The “Feyhaman Duran, Between Two Worlds” exhibition is held in the Sakıp Sabancı Museum with the contributions of Sabancı Holding
About 1,000 works of art and personal belongings of the artist who was the leader of portrait painting in Turkish history of art will be presented to art lovers at the Sakıp Sabancı Museum (SSM) of the Sabancı University with the contributions of Sabancı Holding and the cooperation of İstanbul University…
On the 15th anniversary of its foundation, the Sakıp Sabancı Museum (SSM) is preparing to bring the “Feyhaman Duran, Between Two Worlds” exhibition on January 12th where the life and works of Mr. Feyhaman Duran, one of the leading representatives of the 1914 Generation will be depicted with the contributions of Sabancı Holding and the cooperation of İstanbul University.
In the exhibition a comprehensive selection from the artist that enlightened his world will be presented. These include about 1000 works from the internalisation of both traditional and Western art in the period of the shift from the Ottoman Empire to the Republic. There will also be some parts from his home located in Beyazıt, where he spent the majority of his life with his painter wife, Mrs. Güzin Duran, displayed with special arrangements reflecting his daily life and working environment. Consisting of painting materials, furniture and examples of the calligraphy collection, these arrangements make it possible to have a detailed perspective of the painter with his leading position in Turkish history of art and about his period. The selection, which is based on the paintings of Mr. Feyhaman Duran that can also be called “his special collection”, include landscapes, still-lifes and free style works besides his portrait works for which he was famous.
Ms. Güler Sabancı, the Founding Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Sabancı University, stated in her speech during the press conference, “We wanted to start our 15th year with an artist who grew up in this geography to highlight our own values. Moreover, we attach a great importance to this exhibition because of the fact that it brings two academic institutions together. Mr. Feyhaman Duran experienced both the Ottoman and Republic periods. For this reason, we are required to regard this exhibition as an opportunity to closely recognise and understand our country and history, besides the works and life of Mr. Feyhaman Duran. As you know, the Sakıp Sabancı Museum is a university museum belonging to the Sabancı University, one of the youngest universities. The organisation of this exhibition became possible thanks to İstanbul University, the long-established university of our country. Therefore, the deep-rooted institution has trusted the experience of a young institution in comparison to it and an exemplary cooperation was achieved between these two academic institutions. İstanbul University generously shared the works and personal belongings of the artist with us. I wish this close and constructive cooperation of two universities in terms of art will give inspiration to other institutions as well. We are undergoing a difficult time as a country. We believe that the best way to overcome these difficulties is to work and produce more than ever. Art becomes more meaningful in these days. As a matter of fact, art unifies, heals, embellishes and shows new ways to understand our past and present.”
Mr. Dr. Nazan Ölçer, the Manager of SSM, provided information about the exhibition and stated, “We are very pleased to organise the most comprehensive exhibition of Mr. Feyhaman Duran in the Sakıp Sabancı Museum of the Sabancı University and enter the 15th anniversary of the foundation of our museum with this prominent exhibition. The presentation of the works of Mr. Feyhaman Duran on the 100th anniversary of birth, which was last year, with such a high number and contents came about because of our cooperation with İstanbul University in the first place. The fact that the artist had made a decision to donate all his home, together with all belongings and other properties therein, on condition that the usufruct right would belong to his wife, and that his wife also died after a while, made the University an owner of a world which bears all the traces of a long life besides the belongings and paintings. For these reasons, the collection exhibited today is of a particular value and takes us to the very special world of the artist. Hundreds of free style works, which are included in the collection and perhaps were not shared with anybody else than his wife, are not only a valuable guide for understanding his working system but also they are being exhibited for the first time.
In the preparation process of our exhibition, we followed him from the traditional atmosphere of İstanbul to Beyoğlu, the “European” world of the period, step by step thanks to the biography of Mr. Feyhaman Duran, who was born in 1885 in an enlightened Ottoman family. We tried to reflect İstanbul in the years around when he was born and grew up, with the documentary films we obtained from foreign resources. In order to understand the educational institutions in Paris, Ecoledesbeaux-arts and Academie Julian, which provided his academic education and were instrumental in forming the basis of his skills, his probable life there and this different environment he was sent to, we obtained images showing the streets and quarters of France in 1910s from different institutions, archives and film museums abroad. We wanted our visitors to experience their special world by reflecting their modest home in Beyazıt, which is one of the oldest and authentic towns of İstanbul, as inherited from the famous calligrapher Yahya Hilmi Efendi, the grandfather of Mrs. Güzin Duran. They lived there for years and worked peacefully together in the workshop constructed in its small garden, and this is displayed the hall of our museum.”
Prof. Dr. Mahmut Ak, the Chancellor of İstanbul University to which the artist donated his works, shared his opinions as follows, “The ‘Feyhaman Duran, Between Two Worlds’ Exhibition is a valuable project which is prepared on the basis of the Feyhaman Duran Culture and Art House collection of İstanbul University, a cultural heritage both for our country and for the world. As İstanbul University, we intend to bring all collections which were created with great efforts and are protected by our university into the world’s cultural heritage. The Feyhaman Duran Collection of İstanbul University is an important outcome of this understanding. Revealing the importance attached by İstanbul University to the art, artist, cultural heritage and cooperation, this exhibition will constitute an important guide for lovers of Turkish history of painting and for researchers.”
Documentary photographs are also available in the exhibition, which will be supported with such secondary programmes as documentary shows, conferences and children’s workshops in order to showcase a period through the life and works of Mr. Feyhaman Duran. Additionally, the exhibition catalogue will accompany the exhibition as one of the basic resources related to the artist with articles examining different periods of the art of Mr. Duran and research where the role of the Hıdiv Family, who contributed to his travel to Paris in the world of culture and art in the last period of the Ottoman Empire, is depicted.
The art of Mr. Feyhaman Duran reveals all the conflicts and developments of such a period with its details showing the last years of the Ottoman Empire and the process of the shift to the Republic. The exhibition reflects how the journeys of Mr. Duran to Paris, the heart of the world of art, shaped his art; from being in an empire in its collapse period and finding himself in a radical transformation when he came back and thus, it intends to introduce the period of the shift from the Ottoman Empire to the Republic through the history of painting.
Mentioning his interest in mysticism philosophy during his conversations, Mr. Duran reflected on his simultaneous experience of the East and West throughout his life to his art practice. Even though the artist is mainly known for his portrait works, due to the need for portraits in Turkey at the time of the Republic, he continued to produce in different types as well, including still-lifes, landscapes etc. with the same productivity.
In this sense, his nude works painted using a live model for the first time during his education in Paris, his landscapes describing different regions and places and his still-life works where his calligraphy compositions are included as an object are also presented in the exhibition besides the portraits of Mr. Duran, in order to reveal his works in different styles.
The “Feyhaman Duran, Between Two Worlds” exhibition which will bring a leading figure of the Turkish history of art together with art lovers on 12th of January is waiting for art lovers in the Sakıp Sabancı Museum until the 30th of July.