Traditional art in a modern style
Güncelleme Tarihi:
by Johannes Hillje
Oluşturulma Tarihi: Nisan 08, 2009 00:00
ISTANBUL - The Rezan Has Museum opens a new exhibition today by well-known calligrapher Etem Çalışkan, an artist famous for rewriting the Nutuk, a 36-hour speech Atatürk delivered in 1927. The exhibit includes 15 poems and 10 quotes from relevant historical figures.
A new exhibition of work by the famous Turkish calligraphy artist Etem Çalışkan debuts today at Istanbul’s Rezan Has Museum at Kadir Has University.
The pieces will include visual interpretations of "the most beautiful poems by Istanbul’s most important poets," Çalışkan told the Hürriyet Daily News & Economic Review. The Istanbul-based artist put verses by well-known Turkish poets, including Yayha Kemal Beyahtl, Nazım Hikmet and Talat Sait Halman, on paper in his unique writing style. The exhibit includes 15 poems and 10 quotes from relevant historical figures such as the Sufi mystic Mevlana Celaleddin Rumi.
Çalışkan, 81, became famous for rewriting the Nutuk, the 36-hour speech Mustafa Kemal Atatürk gave in 1927 at the Grand National Assembly of Turkey. The work on the Nutuk, which covers the events between the start of the Turkish War of Independence in 1919 and the foundation of the Republic of Turkey in 1923, fills 900 pages and took Çalışkan about two years to complete. It was published by the Turkish Ministry of Culture in 2000 and is displayed, in 17 books, at the Atatürk Museum in Ankara.
Major works
Two other major works that Çalışkan has illustrated are a Turkish translation of the Koran and a book by Sufi mystic Yunus Emre, making him the only person to ever rewrite all three important books. "I don’t think anyone else will ever do this again," he said. Çalışkan was also hired to decorate Atatürk’s mausoleum in Ankara with sayings uttered by the founder of the Turkish Republic.
Çalışkan’s passion for calligraphy began during his studies at the Academy of Fine Arts in Istanbul, now part of Mimar Sinan University. He learned the art of writing from Emin Barin, an important calligrapher in the first half of the 20th century. After graduating in 1956, Çalışkan worked for various newspapers, including Yeni Sabah, Milliyet and Hürriyet. Sales of Hürriyet skyrocketed the day Çalışkan’s version of Atatürk’s Gençliğe Hitabe, a speech addressing Turkish youth, was published. His large portraits of Atatürk were printed in many newspapers and became very famous.
Today, Çalışkan is one of the only Turkish calligraphers writing in Latin letters. "People always connect calligraphy to Arabic letters and religion," he said. "If I wrote in Arabic, I would be rich by now." He hopes Turks will learn that calligraphy can be also done in Latin letters and develop the art further. "Calligraphy is related to our culture; it was popular in the past, when paintings were forbidden," he said.
Calligraphers now face the challenge of preserving the art of writing, which was the main artistic discipline during the Ottoman Empire. "Nowadays, people prefer to write with computers, but computers cannot dream and create something new, because they don’t have a brain," he said. Çalışkan thinks that schools should start teaching handwriting again. He is proud of his sole student, Seval Özcan, a young artist who shapes mirrors in calligraphy style. Çalışkan was also invited to a calligraphy symposium at Eskişehir University, which he says shows that young people are still interested in the art.
The new exhibition at Rezan Has Museum is the fifth collaboration between the artist and Kadir Has University. The poetry-related works displayed in the exhibit are the start of a project Çalışkan is working on for Istanbul’s term as the European Capital of Culture in 2010.
The pieces will include visual interpretations of "the most beautiful poems by Istanbul’s most important poets," Çalışkan told the Hürriyet Daily News & Economic Review. The Istanbul-based artist put verses by well-known Turkish poets, including Yayha Kemal Beyahtl, Nazım Hikmet and Talat Sait Halman, on paper in his unique writing style. The exhibit includes 15 poems and 10 quotes from relevant historical figures such as the Sufi mystic Mevlana Celaleddin Rumi.
Çalışkan, 81, became famous for rewriting the Nutuk, the 36-hour speech Mustafa Kemal Atatürk gave in 1927 at the Grand National Assembly of Turkey. The work on the Nutuk, which covers the events between the start of the Turkish War of Independence in 1919 and the foundation of the Republic of Turkey in 1923, fills 900 pages and took Çalışkan about two years to complete. It was published by the Turkish Ministry of Culture in 2000 and is displayed, in 17 books, at the Atatürk Museum in Ankara.
Major works
Two other major works that Çalışkan has illustrated are a Turkish translation of the Koran and a book by Sufi mystic Yunus Emre, making him the only person to ever rewrite all three important books. "I don’t think anyone else will ever do this again," he said. Çalışkan was also hired to decorate Atatürk’s mausoleum in Ankara with sayings uttered by the founder of the Turkish Republic.
Çalışkan’s passion for calligraphy began during his studies at the Academy of Fine Arts in Istanbul, now part of Mimar Sinan University. He learned the art of writing from Emin Barin, an important calligrapher in the first half of the 20th century. After graduating in 1956, Çalışkan worked for various newspapers, including Yeni Sabah, Milliyet and Hürriyet. Sales of Hürriyet skyrocketed the day Çalışkan’s version of Atatürk’s Gençliğe Hitabe, a speech addressing Turkish youth, was published. His large portraits of Atatürk were printed in many newspapers and became very famous.
Today, Çalışkan is one of the only Turkish calligraphers writing in Latin letters. "People always connect calligraphy to Arabic letters and religion," he said. "If I wrote in Arabic, I would be rich by now." He hopes Turks will learn that calligraphy can be also done in Latin letters and develop the art further. "Calligraphy is related to our culture; it was popular in the past, when paintings were forbidden," he said.
Calligraphers now face the challenge of preserving the art of writing, which was the main artistic discipline during the Ottoman Empire. "Nowadays, people prefer to write with computers, but computers cannot dream and create something new, because they don’t have a brain," he said. Çalışkan thinks that schools should start teaching handwriting again. He is proud of his sole student, Seval Özcan, a young artist who shapes mirrors in calligraphy style. Çalışkan was also invited to a calligraphy symposium at Eskişehir University, which he says shows that young people are still interested in the art.
The new exhibition at Rezan Has Museum is the fifth collaboration between the artist and Kadir Has University. The poetry-related works displayed in the exhibit are the start of a project Çalışkan is working on for Istanbul’s term as the European Capital of Culture in 2010.