Contemporary Turkish Painting From The Collection Of The Central Bank of The Republic of Turkey

SARAJEVO (BiH) / An exhibition "Contemporary Turkish Painting From The Collection Of The Central Bank of The Republic of Turkey" at National Gallery in Sarajevo.

It is perhaps common knowledge that the Turkish art of painting produced its first examples, in the sense of taking an approach to art using paint as in the West, in the 1980s, and that early on it was influenced by French Academic Realism, immediatelly followed by an adherence to French Impressionism. The French influence arose primarily from the close economic, social, and political relations the Ottoman Empire had with France.

The new approach, ushered in by the will for radical change and innovation in the period starting with the proclamation of the Turkish Republic (1923), was, in terms of perception, interpretation, and the forms they took, directly connected to developments that began in the last days of the Empire. However, it was the republican ideal that, until the 1930s and 1940s, unwaveringly drew Turkish artists in quest of modern perception. Lasting up to the 1950s, this process may be described as the period in which Turkish art achieved its genesis.

Also during the post-1950s period, Turkish painting seriously diversified, acquiring a range of figure perception that embraced different approaches to painting as it further enriched itself by not rejecting traditional connections. The changing political and social milieus of the 1970s reinforced this diversification in the form of Pop Art, Photorealism, Minimalism and conceptual art. Similarly, the 1980s, because of the new dynamics they brought forth, forced Turkish artists to reorganize themselves, as art was debated once more from the standpoint of action, concept, and phenomenon, in the absolute senses of these words.