EXHIBITIONS AND CRITICISMS THAT INTERIOR PAINTER ŞEVKET DAĞ ATTENDED

ENTERİYÖR/İÇ MEKÂN RESSAMI ŞEVKET DAĞ’IN KATILDIĞI SERGİLER VE ELEŞTİRİLER

Abstract

Şevket Dağ is one of the most important painters of Turkish painting. Just like Süleyman Seyyit is known for his still life paintings, Feyhaman Duran for his portraits, Nazmi Ziya for his landscapes, Şevket Dağ is famous for portraying the interior of our historical monuments. Şevket Dağ’s life is in the period that was a turning point for Turkish painting. His path crossed with Hüseyin Zekai Pasha, (Şeker) Ahmet Ali Pasha and Osman Hamdi who are practitioners of classical and academic style in the Ottoman Empire and the pioneering names of the impressionist style such as İbrahim Çallı, Hikmet Onat, Feyhaman Duran and Nazmi Ziya. The stagnation and the use of the line in the artist's compositions evoke the characteristics of Academic art and the use of color, impressionist style. The artist, whom we encountered in the Pera/Beyoğlu Exhibitions held in 1902, has participated in almost all the mixed exhibitions opened in Istanbul and Ankara for a lifetime with a number of works. Since the Ottoman Painters Society founded in 1909, he has continued his art life under the same roof with the members of the Turkish Painters Society and the Fine Arts Association. The painter’s style, if his contemporary Vicen Arslanyan’s productions are put aside, is almost unique. With the occasional still life and scenery productions of Mr. Şevket, historical mosque, khan and bazaar lives are the main themes of his canvases. Critics' approach to the work of the artist, in almost every exhibition he presents the same subjects and the same style, constitutes the main content of this work. As many as possible periodicals have been examined and attempts have been made to reach the writings dealing with his work and the exhibitions that the artist attended. Criticisms on his works have been examined and to gain a broader perspective on art life has been aimed Şevket Dağ has an important place among the first representatives of Turkish painting art in Western sense. Just like his contemporary Osman Hamdi Bey is known for his figure compositions, Süleyman Seyyit for still life, Feyhaman Duran for portraits, Nazmi Ziya for scenes, Namık İsmail and İbrahim Çallı for nude paintings, Şevket Dağ is known for his revival works of historical buildings. Şevket Dağ lived in the period that was a rapidly changing turning point inTurkish painting. His path crossed with Hüseyin Zekai Pasha, (Şeker) Ahmet Ali Pasha and Osman Hamdi who are practitioners of classical and academic style in the Ottoman Empire and the pioneering names of the impressionist style such as İbrahim Çallı, Hikmet Onat, Namik Ismail, Sami Yetik, Feyhaman Duran and Nazmi Ziya. In the last years of his life, he has appeared in art market with painters who produce works in expressionist and cubist style such as Zeki Kocamemi, Ali Avni Çelebi, Şeref Akdik, Mahmut Cuda and Refik Epikman. Since the Ottoman Painters Society founded in 1909, he has actively participated under the same roof with members of the Turkish Painters Society and Fine Arts Association. He has undertaken the organization of many exhibitions carried out by the Turkish Painters Society along with Hasan Vecih Bereketoğlu. We can say that Şevket Dağ, one of the most important artists of Turkish painting art, reinterprets the historical monumental architectural works of Istanbul in general and carries it to his canvases with his own point of view. Even though the objects used by the artist in the paintings are known by everyone, they effect the audience as if these objects are new. Among the contemporary painters, few artists have adopted his style and practiced on a limited number of canvases. Mr. Sevket has exhibited works of still life and landscape from time to time in addition to interior paintings. In particular, he successfully transfers historical monuments, khans and bazaars to the canvas without using figures. The few figures that are used in the artist's canvases were used to emphasize the monumental dimension of historical building. The depicted figures are often symbolic and remote from a particular class/identity description. The stagnation and the use of the line in the artist's compositions evoke the characteristics of academic art and the use of color, impressionist style. We see that the artist who graduated from Sanayi-i Nefise Mektebi in 1897 exhibited his first step to the Turkish painting with the works he exhibited in 1902 Pera / Beyoğlu Exhibition opened in İstanbul 5 years later. The artist met Istanbul art lovers at the 1903 and 1911 Pera/Beyoğlu Exhibitions following this exhibition and at the Galatasaray Exhibitions, which were opened from 1916 until 1951. Şevket Dağ had the opportunity to present his paintings to Ankara fans at Ankara Painting Exhibitions, which opened since 1923, Turkish Painting and Sculpture Exhibition of Fifty Years, and State Painting and Sculpture Exhibitions, which started in 1939. The artist has exhibited his works in European countries such as Germany, Greece and Austria and was awarded with awards. The artist, we encountered in the exhibitions held in Istanbul and Ankara between 1902 and 1944, participated in 54 mixed exhibitions. In these exhibitions, the artist exhibited approximately 250 works, revealing how productive he is.Numerous works of him have been purchased by official institutions, legal entities and individuals in exhibitions he attended both at home and abroad. The artist's works in these exhibitions have been rewarded by politicians many times. For example, he was given the Silver Fine Art Medal in Galatasaray Exhibition held in 1917. Since 1902 Pera/Beyoglu exhibition, the first painting exhibition he participated in, the artist's works were closely watched and evaluated by critics. Among the negative criticisms directed to the artist by critics, his works are found to be inanimate, soulless and dull. The use of the similar genres in his works has been treated as a non-genuine subject. He has been criticized extensively for us

Özet

Şevket Dağ, Türk resim sanatının önemli ressamları arasında gösterilmektedir. Nasıl ki Süleyman Seyyit natürmortları, Feyhaman Duran portreleri, Nazmi Ziya manzaraları ile tanınıyorsa, Şevket Dağ da tarihi eserlerimizin iç mekânlarını betimlemekle ünlüdür. Şevket Dağ'ın yaşamı, Türk resim sanatının kabuk değiştirdiği bir döneme isabet etmektedir. Klasik ve akademik tarz resmin Osmanlı'daki uygulayıcıları olan Hüseyin Zekai Paşa, (Şeker) Ahmet Ali Paşa ve Osman Hamdi gibi isimlerin son yılları ile İbrahim Çallı, Hikmet Onat, Feyhaman Duran ve Nazmi Ziya gibi empresyonist tarzın öncü isimlerinin sanat hayatının başında kompozisyonlarındaki durağanlık ve çizgi kullanımı akademik sanatı, renk kullanımı ise empresyonistlerin özelliklerini çağrıştırmaktadır. yolları Şevket Dağ ile kesişmiştir. Sanatçının kompozisyonlarındaki durağanlık ve çizgi kullanımı akademik sanatı, renk kullanımı ise empresyonistlerin özelliklerini çağrıştırmaktadır. 1902 yılında gerçekleştirilen Pera/Beyoğlu Sergileri'nde ismine rastladığımız sanatçı, ömrü boyunca neredeyse İstanbul ve Ankara'da açılan tüm karma sergilerde kalabalık bir eser sayısı ile katılmıştır. 1909 yılında kurulan Osmanlı Ressamlar Cemiyeti'nden itibaren, Türk Ressamlar Cemiyeti ve Güzel sanatlar Birliği üyeleri ile birlikte aynı çatı altında sanat hayatını sürdürmüştür. Sanatçının resim tarzı, çağdaşı Viçen Arslanyan'ın az sayıdaki üretimi bir kenara bırakılırsa, neredeyse tektir. Şevket Bey'in zaman zaman natürmort ve manzara üretimleri olmakla birlikte, tarihî cami, han ve çarşı yaşamı tuvallerinin esas temalarını oluşturmaktadır. Hemen hemen her sergide aynı süjeleri eserlerine benzer üslup ile aktaran sanatçının çalışmalarına eleştirmenlerin yaklaşımı, bu çalışmanın esas içeriğini oluşturmaktadır. Mümkün olduğu kadar çok sayıda süreli yayın incelenerek sanatçının katıldığı sergileri ve yapıtlarını ele alan yazılara ulaşılmaya çalışılmıştır. Yapıtlarına getirilen eleştiriler irdelenerek, sanat hayatına daha geniş bir pencereden bakılması sağlanmıştır.