MONET EXHIBITION AT FONDATION BEYELER

Claude Monet, “The Customhouse”, 1882, Oil on canvas, 61 x 75 cm, Harvard Art Museums/Fogg Museum, Bequest of Annie Swan Coburn, 1934, Photo: Imaging Department © President and Fellows of Harvard College.

January 22 – May 28, 2017

To mark its twentieth anniversary, the Fondation Beyeler is presenting one of the most important and best-loved artists: Claude Monet. The exhibition will be a celebration of light and color, illustrating the great French painter’s development from Impressionism to his famous paintings of water-lilies. It will feature his Mediterranean landscapes, wild Atlantic coastal scenes, different stretches of the Seine, meadows with wild flowers, haystacks, water lilies, cathedrals, and bridges shrouded in fog. In his paintings, Monet experimented with changing light and color effects in the course of a day and in different seasons. He succeeded in evoking magical moods through reflections and shadows.

Claude Monet was a great pioneer, who found the key to the secret garden of modern painting, and opened everyone’s eyes to a new way of seeing the world. The exhibition will show 62 paintings from leading museums in Europe, the USA and Japan, including

the Musée d’Orsay, Paris; the Metropolitan Museum, New York; the Museum of Modern Art, New York; the Museum of Fine Art, Boston and the Tate, London. 15 paintings from various private collections that are seen extremely rarely and that have not been shown in the context of a Monet exhibition for many years will be special highlights of the show.

Claude Monet, “The Terrace at Vétheuil”, 1881, Oil on canvas, 81 x 65 cm, Private Collection, Photo: Robert Bayer.

In the year of its 20th birthday, the Fondation Beyeler is devoting an exhibition to Claude Monet, one of the most important artists in its collection. Selected aspects of Monet’s oeuvre will be presented in a distilled overview. By concentrating on his work between 1880 and the beginning of the 20th century, with a forward gaze to his late paintings, the show will reveal a fresh and sometimes unexpected facet of the pictorial magician, who still influences our visual experiencing of nature and landscape today.

The leitmotif of the “Monet” exhibition will be light, shadow, and reflection as well as the constantly evolving way in which Monet treated them. It will be a celebration of light and colors. Monet’s famed pictorial worlds - his Mediterranean landscapes, wild Atlantic coastal scenes, various locations places along the course of the River Seine, his flower meadows, haystacks, cathedrals and fog-shrouded bridges - are the exhibition’s focal points. In his paintings, Monet experimented with the changing play of light and colors in the course of the day and the seasons. He conjured up magical moods through reflections and shade. Claude Monet was a great pioneer in the field of art, finding the key to the secret garden of modern painting and opening everyone’s eyes to a new way of seeing the world.

Claude Monet, “In the Norvégienne”, 1887, Oil on canvas, 97,5 x 130,5 cm, Musée d’Orsay, Paris, legacy ofPrincesse Edmond de Polignac, 1947, Photo: © RMN-Grand Palais (Musée d’Orsay) / Hervé Lewandowski.

LIGHT, SHADOW AND REFLECTION

Following the death of his wife in 1879, Monet embarked on a phase of reorientation. His time as a pioneer of Impressionism was over; while by no means generally acknowledged as an artist, he was beginning to become more independent financially thanks to the help of his dealer, as is documented by his frequent journeys. Through them, he was, for example, first able to concern himself with Mediterranean light, which provided new impulses for his paintings. His art became more personal, moving away from a strictly Impressionist style.

Above all, however, Monet seems to have increasingly turned painting itself into the theme of his paintings. His comment, as passed down by his stepson Jean Hoschedé, that, for him, the motif was of secondary importance to what happened between him and the motif, should be seen in this light. Monet’s reflections on paintings should be interpreted in two ways. The repetition of his motifs through reflections, which reach their zenith and conclusion in his paintings of the reflections in his water-lily ponds, can also be seen as a continuous reflecting on the potential of painting, which is conveyed through the representation and repetition of a motif on a canvas.

Claude Monet, “Water-Lilies”, 1916–1919, Oil on canvas, 200 x 180 cm, Fondation Beyeler, Riehen / Basel, Beyeler Collection, Photo: Robert Bayer, The restoration of this art work is supported by the, BNP Paribas Swiss Fondation.

Monet’s representations of shade are another way in which he represented the potential of painting. They are both the imitation and the reverse side of the motif, and their abstract form gives the painting a structure that seems to question the mere copying of the motif. This led to the situation in which Wassily Kandinsky, on the occasion of his famous encounter with Monet’s painting of a haystack seen against the light (Kunsthaus Zurich and in the exhibition), did not recognize the subject for what it was: the painting itself had taken on far greater meaning that the representation of a traditional motif.

Theodore Robinson, “Portrait of Monet”,
c. 1888–90, Cyanotype, 24 x 16,8 cm,
Terra Foundation for American Art, Chicago,
gift of Mr. Ira Spanierman,
1985, Photo: © Terra Foundation for American Art,
Chicago / Art Ressource, NY.

MONET’S PICTORIAL WORLDS

The exhibition is a journey through Monet’s pictorial worlds. It is arranged according to different themes. The large first room in the exhibition is devoted to Monet’s numerous and diverse representations of the River Seine. One of the most notable exhibits is his rarely shown portrait of his partner and subsequent wife Alice Hoschedé, sitting in the garden in Vetheuil directly on the Seine.

The next room celebrates Monet’s representation of trees: a subtle tribute to Ernst Beyeler, who devoted an entire exhibition to the theme of trees in 1998. Inspired by colored Japanese woodcuts, Monet repeatedly returned to the motif of trees in different lights, their form, and the shade they cast. Trees often give his paintings a geometric structure, as is particularly obvious in his series. The luminous colors of the Mediterranean are conveyed by a group of canvases Monet painted in the 1880s. In a letter written at that time, he spoke of the “fairytale light” he had discovered in the South. In 1886 Monet wrote to Alice Hoschedé that he was “crazy about the sea”. A large section of the exhibition is devoted to the coasts of Normandy and the island Belle-Île as well as to the ever-changing light by the sea. It includes a fascinating sequence of different views of a customs official’s cottage on a cliff that lies in brilliant sunlight at times and in the shade at others. On closer examination, the shade seems to have been created out of myriad colors.

Monet’s paintings of early-morning views of the Seine radiate contemplative peace: the painted motif is repeated as a painted reflection in such a way that the distinction between painted reality and its painted reflection seems to disappear in the rising mist. The entire motif is repeated as a reflection. There is no longer any clear-cut differentiation between the top and bottom parts of the painting, which could equally well be hung upside down. In other words, the convention about how paintings ought to be viewed is abandoned and viewers are left to make their own decision. It is as if Monet sought to convey the constant flux (panta rhei) that is such a fundamental characteristic of nature, capturing not only the way light changes from night to day but also the constant merging of two water courses.

Claude Monet, “Rocks at Belle-Île, Port-Domois”, 1886, Oil on canvas, 81,3 x 64,8 cm, Cincinnati Art Museum, Fanny Bryce Lehmer Endowment, and The Edwin and Virginia Irwin Memorial, 1985, Photo: Bridgeman Images.

Monet loved London. He sought refuge in the city during the Franco-Prussian War of 1870/71. As a successful and already well known painter, he went back there at the turn of the century, painting famous views of Waterloo and Charing Cross Bridge as well as of the Houses of Parliament in different lights, particularly in the fog, which turns all forms into mysterious silhouettes. A tribute not only Monet’s famous hero/forerunner William Turner, but also to the world power of Great Britain with its Parliament and the bridges it built through trade.

Monet’s late work consists almost exclusively of paintings of his garden and the reflections in his waterlily ponds, of which the Beyeler Collection owns some outstanding examples. The exhibition’s last room contains a selection of paintings of Monet’s garden in Giverny.

FURTHER INFO

www.fondationbeyeler.ch

Fondation Beyeler, Beyeler Museum AG, Baselstrasse 77, CH-4125 Riehen, Switzerland

Fondation Beyeler opening hours: 10 am - 6 pm daily, Wednesdays until 8 pm

Claude Monet, “View of Bordighera”, 1884, Oil on canvas, 66 x 81,8 cm, The Armand Hammer Collection, Schenkung der Armand Hammer Foundation, Hammer Museum, Los Angeles.

MONET SERGİSİ FONDATION BEYELER’DE

22 Ocak – 28 Mayıs 2017

Avrupa’nın önemli müzelerinden İsviçre Basel’deki Fondation Beyeler, kuruluşunun 20 . yılında “MONET” sergisi düzenledi. Işık ve renk şöleni sunan sergide, Fransız ressamın İzlenimcilikten, ünlü nilüfer çiçekleri serisine doğru gelişimi de izlenebilecek. Akdeniz manzaraları, vahşi Atlantik kıyı görüntüleri, Seine nehrinin farklı kolları, kır çiçekleri, saman yığınları, nilüferler, katedraller ve sis içindeki köprüler sergide görülebilecek izlenimci temalardan bazıları. Monet resimlerinde, bir gün içinde ve farklı mevsimlerde değişen ve ışık ve renk etkilerini denemiştir. O, yansımalar ve gölgeler aracılığıyla, büyülü ruh çağrışımları yaratmada başarılı olmuştur.

Claude Monet, modern resmin gizli bahçesinin anahtarını bulan büyük bir öncü oldu ve herkesin dünyayı farklı açılardan görmesi için yeni bir yol gösterdi. Sergide Musée d’Orsay, Paris; the Metropolitan Museum, New York; the Museum of Modern Art, New York; the Museum of Fine Art, Boston and the Tate, London gibi Avrupa, Amerika ve Japonya’nın önemli müzelerinden bu sergi için ödünç alınan 62 eser görülebilir. Ayrıca daha önce Monet sergisinde yer almamış, özel koleksiyonlardan bu sergi için seçilen 15 eser de sergi de önemli bir yere sahip.

DETAYLI BİLGİ

www.fondationbeyeler.ch

Fondation Beyeler, Beyeler Museum AG, Baselstrasse 77, CH-4125 Riehen, Switzerland

Claude Monet, “Jean-Pierre Hoschedé and Michel Monet on the Banks of the Epte”, c. 1887–90, Oil on canvas, 76 x 96,5 cm, National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa, Gift of the Saidye Bronfman Foundation, 1995, Photo: © National Gallery of Canada.

COLD FRONT FROM THE BALKANS

Ivan Moudov, Fragments (#2, #3, #4, #5) (2003 - 2010), 4 handmade boxes, stolen fragments and video (00’57”), Courtesy of the artist and Galerie Alberta Pane.

The exhibition Cold Front from the Balkans is on view at the Pera Museum, Istanbul, Turkey between 10 November 2016 - 07 May 2017. Pera Museum’s Cold Front from the Balkans exhibition curated by Ali Akay and Alenka Gregorič brings together contemporary artists from Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Kosovo, Macedonia, Montenegro, Romania, Serbia and Slovenia.

The exhibition focuses on different generations of artists and art groups from the Balkan region. The exhibition avoids the usual unflattering political connotations the region’s name inevitably brings up but instead focuses on a natural phenomenon — the wind. The exhibition title refers to the well-known saying in Turkish: “Cold wind blowing from the Balkans” which conveys winter's arrival and is most commonly used in television weather reports. The co-curator of the exhibition, Ali Akay links the wind with geography and art and asks: “Why would we look at an anthropocentric world and not a nature-centric becoming human?”

Following this very common idiom in Turkey, the exhibition brings together the artists who deal with their immediate surroundings, reacting and commenting on their social, political and cultural milieu, such as Maja Bajević, Braco Dimitrijević, Vadim Fishkin, IRWIN, Laibach, Mladen Miljanović, Ivan Moudov, OHO, Dan Perjovschi, Mladen Stilinović, Ulay, and Sislej Xhafa amongst others. In the selection of the striking works made in different mediums ranging from video to photography, drawing to installation; it is aimed to create a new dialog between the Balkan artists from different generations and to provide a new point of view for the spectator.

Yane Calovski & Hristina Ivanoska, Oskar Hansen’s Museum of Modern Art (2007), 

Series of 12 posters (Edition of 10 and 2 AP), 100 x 70 cm, 

Courtesy of the artists and ŻAK | BRANICKA.

Ali Akay draws attention to how Istanbul was under the influence of the Balkans, historically and culturally. He emphasizes that in an era where ties between the Western and Eastern blocs have begun to disappear and Istanbul’s Balkan character came to be forgotten, this exhibition strives to bring this deeply buried memory to the surface. Alenka Gregorič comments that, “Cold Front from the Balkans challenges the area’s own history, its geographical position, and above all, the system it serves most faithfully – the art system. The exhibition does not provide an answer to the question of what the Balkans are, nor does it aspire to accommodate the stereotypical Western view of the Balkans. After all, there is no consensus as to where exactly the Balkans begin and end and that is because every country has its own Balkans, which is never where you are, but, as Žižek says, always somewhere else - a bit towards the southeast.” As part of the exhibition, Pera Museum is presenting a discussion with the curators Ali Akay and Alenka Gregorič and with the artists Mladen Miljanović, Lana Čmajčanin, Raša Todosijević, IRWIN and Ivan Moudov on 10 November, Thursday between 17:00 – 18:30. The talk will focus on the art and history of the Balkan region as well as the artists’ works. The same day, between 18:45 – 19:30, artist Mark Požlep and his pianist’s performance will take place at Pera Café.

Artists in the Exhibition

Maja Bajević, Dimitrije Bašičević – Mangelos, Luchezar Boyadjiev, Yane Calovski & Hristina Ivanoska, Mircea Cantor, Jasmina Cibic, Lana Čmajčanin, Nemanja Cvijanović, Braco Dimitrijević, Goran Djordjević, Vadim Fishkin, Tomislav Gotovac, Ion Grigorescu, Ibro Hasanović, IRWIN, Laibach, Vlado Martek, Mladen Miljanović, Ivan Moudov, OHO, Adrian Paci, Dan Perjovschi, Lia Perjovschi, Mark Požlep, Kiril Prashkov, Anri Sala, Erzen Shkololli, Sašo Stanojkoviḱ, Mladen Stilinović, Raša Todosijević, Slaven Tolj, Jelena Tomasevic, Milica Tomić, Ulay, Sislej Xhafa, Katarina Zdjelar.

Pera Museum can be visited Tuesdays through Saturdays from 10:00 to 19:00 and on Sundays between 12:00 – 18:00. Friday are longer and free at the Museum! On “Long Fridays,” Pera Museum is open and free of admissions between 18:00 - 22:00. Wednesdays it’s “Young Wednesday”! Pera Museum is free of admissions for all students on Wednesdays.

Ibro Hasanović, Study for an Applause (2011), Video, 5’34”, Courtesy of the artist.

“BALKANLARDAN GELEN SOĞUK HAVA”

Pera Müzesi, 10 Kasım 2016- 7 Mayıs 2017 tarihleri arasında düzenlediği “Balkanlardan Gelen Soğuk Hava” sergisi ile Arnavutluk, Bosna-Hersek, Bulgaristan, Hırvatistan, Karadağ, Kosova, Romanya, Sırbistan ve Slovenya’dan çağdaş sanatçıların eserlerine yer veriyor. Sergi Balkan kültürü ve sanatının etkilerini hafızalarda yeniden canlandırıyor.

Pera Müzesi’nin yeni sergisi “Balkanlardan Gelen Soğuk Hava”, farklı kuşaklardan Balkan sanatçılara odaklanıyor. Lübliyana Müzesi ve Galerileri iş birliğiyle düzenlenen sergi, bölgenin kaçınılmaz olarak akla gelen siyasi çağrışımları göz önünde bulundurulmaksızın, bir doğa olayı üzerinden biçimleniyor: Rüzgâr. Maja Bajević, Braco Dimitrijević, Vadim Fiškin, IRWIN, Laibach, Mladen Miljanović, Ivan Moudov, OHO, Dan Perjovschi, Mladen Stilinović, Ulay ve Sislej Xhafa gibi sanatçıların kendilerini çevreleyen sosyal, politik ve kültürel izlenimlerine yer veren sergi, videodan fotoğrafa, çizimden yerleştirmeye farklı mecralardan çarpıcı eserleri bir araya getiriyor. Böylece sergiyle, farklı nesillerden Balkan sanatçılar arasında yeni bir diyalog oluşturulması hedefleniyor.

Lübliyana Müzesi ve Galerileri’nde sanat yönetmeni olarak çalışan Alenka Gregorič ile Ali Akay’ın küratörlüğünde düzenlenen serginin rüzgâr üzerinden kurulan teması aynı zamanda kışın gelişine işaret eden “Balkanlardan gelen soğuk hava dalgası” söylemine gönderme yapıyor. Rüzgârı coğrafya ve sanatla ilişkilendiren Ali Akay, “Neden insan merkezli bir dünyaya bakalım da doğa merkezli bir insan–oluşa bakmayalım?” sorusunu gündeme getiriyor. İstanbul’un tarihsel ve kültürel alanlarda her dönem Balkanlar’ın etkisinde olduğunu hatırlatan Akay, Batı ile Doğu bloğu arasındaki bağların izini kaybetmeye başladığı günümüzde bu serginin anlam kazandığını vurguluyor. Sergi ile birlikte İstanbul kenti, zamanlar ve kültürlerin karşılaşmasına sahne olurken, bize Balkan geçmişimizi hatırlatacak bir düşünme alanı yaratıyor.

Slaven Tolj, Nature and Society (2012), Video documentation (Performance: MSU Zagreb / Here Tomorrow, Zagreb, 2002), 3’51”, Courtesy of the artist, Fotoğraf / Photo: Marko Ercegović.

Serginin ilk günü, 10 Kasım Perşembe saat 17:00’da, küratörler Alenka Gregorič ve Ali Akay, sanatçılarla bir araya gelerek Balkan sanatı, tarihi ve üretim pratiklerinin tartışılacağı bir panel düzenliyor. Sanatçı Mark Požlep’in gerçekleştireceği performans ise aynı gün saat 18:45’te Pera Cafe’de başlıyor!

Pera Müzesi Salı’dan Cumartesi’ye 10:00-19:00 saatleri arasında, Pazar günleri ise 12:00- 18:00 saatleri arasında gezilebilir. Müzede Cuma günleri hem uzun hem de ücretsiz! “Uzun Cuma”larda müze 18:00 - 22:00 saatleri arasında ücretsiz olarak ziyaret edilebilir. Çarşamba günleri ise “Genç Çarşamba”. “Genç Çarşamba” günleri tüm öğrenciler müzeyi ücretsiz ziyaret edebilir.

Slaven Tolj, Nature and Society (2012), Video documentation (Performance: MSU Zagreb / Here Tomorrow, Zagreb, 2002), 3’51”, Courtesy of the artist, Fotoğraf / Photo: Marko Ercegović.

FELIX ZIEM: WANDERER ON THE SEA OF LIGHT

Félix Ziem, Caiques and Sailboats at the Bosphorus, Second half of the 19th century, Oil on Canvas, 55 x 81 cm, 

Suna and İnan Kıraç Foundation Orientalist Paintings Collection.

The exhibition Félix Ziem: Wanderer on the Sea of Light is on view at the Pera Museum, Istanbul, Turkey between 10 November 2016 - 29 January 2017. Pera Museum’s Félix Ziem: Wanderer on the Sea of Light exhibition presents the works of one most original landscape painters of the 19th century: Félix Ziem. The exhibition focuses on Ziem as an artist who left his mark on 19th century painting and who is mostly known for his paintings of Istanbul and Venice, where the city and the sea are intertwined. The exhibition organized in collaboration with Musée Ziem in Martigues, is curated by Lucienne Del’Furia and Frédéric Hitzel.

Félix Ziem’s oil paintings stand out with their lively colors and the artist’s effort to capture the flickering effects of the continuously changing light by using a rapid and dynamic brush style. The exhibition illustrates the reasons why the artist was hailed as a forerunner of impressionism and as a pre-impressionist; his stylistic relationship with artists like Monet is quite visible. His drawings exemplify his creative process and present new angles into his work. They also encourage us to rediscover the city of Istanbul through his perspective. Ziem is accepted as one of the well-known artists of the romantic landscape painting, and has been followed closely by art lovers and collectors of all periods since. He had a profound influence on generations of artists after him, and was the first artist whose works were acquired by the Louvre while he was still alive.

Félix Ziem, Villefranche, Riviera, 1890 – 1900, Oil on wood,
81 x 55 cm, Musée Ziem Collection.

Ziem stayed in Istanbul until September 18th, whereupon he left for Egypt via Izmir, Rhodes, and Beirut. He was in Alexandria on October 8, 1856. He went down the Nile until Thebes, visited Aswan and Philae before returning to France after stops in Greece and Sicily.

Directly inspired by this journey to the East, the first paintings Ziem made upon his return to Paris were displayed at the Salons of 1857 and 1859. He tirelessly added the silhouettes of minarets and domes in various shapes in the background of his views of Istanbul. The city was thus reinvented as a pretext for big blue skies, bright with endless atmospheric variations and fantasy scenes. Ziem’s only journey to Istanbul nurtured his Orientalist dreams until 1911 and catered to the “Oriental obsession” that infatuated Europe. 

During this long journey, Ziem produced countless sketches, drawings, and studies, creating a visual memory he would be able to use for the rest of his life. However, the Orient he portrayed on his canvases was not the “real” Orient, but a pseudo-Orient, which disregarded realism and replaced it with the exaltation of light and timelessness.

As part of the exhibition, the curator of the show, Frédéric Hitzel will be holding a tour on 12th November, Saturday, at 11:00 am. The tour will offer a unique insight to the works of the exhibition.

Pera Museum can be visited Tuesdays through Saturdays from 10:00 to 19:00 and on Sundays between 12:00 – 18:00. Friday are longer and free at the Museum! On “Long Fridays,” Pera Museum is open and free of admissions between 18:00 - 22:00. Wednesdays it’s “Young Wednesday”! Pera Museum is free of admissions for all students on Wednesdays.

FURTHER INFO

www.peramuzesi.org.tr

Félix Ziem, Caiques and Sailboats at the Bosphorus, Second half of the 19th century, Oil on Canvas, 55 x 81 cm, 

Suna and İnan Kıraç Foundation Orientalist Paintings Collection.

FELIX ZIEM: IŞIĞIN RESSAMI PERA MÜZESİ’NDE

Pera Müzesi, 10 Kasım 2016 - 29 Ocak 2017 tarihleri arasında “Félix Ziem: Işık Denizinde Bir Gezgin” sergisini düzenliyor. Sergi ile 19. Yüzyıl resmine damgasını vuran ve çoğunlukla deniz ve kentin iç içe geçtiği İstanbul ve Venedik’i konu alan yağlıboyalarıyla tanınan Ziem’in eserleri, Türkiye’de ilk kez Pera Müzesi’nde bir araya geliyor.

Pera Müzesi’nin Ziem Müzesi ve Martigues Belediyesi iş birliğiyle düzenlediği Félix Ziem: Işık Denizinde Bir Gezgin sergisi, 19. Yüzyılın özgün manzara ressamlarından Fransız sanatçı Félix Ziem’i tüm yönleriyle tanıtmayı amaçlıyor. Küratörlüğünü Lucienne Del’Furia ve Frédéric Hitzel’in üstlendiği sergide Ziem’in, izlenimci ressamlarla üslupsal ilişkilerini yansıtan yağlıboyaları ile Kırım Savaşı döneminde İstanbul’da gerçekleştirdiği desen çalışmaları öne çıkıyor. Grafit ve tüy kalemle yaptığı desenlerde, kentin canlı bölgelerini yansıtan sokaklar, kocaman öküzlerin çektiği arabalar, köpekler, Boğaz ve Haliç sularında kayıp giden kayıklar betimleniyor. Desenlerinde manzaralarına yansıyan kalabalıklar hızlı çizimlerle, biraz bulanık bazen de siyah lekeler olarak betimlenirken ışık-gölge oyunlarıyla sağladığı ışıl ışıl su yansımaları, göz kamaştıran gökler, puslu görüntüler ise tuvallerinin temelini oluşturuyor.

Küratör Frédéric Hitzel, renkleri kullanmadaki ustalığı ve kompozisyonlarındaki canlılığıyla Ziem’i sıra dışı bir ressam olarak tanımlarken, Doğu’nun görkemini yansıtan masalsı mimarisi ve suyun gürül gürül aktığı çeşmeler gibi basmakalıp konulardan uzak duruşu ile dönem sanatçılarından ayırıyor.  

Félix Ziem, Canal Grande with Campanile at Setting Sun, Second half of the 19th century, Oil on canvas, 

84 x 117 cm, Musée Ziem Collection.

Gezgin Ressam İstanbul’da!

Félix Ziem, Paris’te Tuileries’de düzenlenen 1849 Salonu’nda üç yağlıboya ve üç suluboya resim sergilediğinde bunlardan biri de “Boğaziçi’nde Manzara”ydı. Sanatçının İstanbul’la ilgili bu ilk tuvalinde fotoğraflardan esinlendiği düşünülür. O yıllarda Doğu’ya olan ilgi, babasının Doğulu oluşu, yeni esin kaynakları, yeni ışık ve manzaralar arayışı onu bir Doğu gezisi yapmaya iter. Bu fikrini Kırım olayları yüzünden ancak 1856 yazında gerçekleştirebilir. Ziem, 1855 yılında kaleme aldığı günlüğünde İstanbul’a gelme tasarısı ile ilgili, “bu yolculuğun belirgin ve güçlü biçimlerin yoğunluğuyla ışıl ışıl resimler yapma dileğimi de destekleyeceğini umuyorum” notunu düşer. 18 Temmuz 1856’dan 18 Eylül’e dek iki ay boyunca, çoğunlukla Pera bölgesindeki tepelerde yaşar. Küratör Frédéric Hitzel, Ziem’in İstanbul’da kaldığı sürece kaç desen yaptığı tam olarak bilinmese de, Martigues’deki Ziem Müzesi’nde korunan 43 defterden ikisinin Türkiye’yle ilgili olduğu bilgisini verir.

Sanatçının Doğu yolculuğu bununla sınırlı kalmaz, sırasıyla İzmir’e, Rodos’a, Beyrut’a, Şam’a, İskenderiye’ye, Kahire’ye, Mısır’a ve İskenderiye’ye gider. Son olarak Yunanistan ve Sicilya üstünden Fransa’ya döner. Doğu Akdeniz yolculuğu toplamda beş ay sürer. Bu yolculuk onda kalıcı bir iz bırakır; tüm bu izlenimler ve ilk elden bu anılar Ziem’in tüm yaşamı boyunca başvuracağı bir görsel dağarcık oluşturur. Fransa’ya dönerken günlüğüne şöyle yazar: “Ah ah! Gördüğüm şeyleri nasıl anlatabilirim ki. Doğu bütünüyle gözlerimin önüne serilmişti. Gören ve derinden etkilenen kişi asla unutmaz. Onca zamandır aradığım şeyi, bana resmi ve sanatı candan sevdiren sevimli doğayı buldum sanırım!”

Félix Ziem, Piazza San Marco and Campanile, 

1880 – 1890, Oil on wood, 82 x 68 cm,

Musée Ziem Collection.

Henüz hayattayken eserleri Louvre Müzesi’ne kabul edilen ilk sanatçı olan ve sonraki kuşakları da derinden etkileyen Ziem’i İstanbullu sanatseverlerle buluşturan sergi, Ziem Müzesi ve Martigues Belediyesi iş birliğiyle düzenleniyor. Sergi kapsamında, 12 Kasım Cumartesi günü saat 11:00’da, küratör Frédéric Hitzel eşliğinde bir sergi turu gerçekleştiriliyor. Félix Ziem: Işık Denizinde Bir Gezgin sergisi 29 Ocak 2017 tarihine kadar ziyaret edilebilir.

Pera Müzesi Salı’dan Cumartesi’ye 10:00-19:00 saatleri arasında, Pazar günleri ise 12:00- 18:00 saatleri arasında gezilebilir. Müzede Cuma günleri hem uzun hem de ücretsiz! “Uzun Cuma”larda müze 18:00 - 22:00 saatleri arasında ücretsiz olarak ziyaret edilebilir. Çarşamba günleri ise “Genç Çarşamba”. “Genç Çarşamba” günleri tüm öğrenciler müzeyi ücretsiz ziyaret edebilir.

DETAYLI BİLGİ

www.peramuzesi.org.tr

Félix Ziem, Dancer in a Caique, 1870 – 1880, Oil on wood, 69 x 113 cm, Musée Ziem Collection.

BARE, NAKED, NUDE: A STORY OF MODERNIZATION IN TURKISH PAINTING

İzzet Ziya, Girl on the Caique, 

c. 1915, Pastel on canvas, 29,5 x 23,5 cm., 

Zeyno-Muhsin Bilge Collection

On the 10th anniversary of its inauguration, Pera Museum is proud to present the exhibition “Bare, Naked, Nude,” which sheds light upon the development of nude painting in the modernization period of Turkish art. Open from November 25, 2015 until February 7, 2016, the exhibition explores how art production in a timeline extending from the Ottoman Empire to the Republic and dominated by landscapes and still lifes made room for the emergence of the nude, a fundamental genre in art history, as a pictorial form and theme. The exhibition also brings to fore the idea that nude painting is symbolic in revealing how the process of modernization in Turkey is reflected on art. Curated by Ahu Antmen, the exhibition includes nearly 150 works, including academic studies, by 44 artists of different periods.

Displaying works by artists including Osman Hamdi Bey, Süleyman Seyyid Bey, Halil Paşa, İzzet Ziya Bey, Avni Lifij, Ruhi Arel, İbrahim Çallı, Namık İsmail, Melek Celal Sofu, Cemal Tollu, Zeki Faik İzer, Bedri Rahmi Eyüboğlu, Eren Eyüboğlu, Fikret Mualla, Leyla Gamsız, and Yüksel Arslan “Bare, Naked, Nude: A Story of Modernization in Turkish Painting” exhibition follows the footsteps of nude paintings produced secretly and few in number at the turn of the 20th century and copiously during the Republican and seeks to demonstrate artists’ efforts to overcome the cultural resistance against artistic representations of nudity. Noting that the subject of nudity is a rather complex concept that not only encompasses historical and social processes that includes various transformations from tradition to modern, but personal sensitivities as well, Ahu Antmen adds, “While addressing the development period of nude painting in Turkish art with this exhibition, we also aim to reflect upon the creation of the artist’s identity in Turkey in a period extending from the Ottoman Empire to the Republic; the challenges of creating a desexualized artistic perception about the female body culturally associated with what is intimate; and the ties established between art and nude painting in the conception to modern identities.”

Cemal Tollu, Model in Front of the Window, 

1939 (Paris), Oil on canvas, 

64,5 x 50 cm., Lucien Arkas Collection

A large portion of “Bare, Naked, Nude” is comprised of drawings, a requisite of academic art education, from different periods, starting with the first Ottoman artists such as Osman Hamdi Bey, Süleyman Seyyid Bey, and Halil Paşa. While the first nudes displayed by Namık İsmail, İbrahim Çallı, Melek Celal Sofu, and Feyhaman Duran reveal the early artistic development of the Second Constitutional Monarchy period, nudes of innovative artists such as Zeki Faik İzer, Cemal Tollu, Bedri Rahmi Eyüboğlu, and Eren Eyüboğlu in the Republican era stand out as the forerunners of artistic modernism in Turkey. The symbolic meaning of the concept of nudity in the dichotomy of conservatism-modernity

“Bare, Naked, Nude” exhibition also examines how nude painting became “normalized” through the culture of art in a cultural climate in which even using live models was considered objectionable when the first academy of fine arts was inaugurated in İstanbul. Contrary to the conservatism of the Islamic culture, yet reflecting the aesthetic norms of the Western culture, nude paintings reveal how the body was extracted from being a subject and evolved into a form in the course of the development of art culture in Turkey. 

Following the opportunity Turkish artists were given at the turn of the 20th century to first work with male models at the Academy of Fine arts, and later with both male and female models as some of them were studying art in Europe, the human body was, through an infinite repertoire of poses, transformed into just another genre such as landscape, still life, or portrait for artists. Meanwhile, due its perception as a genre representing the female body in particular, the nude assumed a symbolic meaning not only in terms of cultural conservatism-modernism, but as a way of revealing the gender-biased aspect of artistic approaches. Noting that “nude” primarily evokes the idea of a female body, Ahu Antmen adds that this way of perception legitimized by the West also found its reflections in Turkish painting. 

Fahrünissa Zeid, Antique Portrait, 1940s, 

Oil on canvas, 60 x 40 cm, 

Huma Kabakçı Collection

MODERNISM AND THE NUDE

Gravitating towards the nude from themes such as sub bathing, caique excursions, sea baths, etc., after displaying their works of landscape, still life, portrait at the Galatasaray Exhibitions the Ottoman Association of Artists organized as of 1916, Generation 1914 artists such as Namık İsmail, İbrahim Çallı, and Melek Celal Sofu produced nude paintings that shunned academism and emphasized an impressionist sensuality in the 1920s. In the Galatasaray exhibitions of the 1930s, on the other hand, more modernist nudes of artists such as Cemal Tollu and Zeki Faik İzer came to fore. Ostracizing sensuality and focusing on the deformation of form, the new nudes not only reflected the artists’ individual search for style, but they also demonstrated the aspects of European modernism Turkish painting embraced. “Bare, Naked, Nude” exhibition creates a basis over which viewers can recognize the diversity of styles Turkish painters attained so soon after being introduced to a new genre they were ably to work with as of the 1920s. 

Exhibition curator Ahu Antmen stresses that the nude is one of the primary indicators of the ways in which Turkish painting broke out of its shell both in the cultural and the stylistic sense. Adds Antmen, “For many artists, the nude constitutes a bridge on the path leading to his/her own conception of the figure; the issue is not the naked human body but how it is perceived as a form with its infinite appearances, movements, and expressions. This artistic perspective requires us to look at the human body as nature itself, beyond all cultural norms. The nude painting thus holds a symbolic importance as a dichotomous artistic genre that both makes this possible and simultaneously destroys it due to its display.”

The Museum can be visited Tuesdays through Saturdays from 10 AM to 7 PM and on Sundays from 12 PM to 6 PM. On Fridays, also known as “Long Friday”, admission is free of charge from 6 PM until 10 PM.

Feyhaman Duran, Nude with Kerchief and Towel, 

1929, Oil on hardboard,106 x 89 cm., 

Sema-Barbaros Çağa Collection

NÜ RESMİN ÖYKÜSÜ PERA MÜZESİ’NDE

25 Kasım 2015 - 7 Şubat 2016

Pera Müzesi, kuruluşunun 10. yılında Türk sanatının modernleşme süreci içinde nü resmin gelişimini anlatan “Üryan, Çıplak, Nü” sergisini düzenledi. 25 Kasım 2015’te açılan ve 7 Şubat 2016 tarihine kadar devam edecek sergi, Osmanlı’dan Cumhuriyet’e uzanan süreçte manzara ve natürmort ağırlıklı resimsel üretimin genişleyerek sanat tarihinin temel türlerinden biri olan nü’nün resimsel bir konu ve biçim olarak ortaya çıkışını irdeliyor. Nü resmin, Türkiye’nin modernleşme sürecinin sanata yansıyan yönünün simgesel unsurlardan biri olduğunu da gündeme getiriyor. Küratörlüğünü Ahu Antmen’in yaptığı sergide, farklı dönemlerden 44 sanatçının, akademik etüdlerinin de dâhil olduğu 150’ye yakın eseri yer alıyor.

Osman Hamdi Bey, Süleyman Seyyid Bey, Halil Paşa, İzzet Ziya Bey, Avni Lifij, Ruhi Arel, İbrahim Çallı, Namık İsmail, Melek Celal Sofu, Cemal Tollu, Zeki Faik İzer, Bedri Rahmi Eyüboğlu, Eren Eyüboğlu, Fikret Mualla, Leyla Gamsız ve Yüksel Arslan gibi farklı kuşaklardan sanatçılara yer veren “Üryan, Çıplak, Nü: Türk Resminde Bir Modernleşme Öyküsü” sergisi, yüzyıl başında gizli saklı ve tek tük, Cumhuriyet döneminde ise yoğun olarak üretilen nü resimlerin izini sürerek ressamların, çıplaklığın sanatsal temsillerine karşı var olan kültürel direnci aşma çabalarını gözler önüne seriyor. Çıplaklık konusunun, gelenekselden moderne çeşitli dönüşümleri kapsayan tarihsel ve toplumsal süreçler kadar, bireysel hassasiyetleri de içeren oldukça karmaşık bir olgu olarak karşımıza çıktığına dikkat çeken Ahu Antmen “Bu sergi ile nü resmin Türk sanatındaki gelişim evresini ele alırken, bir yandan da ülkemizde Osmanlı’dan Cumhuriyet’e uzanan süreçte sanatçı kimliğinin oluşumunu, kültürel olarak mahremle özdeşleştirilmiş kadın bedenine yönelik cinsellikten arınmış sanatsal bir algı geliştirmenin güçlüklerini, modern kimlik algısında sanat ve nü resim arasında kurulan bağlantıları resimlere bakarak düşünmeyi, düşündürmeyi amaçladık” diyor.

Hikmet Onat, Male Model, 

undated, Oil on canvas, 

71 x 43 cm., Merey Collection

“Üryan, Çıplak, Nü” sergisinin kapsamlı bir bölümünü Osman Hamdi Bey, Süleyman Seyyid Bey, Halil Paşa gibi ilk Osmanlı ressamlarından başlayarak akademik sanatsal eğitimin bir gereği olan desenler oluşturuyor. Namık İsmail, İbrahim Çallı, Melek Celal Sofu, Feyhaman Duran gibi ressamların sergilenen ilk nü’leri Meşrutiyet dönemindeki erken sanatsal gelişimi gözler önüne sererken, Cumhuriyet döneminde Zeki Faik İzer, Cemal Tollu, Bedri Rahmi Eyüboğlu, Eren Eyüboğlu gibi ressamların yenilikçi yaklaşımlarında nü resimler, Türkiye’de sanatsal modernizmin başat bir unsuru olarak karşımıza çıkıyor.

Muhafazakârlık - modernlik ikileminde, çıplaklık olgusunun simgesel anlamı

“Üryan, Çıplak, Nü” sergisi, İstanbul’da ilk güzel sanatlar akademisi açıldığında canlı model dahi kullanmanın sakıncalı sayıldığı bir kültürel iklim içerisinde nü resmin zaman içinde ‘sanat kültürü’yle nasıl normalleştiğini de irdeliyor. İslam kültürünün taassubuna aykırı olan, ama Batı kültürünün estetik normlarını yansıtan nü resimler, Türkiye’de sanat kültürünün gelişim sürecinde çıplak bedenin bir konu olmaktan çıkıp, biçimsel bir kalıp haline gelme süreçlerini yansıtıyor.

20. yüzyıl başında Sanayi-i Nefise Mektebi’nde önce erkek canlı modeller aracılığıyla, ardından Avrupa’ya sanat eğitimi için gönderilen ressamların kadın ve erkek canlı modellerden çalışma olanağı bulmalarıyla insan bedeni, sonsuz poz dağarcığıyla ressamlar için manzara, natürmort, portreden farksız bir tür haline geliyor. Öte yandan nü, özellikle kadın bedenini temsil eden bir tür olarak algılanmasıyla, yalnızca kültürel muhafazakârlık-modernlik ikilemi açısından değil, sanatsal yaklaşımların cinsiyetçi yönünü gözler önüne sermesi bakımından da simgesel bir anlam yükleniyor. “Nü” kavramının öncelikle kadın bedenini çağrıştırdığına değinen Ahu Antmen, Batı sanat tarihinin adeta meşru kıldığı bu algı biçiminin Türk resminde de yansımalarını bulduğuna işaret ediyor.

Nuri İyem, Nude, 1950s, Oil on cardboard, 

27 x 18 cm., Evin-Ümit İyem Collection

MODERNİZM ve NÜ

Osmanlı Ressamlar Cemiyeti’nin 1916 yılından itibaren düzenlediği Galatasaray Sergileri’nde manzara, natürmort, portre dışında güneş banyosu, sandal gezintisi, deniz hamamı gibi konulardan sonra nü’ye yönelen Namık İsmail, İbrahim Çallı, Melek Celal Sofu gibi 1914 Kuşağı ressamları, 1920’li yıllarda akademizmi dışlayan, izlenimsel bir yaklaşımla tenselliği ön planda olan nü resimler üretiyorlar. 1930’lu yılların Galatasaray Sergileri’nde ise, Cemal Tollu, Zeki Faik İzer gibi ressamların daha modernist nü’leri gündeme geliyor. Tenselliği dışlayan, biçimsel deformasyonu esas alan yeni nü’ler, ressamların bireysel üslup arayışlarını yansıtırken, Avrupa modernizminin Türk resmine yansıyan yönlerini de gözler önüne seriyor. “Üryan, Çıplak, Nü” sergisi, Türk ressamlarının 1920’li yıllarda yeni yeni uygulama alanı buldukları bir resim türünde çok geçmeden ne kadar yoğun bir üslup çeşitliliği içinde çalıştıklarını izleyicinin değerlendirebileceği bir zemin oluşturuyor.  

Küratör Ahu Antmen, nü’nün Türk resminin hem kültürel hem biçimsel anlamda kabuğunu kırmasının en büyük göstergelerinden biri olduğunu vurguluyor. Antmen “Pek çok ressam için nü, kendi resmine, kendi figür anlayışına giden yolda bir köprü niteliğindedir; konu olan çıplak insan bedeni değil, sonsuz görünüşleri, hareketleri, ifadeleriyle insan bedeninin görsel bir biçim olarak algılanmasıdır. Bu sanatsal perspektif, insan bedenine tüm kültürel kalıpların ötesinde doğanın kendisi olarak bakabilmeyi gerektirir. Nü resim, bir taraftan bu durumu olanaklı kılan, diğer taraftan da bir teşhir mantığıyla tam tersine yok eden ikilemli bir sanatsal tür olarak simgesel bir öneme sahip,” diyor. 

Müze, Salı’dan Cumartesi’ye 10:00-19:00 saatleri arasında, Pazar günleri ise 12:00 - 18:00 saatleri arasında gezilebilir. Cuma günleri ise “Uzun Cuma”; müze, 18:00 - 22:00 saatleri arasında ücretsiz ziyaret edilebilir.

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