Although art historical evaluation of visual art was taught by the 1950s in Iran, educators normally evaluated art in the context of aesthetics and classical theories of beauty. In systematic discussions, they would describe artworks from the European historical points of view. With the emergence of first modern galleries and local modern art many critics championed the new art movement and proclaimed it as the epitome of aesthetic values and still others wrote negatively about new trends and exhibitions. Many dominating figures wrote bold and novel reviews about the first Tehran Biennials, new exhibitions and modernist artists of the time. This paper proceeds in three steps. First, it focuses on early reviews written about avant-garde exhibitions in Tehran of the late 1950s and 1960s and the emergence of early signs of modern art criticism. It discusses how articles, write-ups and interviews about early modernist trendsetters paved the way and became sources of academic art criticism, not only in regards to method and analysis, but for documentations and knowledge about those artists, setting the framework for further scholarship. Among the print sources used for analysis are: Ayandegan, Ettela‘at, Ferdowsi, Ketab-e hafteh, Keyhan & Kayhan International, Negin, Rastakhiz & Rastakhiz-e Javanan, Sokhan, Tamasha, various exhibition catalogs, and documents from Tehran Museum of Contemporary Art. Second, the early writings lead to inception of critic-historians who combined different areas of traditional art historical study with critical knowledge of intellectual issues and development of alternative perspectives about popular culture and visual art. This paper intends to place art literature of the mid twentieth century Iran in its historical context, examining notable trends and important popular themes, as well as negative reactions towards early modernists and provocative exhibitions. Third, it focuses on the role major critics played in future direction and development of modern art and the field of art criticism, examining how they directly and indirectly impacted modern trends and promoted artists through print-media.