Painter and sculptor Selim Turan (1915-1994) aligned the concepts of "thesis, antithesis, synthesis" side by side with his life and art, and in so doing succeeded in establishing bridges between Eastern and Western cultures that at first sight are too subtle and fine to identify. The ‘Selim Turan. Thesis-Antithesis-Synthesis’ exhibition at Sabancı University's Sakıp Sabancı Museum takes as its starting point works by the artist in the Istanbul University Collection and brings an unconventional interpretation to the period of modern Turkish art in the post-World War II period. Selim Turan divided his time between Paris and Istanbul from 1947 until his death, producing visual experiments influenced by the cultural milieux of both cities. As well as displaying these visual experiments for the first time, the exhibition aims to inspire a debate about numerous unknown works by the artist in terms of their experimental approach.
Born into a family of Azerbaijani origin, Selim Turan belonged to the first generation of artists educated at Istanbul State Academy of Fine Arts in accordance with the goal of ‘modernisation’ introduced by the reforms of the young Turkish Republic. Through his works the exhibition looks at how Turan transformed the visual experience gained from his teachers Léopold Lévy, Feyhaman Duran, Nazmi Ziya and Zeki Kocamemi into a thesis.
Abstract works by the artist, who first went to Paris on a scholarship in 1947, reflect the dialectic process prompted by his experiences in that city. In the 1950s Selim Turan held a series of one-person exhibitions in Paris's foremost galleries (Galerie Breteau, Galerie Crevan, Galerie Lucien Durand), was invited to participate in museum exhibitions (Salon des Réalites-Nouvelles, Salon Comparison) and worked as assistant to Hans Hartung. He relied on his own initiative in developing his work, keeping his distance from specific groups and movements.
This exhibition illustrates how Turan's concept of ‘antithesis’ developed as a result of these efforts and presents his black abstract paintings, which are masterpieces dating from his mature period, to Istanbul art lovers for the first time.
This section also includes paintings by Jean Bazaine, Henri Goetz, Léon Zack, Natalia Dumitresco and Alexander Istrati, major artists who were active in Paris during the period 1947-1960, and paintings and sculptures by other Turkish artists from Istanbul who went to Paris at that time. Works by Fahrelnissa Zeid, Nejad Devrim, Albert Bitran, Mübin Orhon, İlhan Koman and Hakkı Anlı, who spent the post-World War II years in Paris, have been loaned from their private collections by Öner Kocabeyoğlu and Ceyda and Ünal Göğüş.
One of the features that makes Selim Turan’s experiences unique in Turkish art are the plaza installations, sculptures and large-scale statues that he produced for openair sites in France, mainly from the 1960s onwards. These represent explorations that led to the artist to develop a visuality which could be defined as ‘synthesis’. His mobile statues, which are being exhibited in their historical context in Turkey for the first time, reveal how he was inspired by nomadic Türkmen and Bektashi sufi traditions. Selim Turan avoided using specific formulas in his ‘synthesis’ period, instead developing a style based on visual mobility and the need to view art without any preconceptions. The exhibition presents the most striking examples of this style.
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