Abstract
This chapter examines how a project for artists patronized by the ruling party came to be in line with the discourses of humanism and classicism during the Second World War in Turkey. In 1938, Hasan-Âli Yücel implemented a cultural policy entitled “Turkish humanism”. By conceptualizing Turkish humanism as nationalism taken to a universal level, Yücel aspired to bring nationalism and Westernist ideals together. Humanism was thus seen as key to Westernization. In the same period, the Republican People’s Party initiated and sponsored the “Painters’ Homeland Tours” project (1938–1946). Initially a result of populist, nationalist and patronizing state policy, these tours were also in line with Turkey’s international politics.
Similar content being viewed by others
Notes
- 1.
Established in 1932, People’s Houses ( Halkevleri) were social and cultural institutions with branches throughout the country, and though centrally managed they were controlled by the provincial branches of the RPP.
- 2.
The Academy of Fine Arts was opened in Istanbul in 1882 by the renowned painter, archaeologist and bureaucrat Osman Hamdi.
- 3.
In 1944, no tour was organized.
- 4.
At the 1936 Party Congress, Prime Minister İsmet (İnönü) announced “the congruency between the state apparatus and the party organization to be official policy” by making the two intermingled, which meant in practice that the governor of a province would be the head of the local branch of the party (Zürcher 2004: 177).
- 5.
According to this catalogue, in the period between 1938 and 1943, 675 paintings were completed. However, the catalogue held a simple registration by not supplying information regarding the type and size of the paintings .
- 6.
Although the name of the ministry changed to the Ministry of Culture for certain periods in Turkish history, the ministry in question is the Ministry of National Education and art was part of its responsibility, similar to those countries that thought of culture and art as part of the nation-building project, such as France. The name of the ministry was Maarif Vekaleti (1923–27 December 1935), Kültür Bakanlığı (28 December 1935–21 September 1941), Maarif Vekilliği (22 September 1941–49 October 1946), Milli Eğitim Bakanlığı (10 October 1946–1950), Maarif Vekaleti (1950–27 May 1960) and Milli Eğitim Bakanlığı (since 28 May 1960). See the ministry webpage, T.C Milli Eğitim Bakanlığı, “Milli Eğitim Bakanlığının Kısa Tarihçesi”, http://www.meb.gov.tr/meb/tarihce.html.
- 7.
Established in 1912, Türk Ocak ları were social and cultural institutions that had a nationwide organization network. Even though they originally aspired to carry out activities on the basis of promoting Turkish culture, they gained a political character after the Balkan Wars and the First World War (Üstel 2010: 72). The main reason for their closure in 1931 was their relative autonomy from the Kemalist government. Halkevleri were opened in 1932 by using the organization network of Türk Oca kları.
- 8.
Hasan Âli Yücel implemented a large-scale “humanist” cultural programme during his ministry. It covered courses on Greek and Latin, translation of Western and Eastern sources, state pai nting an d sculpture exhibitions, village institute s and so on.
- 9.
Another example of that was evident in the periodical is Yeni Adam. Painter Mahmut Cûda, since he worked for the periodical in 1939, made drawings in this manner. The periodical’s cover of issue 299 had the theme of “Return to Yourself” and featured a drawing by Cûda.
- 10.
They signed a Non-Aggression Pact in 1941. Their relations became so strong that it was not easy to tell whom Turkey sided with during the war.
- 11.
Five other principles of Kemalism are Milliyetçilik (nationalism ), Cumhuriyetçilik (republicanism), Laiklik (laicism), Devletçilik (statism/etatism) and İnkılâpçılık (reformism/revolutionism).
- 12.
The state started the exhibitions as part of celebrating the tenth anniversary of the Turkish Republic but it didn’t continue owing to comments criticizing the disappointing quality of the artworks.
- 13.
Soldier painters who signed their paintings as “servant of the Sultan” are of interest in terms of the relations between power and artistic patronage in the late Ottoma n Empire.
- 14.
Namely, Society of Fine Arts , Societ y of Independent Painters and Sculptors, and the Grou p “d”.
Bibliography
Ades, D., T. Benton, D. Elliott, and I. Boyd Whyte, eds. 1995. Art and Power: Europe Under Dictators 1930–1945. London: Thames and Hudson.
Aksel, M. 1960. Anadolu Halk Resimleri. İstanbul: Baha Matbaası.
Anonim. 1937. Halk Emrinde Güzel San’atler. Ayın Tarihi 42: 547.
———. 1938a, August 19. C.H.P’nin Güzel Kararı: 10 Ressamımız Tablolar Yapmak Üzere Yurt İçine Dağılıyorlar. Ulus.
———. 1938b. Plastik Sanat Anketi: Malik Aksel’in Düşünceleri. Ar 14: 20.
———. 1941, June 29. CHP Genel Sekreterliğinin Sanatkârlarımızı Himaye İçin Çok Güzel Bir Teşebbüsü: 10 Ressamımız Yurt İçine Gönderiliyor. Ulus.
———. 2002a. Ressamların Yurt Gezileri ve Yurt Sergileri. In Cumhuriyet Ansiklopedisi 1923–1940, ed. H. Ersel et al., vol. I. Istanbul: Yapı Kredi Yayınları.
———. 2002b. Yücel çıktı. In Cumhuriyet Ansiklopedisi 1923–1940, ed. H. Ersel et al., vol. I, 246. Istanbul: Yapı Kredi Yayınları.
Artun, D. 2007. Paris’ten Modernlik Tercümeleri: Académie Julian’da İmparatorluk ve Cumhuriyet Öğrencileri. İstanbul: İletişim Yayınları.
Aydın Dikmen, B. 2016. İnkılâbı Nakşedecek Resimler: Modern Türkiye’de Sanat Alanı ve Siyaset (1923–1945). PhD diss., Galatasaray University, Institute of Social Sciences, Department of Political Science.
Ayvazoğlu, B. 2011. Malik Aksel: Evimizin Ressamı. İstanbul: Kapı Yayınları.
Baydar, N. 1938. Ressamlarımız İş Başında. Ar 20–21: 30.
Bayındır Uluşkan, S. 2006. Atatürk Döneminde Halk Terbiyesi ve Buna Dair Bir Yayın Örneği: Halk Dergisi. Yakın Dönem Türkiye Araştırmaları 5 (9): 189–207.
———. 2010. Atatürk’ün Sosyal ve Kültürel Politikaları. Ankara: Atatürk Araştırma Merkezi.
BCA-CHP 490.1.0.0.2014.
BCA-CHP 490.1.0.0.2016.20.
BCA-CHP 490.1.0.0.2016.21.
BCA-CHP 490.1.0.0.2022.48.
BCA-CHP 490.1.0.0.4.21.32.
Bilsel, C. 2007. “Our Anatolia”: Organicism and the Making of Humanist Culture in Turkey. Muqarnas 24 (History and Ideology: Architectural Heritage of the “Lands of Rum”): 223–241.
[Boyar], Ressam Ali Sami. 1933. Kaldırım Ressamları. Ülkü 7: 34–36.
Bozdoğan, S. 2001. Modernism and the Nation Building: Turkish Architectural Culture in the Early Republic. Seattle; London: University of Washington Press.
———. 2008. Art and Architecture in Modern Turkey: The Republican Period. In The Cambridge History of Turkey: Vol. 4: Turkey in the Modern World, ed. R. Kasaba, 419–471. New York: Cambridge University Press.
CHP. 1944. Cumhuriyet Halk Partisi Resim Sergisi 1944. Ankara: CHP.
Çakan Hacıibrahimoğlu, I. 2012. Cumhuriyet ve Hümanizma Algısı. İstanbul: Türkiye İş Bankası Kültür Yayınları.
Chakrabarty, D. 2000. Provincializing Europe: Postcolonial Thought and Historical Difference. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
Çınar, M. 2013. Anadoluculuk ve Tek Parti CHP’de Sağ Kanat. İstanbul: İletişim Yayınları.
Cowling, E., and J. Mundy, eds. 1990. On Classic Ground: Picasso, Léger, de Chirico and the New Classicism 1910–1930. London: Tate Gallery Publications, Millbank.
Dıranas, A.M. 1940. Resimde Ümanizma: Birinci Devlet Resim ve Heykel Sergisi Münasebetiyle. Güzel Sanatlar 2: 131–153.
Dranas, A.M. 1941. Sanat ve Yurt Bütünlüğü. Ülkü 2 (16): 19–20.
Duben, İ. 2007. Türk Resmi ve Eleştirisi: 1880–1950. İstanbul: İstanbul Bilgi Üniversitesi Yayınları.
Edgü, A., ed. 1998. Yurt Gezileri ve Yurt Resimleri (1938–1943). İstanbul: Milli Reasürans T.A.Ş. Yayını.
Er, T. 2014. Arşiv Belgeleri Işığında Türkiye’de Sansür (1938–1945). Ankara: Berikan Yayınevi.
Erol, T. 1998. Ressamların Yurt Gezileri ve Sonuçları. In Yurt Gezileri ve Yurt Resimleri (1938–1944), ed. Amelié Edgü, 7–17. İstanbul: Milli Reasürans T.A.Ş. Yayını.
[Eyüboğlu], Bedri Rahmi. 1938. Yeniler ve Yeni Resim. Ar 15: 7.
Eyüpoğlu, S. 1938. Yeni Türk san’atkarı Yahut Frenkten Türke dönüş. İnsan 1 (15): 31–38.
Giray, K. 1995a. Yurdu Gezen Türk Ressamları-I. Türkiye’de Sanat 17: 34–37.
———. 1995b. Yurdu Gezen Türk Ressamları-II. Türkiye’de Sanat 19: 38–45.
Golan, R. 1995. Modernity and Nostalgia: Art and Politics in France Between the Wars. New Haven, CT; London: Yale University Press.
Guilbaut, S. 1983. How New York Stole the Idea of Modern Art? Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.
Hobsbawm, E. 1995. Foreword. In Art and Power: Europe Under Dictators 1930–1945, ed. D. Ades et al., 11–15. London: Thames and Hudson.
İnan, M.R. 1980. Mustafa Necati: Kişiliği, Ulusal Eğitime Bakışı, Konuşma ve Anıları. Ankara: Türkiye İş Bankası Kültür Yayınları.
Kafadar, O. 2002. Cumhuriyet Dönemi Eğitim Tartışmaları. In Modern Türkiye’de Siyasi Düşünce: Modernleşme ve Batıcılık, 351–381. İstanbul: İletişim Yayınları.
Kavut, M. 2011. Humanist Perception of Culture and History in the 1938–1950 Period of Republican Turkey. Master Diss., Middle East Technical University.
Kayalı, K. 1997. Bir Türk Aydının Trajik Portresi. Tarih ve Toplum 28 (166): 13–18.
Kellein, T., ed. 2007. 1937. Perfektion und Zerstörung. Exhibit at the Kunsthalle Bielefeld. With assistance from Roman Grabner and Felicitas von Richthofen. Tübingen: Ernst Wasmuth Verlag.
Koçak, O. 2010. “Westernisation against the West”: Cultural Politics in the Early Turkish Republic. In Turkey’s Engagement with Modernity: Conflict and Change in Twentieth Century, ed. C. Kerslake, K. Öktem, and R. Robins, 305–322. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.
Leoussi, A., and D. Aberbach. 2002. Hellenism and Jewish Nationalism: Ambivalence and Its Ancient Roots. Ethnic and Racial Studies 25 (5): 755–777.
Matossian, M. 1994. Ideologies of Delayed Development. In Nationalism, ed. J. Hutchinson and A.D. Smith, 218–225. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Öndin, N. 2003. Cumhuriyetin Kültür Politikaları ve Sanat (1923–1950). İstanbul: İnsancıl Yayınları.
Ötüken, A.C. 1938, May 8. Almanya’da Yeni Bir Seyyar Sergi: Soysuzlaşmış San’at. Cumhuriyet.
Öztürkmen, A. 2009. Türkiye’de Folklor ve Milliyetçilik. İstanbul: İletişim Yayınları.
Sadullah, N. 1938, November 9. Nasıl Dolaştılar. Tan.
Shaw, W.M.K. 2011. Ottoman Painting: Reflections of Western Art from the Ottoman Empire to the Turkish Republic. New York: I.B. Tauris.
Silver, K. 1989. Esprit de Corps: The Art of the Parisian Avant-Garde and the First World War: 1914–1925. London: Thames and Hudson.
Smith, A.D. 1996. Culture, Community and Territory: The Politics of Ethnicity and Nationalism. International Affairs 72 (3): 445–458.
Suman, N. 1942, April 1. Resim Sergisi Dolayısıyla. Ülkü 2 (13): 14.
Tan, T. 1938, June 27. Avrupa Notları No. 26: Soysuzlaşan San’at Sergisi. Cumhuriyet.
Tör, V.N. April 1943. Barışa Yaklaşırken: Ressamlar. Hep Bu Topraktan 1: 124–125.
Tunçay, M. 2012. Türkiye Cumhuriyeti’nde Tek-Parti Rejiminin Kurulması (1923–1931). İstanbul: Tarih Vakfı Yurt Yayınları.
Ural, M. 1998. Cumhuriyet’in Romansı: Ressamlar Yurt Gezisi’nde (1938–1943). In Yurt Gezileri ve Yurt Resimleri (1938–1943), ed. A. Edgü, 19–61. İstanbul: Milli Reasürans T.A.Ş. Yayını.
Üstel, F. 2010. İmparatorluktan Ulus-Devlete Türk Milliyetçiliği: Türk Ocakları (1912–1931). İstanbul: İletişim Yayınları.
Yasa Yaman, Z. June 1996. Yurt Gezileri ve Sergileri ya da “Mektepten Memlekete Dönüş”. TOP 4: 35–52.
Yetkin, S.K. 1938. Yurda Dönen Sanat. Ar 15: 2.
Yıldırım, E. 2013. Erken Cumhuriyet Yılları Milli Kimlik Tartışmaları: Hasan Âli Yücel ve Türkiye’de Hümanizma Arayışları. Turkish Studies 8: 745–763.
Zürcher, E. 2004. Turkey: A Modern History. London; New York: I.B. Tauris.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2018 The Author(s)
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Aydın Dikmen, B. (2018). Circulation of Humanism and Classicism During the Second World War in Turkey: The Case of the Painters’ Homeland Tours (1938–1946). In: Girard, M., Polo, JF., Scalbert-Yücel, C. (eds) Turkish Cultural Policies in a Global World. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-63658-0_2
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-63658-0_2
Published:
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-63657-3
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-63658-0
eBook Packages: Political Science and International StudiesPolitical Science and International Studies (R0)