An early work done in 1960 while a student at Macalester, shortly after reaching the American
shore. It is a continuation in his Persian period, perhaps out of a sense of needing to maintain that
reassuring connection in an unfamiliar world. It is the first time Armajani used calligraphy in purely abstract form, deviating from his usual use of calligraphy within his more figurative paintings or
sculptural work. Originally simply titled "Shirt", it was later revised to "Golden Shirt". It evokes the
mesmerizing and dominant effect of the Persian language and script on Armajani: "The language
of Iran is Farsi, which is closed, ambiguous, imbedded with allegory and metaphor and mixed with
political, religious and social hints."
Legible script morphs into obscure markings throughout the work. The artist extended this
technique in a series of calligraphic paintings, notably, the Golden Shirt (1960) (pp. 32–33), in
which inscription covers the entire canvas. Here, legibility gives way to abstraction with the writing
ebbing in shades of black, brown, green and ochre.
Armajani pointed to the ubiquity of calligraphy in Iranian culture as having
influenced his decision to integrate the form into his art practice. ‘Calligraphy was
the only art form that everybody had access to… Calligraphy became an
investment in one’s memory, in one’s past’.