Recently
I was in Ankara, Turkey, primarily to see the Museum of Anatolian Civilizations, a museum that has the finest
collection of artifacts from the Hittites, Phrygians, and other ancient civilizations of central Turkey. The ticket seller informed me that most of
the museum was closed as they were rearranging the collection. Devastated, I walked around for a while in a
state of shock until someone suggested I go to the art museum. ‘Sure, why not’, I thought. I’d seen little Islamic art in my month in
Turkey, assuming that was what this art museum displayed. Was I in for a surprise! The Ankara Museum of Painting and Sculpture (Resim Heykel Muzesi, in Turkish) is a museum of late 19th
and early 20th Century European Impressionism and Modernism, but
with a Turkish twist. There were Post-impressionism
still life paintings, Impressionism landscapes with views of mosques on the
Bosphorus, American Realism (Ash Can School-like), but the scene was Old
Ankara. German Expressionism-like
paintings in the vein of Der Blaue Reiter with Franc Marc-like horses (OK,
without the garish colors), but also bar and night club scenes with all the
garish colors just like the German Expressionism of Ernst Kirchner. Cubistic paintings were also represented, as you can see below.
Ismail Altinok (1920-2002) Namik Kemal Ortaokulu ['Namik Kemal Secondary School']
Looks like some of the early cubistic paintings of Picasso.
Ismail Altinok (1920-2002) Namik Kemal Ortaokulu ['Namik Kemal Secondary School'] |
Ismail Altinok (1920-2002) Namik Kemal Ortaokulu ['Namik Kemal Secondary School']
Looks like some of the early cubistic paintings of Picasso.
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Ibrahim Calli (1882 - 1960)
Portre ['portrait']
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Şükriye Dikmen (1918-2000) Portre ['Portrait']
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Arif Kaptan (1906 - 1979)
Paristen Paris ['Paris, from Paris']
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The Slide Show below displays of some of the paintings from the Ankara Museum of Painting and Sculpture. You can see the Slide Show Full Screen on your computer screen by double clicking on the images below, click Slideshow in the upper left. You can view Full Screen by selecting the F11 key. To get out of Full Screen, select the F11 key again or select the Esc key.