Arkas Art Center will open its doors on March 26 with the exhibition “Tradition and Modernity: Turkish Painting in the Arkas Collection (1920-1970).” Featuring over 110 works from the Arkas Collection, the exhibition highlights the balance between modernization and tradition as explored by artists during the transition from the Ottoman Empire to the Republic.
Arkas Art Center will open its doors on March 26 with the exhibition “Tradition and Modernity: Turkish Painting in the Arkas Collection (1920-1970).” The exhibition sheds light on the modernization process of Turkish painting, featuring over 110 works selected from the Arkas Collection. It explores how artists during the transition from the Ottoman Empire to the Republic balanced modernization and tradition in their art. The exhibition also offers a glimpse into the upcoming collection selection of Arkas Art Göztepe, which will open soon. Both exhibitions, based on the Arkas Collection, aim to bring the development of Turkish painting to art enthusiasts in Izmir.
The exhibition, which showcases the modernization efforts of artists from the early years of the Republic to the 1970s, tells the story of Turkey’s transformation through figurative and landscape paintings. The changes in the vacation culture, spanning from the Bosphorus and the Islands to Ankara and Anatolia, are explored through landscape paintings, while the lifestyle of the modern individual is depicted in figurative works.
Another key theme of the exhibition is the confidence instilled in Turkish art by artists who went to Paris on scholarships after World War II, and the influence of the New Paris School.
The exhibition brings together significant figures in Turkish painting. The influence of the education received by artists from the 1914 generation, such as İbrahim Çallı, Nazmi Ziya, Hikmet Onat, and Namık İsmail in Paris, is visible, while the impact of Hoca Ali Rıza and Halil Paşa’s plein air painting tradition on subsequent generations is emphasized.
Artists such as Hale Asaf from the Independent Painters and Sculptors Society, André Lhote, the teacher of the d Group artists, as well as Bedri Rahmi, Eren Eyüboğlu, Cemal Tollu, Nurullah Berk, and Hamit Görele, will be featured in the exhibition. Works by Fikret Mualla, Pierre Bonnard, and Léopold Lévy will also be presented to the audience.
Curated by art historian and academic Prof. Dr. Burcu Pelvanoğlu, the exhibition emphasizes the intertwining of tradition and modernity in Turkish painting. The selection challenges the perception of a disconnection between the early Republican period and the Constitutional era, while also showcasing the reflections of art movements such as Impressionism, Late Cubism, and Art Deco in Turkish painting.
The exhibition will be held at Arkas Art Center from March 26 to December 28.
