The Reflection of Traditional Calligraphy on Turkish Painting: From Script To Painting, from Painting to Script

Paper Presentation in a Themed Session
İlkay Canan Okkalı  

It is known that the art of painting in the Ottoman period Turkey was exemplified by calligraphers in miniatures that took place in illuminated manuscripts and on panels decorated with calligraphy. To make abstractions, artists in Turkey use the stylistic traditions of arts like calligraphy, miniatures, ceramics, carpets and kilims in which intense artistic values can be observed. By this they revitalize the traditional arts by creating a fusion with contemporary approaches and sensation. Especially in the 1950's, with reference to old Turkish calligraphy, artists working on abstract art tried a linear manner. They sought a way for innovation with this linear manner as much as they did with traditional geometrical color spaces and with ornamentation. Artists wanted to blend the things they learned in the West with their own authentic style and culture so as to create a 'Turkish Art' and they were nourished by calligraphy. In the article the use of calligraphy in Turkish pictorial art and the search for abstract beauty will be studied.