaging, often making use of Arabic and Latin lettering. The Lebanese posters therefore show a less coherent style of routinely made all-day publicity, however exotic for the Western eye. The posters of 26-year old Tarek Atrissi (for the Moroccan singer Raya Al Mouhadiz and for the Qatar Government) have the rich quality of a gifted craftsman. Also some Egyptian cinemaposters are featured, as well as prints from the Iranian election posters Rene Wanner has photographed in Tehran in February 2004.