Yahşi Baraz is a name etched in our minds for his over half-century-long journey in art and his contributions to the acceptance of painting in the country. After witnessing the world of art and culture, he has also made a name for himself through his initiatives in art publishing and the creation of an art archive as a custodian of Turkish art. His years of struggle and contributions in these fields are of the kind that could be taught as lessons in the relevant art departments of universities… But Yahşi Baraz’s contribution to our cultural and artistic world doesn’t stop there. When he founded Galeri Baraz in 1975, he realized that there were no photographs of Turkish artists. Since then, he has photographed over 200 artists, including some of the most well-known names today, using the limited resources of the time… We listen to the story of this photographic archive, which includes portraits of Fahrelnissa Zeid, Füreya Koral, Semiha Berksoy, Burhan Doğançay, and Nejat Devrim, from Yahşi Baraz himself.
“Over the Years, I Took Thousands of Photos”
“Why did I take these photos?”
“When I started working as a gallerist, there were no photos of artists in Türkiye. There were very few photographs. For example, you couldn’t find even 5-10 pictures of artists born in the early 20th century… Significant artists like İbrahim Çallı, Feyhaman Duran, Hikmet Onat have come and gone from Türkiye. But no one was there to document them at that time. Take Fikret Mualla, for example… If Ara Güler hadn’t taken his photo, no one would even remember what Fikret Mualla looked like today. This was the situation Turkish art was facing… It wasn’t like this in Western countries. There are specific museums and foundations dedicated to this work… Cultural people, photographers, and filmmakers working in these foundations document these important artists together. This is Türkiye’s greatest deficiency. I saw this lack when I opened the gallery in 1975 and started photographing our artists. Over the years, I have taken thousands of photos. Ninety percent of these photos have never been published; they remain as documents. Perhaps in the future, a more civilized society will be established in Türkiye… Museums, foundations will be founded, and artists will find their true place… Then, these photos will ensure that the artists are recognized. At the very least, people will recognize them physically…”
Füreya Koral
Elmadağ, Istanbul
I know Füreya Hanım’s entire family. Cevat Şakir, Aliye Berger, Nejat Devrim, Şirin Devrim… When you consider my years spent in the art world, I’ve had the chance to meet artists spanning 100-120 years, from those born in the 1900s to the youngest among them. Very few people have had relationships with these individuals during this period besides me; I don’t think there is another gallerist who has. Füreya Hanım was a very disciplined, hard-working ceramic artist. In fact, she holds the distinction of being the first ceramic artist in Türkiye. Her studio was in Elmadağ. We would visit from time to time. During these visits, I would also take some photos of her. I took this photo at her studio in Elmadağ, Istanbul. She was a self-taught artist. There are very interesting wall panels she created in some banks and workplaces.
Turkish Edition
Semiha Berksoy
Cihangir, Istanbul, 1990s
Semiha Berksoy was a famous opera artist and also an artist who created very interesting paintings. Her daughter, Zeliha Berksoy, was a friend of mine. I wanted to meet Semiha through her, so I went to her studio, which was her home in Cihangir. That day, I took some very interesting photos of Semiha Berksoy. She was a very sincere, dynamic, and charismatic personality… Despite her advanced age, she remained very youthful, and this left a strong impression on me that day. In this photo, she is holding her dog in her arms.
Nejat Devrim
Copenhagen, 1988
Nejat Devrim is one of the most intriguing artists in Turkish painting. He was the first artist to create abstract paintings in Türkiye. In 1946, he went to Paris and became part of the abstract movement there. This is a very significant achievement. Later, Nejat Devrim participated in a show titled ‘Young French and American Painters’ at the Sidney Janis Gallery in New York, organized by the famous American gallerist Leo Castelli. In this exhibition, Nejat Devrim’s paintings were compared to Ad Reinhardt’s works and presented as ‘Reinhardt-Nejat.’ This was an important exhibition in Nejat Devrim’s career. After that, no other American or European gallerist chose any Turkish painter… This is a unique aspect of Nejat Devrim in the history of our painting. He was an artist with whom I spent a lot of time. He was a member of the famous Şakirpaşa family, which significantly influenced Türkiye’s cultural and artistic world. His mother, Fahrelnissa Zeid, as you know, was also the first artist to create abstract paintings in Türkiye. I took this photo during one of my meetings with Nejat in Copenhagen in 1988.
Fahrelnissa Zeid
Amman, Jordan, 1991
My introduction to Fahrelnissa Zeid was made possible by her daughter, the famous theater artist Şirin Devrim, whom we lost in 2011. Thanks to her, I had the opportunity to meet Zeid, which was a great privilege for me. This photo is one of the pictures taken in Zeid’s studio in Amman, Jordan. It was taken in 1991. She passed away about three months after this photo was taken, making it one of the last photos taken of her.
Fahrelnissa Zeid is one of the 3-4 most important artists in Turkish painting history, in my opinion. As you know, there have been some delays in Turkish painting. But when you look at Zeid’s work, you see that she created paintings at the same time and with the same quality as the artists of her era. For this reason, she is recognized among the representatives of French abstraction, which includes her son Nejad Devrim. She created works of the same caliber as those of internationally renowned artists like Hans Hartung, Alfred Manessier, and Helena Vieira da Silva. Zeid was a unique artist. The exhibition opened by Tate Modern in 2017 made a significant impact. As I said, she is one of the artists I hold in the highest regard. The book I prepared, Fahrelnissa Zeid / Fırtınaya Doğru (Towards the Storm), is one of the works I am most proud of in my over half-century-long art journey.
İpek Duben
New York, 1990s
İpek Duben is a very old friend of mine, and she is a great artist. I took this photo of her in her studio in New York in the early 1990s. The impression İpek left on me was that she was the most enlightened and intellectual figure among Turkish painters. She was creative and knew the world and art very well. She always lived far from advertising but she is an artist who has made it into the literature with his art.I have always followed the exhibitions she has held over the years. She has done very beautiful work. She has also published theoretical books. In other words, this is something that very few artists in Türkiye have done… İpek Duben has very interesting research books on the history of painting and art history. In this respect, she has made a great contribution to Turkish art.
Burhan Doğançay
Singer Bulding, New York, 1996
Burhan Doğançay was not a known artist. I opened his first exhibition in 1976. His paintings did not receive any attention until 2000. But later it was understood that he was a very important artist. Today, Doğançay’s paintings have become a kind of black market. I had a very close friendship with Burhan Doğançay. He is perhaps the only painter among Turkish painters with whom I feel the closest connection and have the most friendship. We were together for approximately 38 years, both in the United States and here, until his death. I sold many of his works and introduced his works to many collectors. He is a great artist who has opened up to the world and whose works have been sold to museums. I have also prepared a book about him. This book will be released in the coming months. This photo was taken in his studio in New York. We used to meet in his studio whenever I went to America. Burhan Doğançay is probably the artist I have photographed the most in this archive. I have taken hundreds of photographs of him during the years we spent together.
Haluk Akakçe
İstanbul, 2019
The owner of the St. Regis Hotel, Cengiz Çetindoğan, liked Haluk’s paintings very much and always bought them. Çetindoğan also gave him a studio inside the hotel for a while. He used that studio for 2-3 years and produced beautiful works during that time. I would go there from time to time to take photos of Haluk and examine his paintings. This is one of those photos. It was taken in 2019. Haluk is making a portrait of me in the photo. A friend of ours even made a one-minute film of this moment. Haluk Akakçe was actually a very talented person… He went to the United States and got on the artist list of the famous gallery owner Jeffrey Deitch; he started working with him. In fact, when I talked to American gallery owners between 2008 and 2010, Haluk was always the first one that came to mind. He had started to make quite a name for himself there. But unfortunately, Haluk could not take advantage of this. In other words, after having such great power, “Why did he leave Jeffrey Deitch and return to Türkiye?” is always a question unanswered for me. If he had stayed, maybe he could have established other relationships and become a world-renowned name. He unfortunately passed away a very short time ago.
