ARHA 531 Late Ottoman and Early Republican Art

Fall 2021
Instructor: Professor Günsel Renda

Course content:

Ottoman modernism, and the historical and cultural transformation from the 18th to 20th centuries
will be discussed in view of the artistic developments. How Western modality penetrated into the
cultural sphere and how borrowings led to the birth of new techniques, forms, and styles in the art
and architecture of the 18th and 19th centuries leading to the Republican Period will be the main
theme in the course, including a critical discourse of the concepts of ‘modernism,’
‘westernization,’ and ‘national identity.’ The reflections of Republican ideology in art and
architecture, interactions, conditions, and motives of contemporary art will be discussed.

Course Requirements:

Besides the material presented by the instructor, each student is expected to read weekly assigned
reading material. Graduate students will be expected to discuss assigned readings during their
discussion sessions. Discussion sessions will be held twice a month and reading materials will be
provided by the instructor. There will be a field trip to the museums.

Certain reading assignments and brief discussions will be announced when necessary. Additional
discussion sessions will be announced for the graduate students.

Midterm exam 25%

Final exam 35%
Three response papers during the semester 15%
One essay at the end of the semester 20%
Attendance 5%
Total 100%

Students have to avoid plagiarism and academic dishonesty.

Week 1 – September 27-October 1

Introduction & Interactions in 18th Century Art and Architecture: Europe
 Discussion of the balance of power in 18th century Europe and new relations between
Europe and the Ottoman Empire
 A review of European art in the 18th century in view of cultural interactions

Required Readings:
 Günsel Renda, “Europe and the Ottomans: Interactions in Art” in Günsel Renda and Halil
İnalcık, Eds. Ottoman Civilization 2. Ankara: Republic of Turkey, Ministry of Culture, 2003,
pp. 1091 – 1121.
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Recommended Readings:
 Fatma Müge Göçek, “Cultural Interaction” in Fatma Müge Göçek, East Encounters West:
France and the Ottoman Empire in the Eighteenth Century. New York and Oxford: Oxford
University Press, 1987, pp. 24 – 61.
 Günsel Renda, “1911 Turquerie Sergisi Üzerine” in Sanat Tarihinde Doğudan Batıya: Ünsal
Yücel Anısına Sempozyum Bildirileri. Ankara: Güzel Sanatlar Matbaası, 1989, pp. 71 – 80.

 Nebahat Avcıoğlu, “The Sense of Power and the Image of the Ottomans” in Nebahat
Avcıoğlu, Turquerie and the Politics of Representation, 1728 – 1876. UK and USA: Ashgate,
2011, pp. 45 – 96.

Week 2 – October 4-8

Interactions in 18th Century Art and Architecture: Ottoman Empire

 Ottoman Empire in the 18th century-interest in western technology and culture

 Westernism in Ottoman architecture and decoration in the 18th century

Required Readings:
 Tülay Artan, “Istanbul in the 18th Century: Days of Reconciliation and Consolidation” in Ş.
Koray Durak, Ed., From Byzantion to Istanbul: 8000 Years of a Capital. Istanbul: Sabancı
University Sakıp Sabancı Museum, 2010, pp. 300 – 313.

 Doğan Kuban, “Mannerism of the Tulip Period” in Doğan Kuban, Istanbul: An Urban
History – Byzantion, Constantinopolis, Istanbul. Istanbul: Economic and Social History
Foundation of Turkey, 1996, pp. 336 – 362.

Recommended Readings:
 Ali Uzay Peker, “Return of the Sultan: Nuruosmânîye Mosque and the İstanbul Bedestan,”in
Constructing Cultural Identity, Representing Social Power. N. Kısakürek, O. Rastrick, K.
Esmark and C. Bilsel, Eds. Pisa: Plus - Pisa Univertsity Press, 2010, pp. 139 – 157.

 Shirine Hamadeh, “Ottoman Expressions of Early Modernity and the "Inevitable" Question of
Westernization” in Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians, Vol. 63, No. 1 (2004):
32 – 51.

Week 3 – October 11-15

Ottoman Painting Part I: 18th Century

 Increasing Westernization under reformist sultans

 A new artistic milieu in the Ottoman Empire, new techniques and content

Required Readings:
 Serpil Bağcı, Filiz Çağman, Günsel Renda, Zeren Tanındı, Eds. Ottoman Painting. Ankara:

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 Ministry of Culture and Tourism Publications, The Bank Association of Turkey, 2006, pp.
264 – 283.

Recommended Readings:
 Gül İrepoğlu, “Innovation and Change” in The Sultan’s Portrait: Picturing the House of
Osman. Istanbul: Türkiye İş Bankası, 2000, pp. 378 – 401.

 Günsel Renda, “Ottoman Painting and Sculpture” in Günsel Renda and Halil İnalcık, Eds.
Ottoman Civilization 2. Ankara: Republic of Turkey, Ministry of Culture, 2003, pp. 932 –
948.

Week 4 – October 18-22

Ottoman Painting Part II: Late 18th and Early 19th Centuries

 New developments in technique and content in painting

Required Readings:
 Günsel Renda, “Searching for New Media in Eighteenth Century Ottoman Painting: Some
Archival Documents as Sources” in Sabine Prator and Christoph K. Neumann, Eds. Arts,
Women and Scholars: Studies in Ottoman Society and Culture. Festschrift Hans Georg Majer.
Istanbul: Simurg, 2002, pp. 451 – 479.

Recommended Readings:
 Nurdan Küçükhasköylü, “Circulating Images: Ottoman Painters, Travel Books, Overtones” in
New Trends in Ottoman Studies. Crete: University of Crete, 2012, pp. 1 – 12.

Week 5 – October 25-29

19th Century Ottoman Architecture – Part I

 Institutionalized modernization in the Empire in the 19th century

 Reorganization of the Empire after Tanzimat, architecture and arts after Tanzimat

Required Readings:
 Doğan Kuban, “Changing Images and Changing Structure: 1808 – 1918” in Doğan Kuban,
Istanbul: An Urban History – Byzantion, Constantinopolis, Istanbul. Istanbul: Economic and
Social History Foundation of Turkey, 1996, pp. 376 – 393.

Recommended Readings:
 Günsel Renda, “Westernism in Ottoman Art: Wall Paintings in 19th Century Houses” in
Stanley Ireland and William Bechhoefer, Eds. The Ottoman House: Papers from the Amasya
Symposium. The British Institute of Archaeology at Ankara and the University Warwick,
1996, pp. 103 – 109.

 Ahmet Ersoy, “Architecture and the Search for Ottoman Origins in the Tanzimat Period” in

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 Muqarnas Vol. 24 (2007): 117 – 139.

 Selman Can, “XIX. Yüzyılda Osmanlı Mimarlığı’nın Teşkilat Yapısı ve Balyanlar” in 150.
Yılında Dolmabahçe Sarayı Uluslararası Sempozyumu. Proceedings. Istanbul: TBMM Milli
Saraylar, 2007, pp. 64 – 78.

Week 6 – November 1-5

19th Century Ottoman Architecture – Part II

 Architecture and Urbanism in the second half of the 19th century

Required Readings:
 Filiz Yenişehirlioğlu, “Urban Texture and Architectural Styles after the Tanzimat,” in Lorans
Tanatar Baruh and Vangelis Kechriotis, Eds., Economy and Society on Both Shores of the
Aegean. Athens: Alphabank, 2010, 487 – 52.

Recommended Readings:
 Mustafa Cezar, XIX. Yüzyıl Beyoğlusu. Istanbul: Akbank, 1991, pp. 109 – 126, 285 – 303.

 Paolo Girardelli, “Architecture, Identity, and Liminality: On the Use and Meaning of Catholic
Spaces in Late Ottoman Istanbul” in Muqarnas Vol. 22 (2005): 233 – 264.

Week 7 – November 8-12

Interactions in Art and Architecture

 19th century European movements in Ottoman art and architecture, translation of Western
art, interactions between past and present
 The concepts of Orientalism and Occidentalism

Required Readings:
 Semra Germaner and Zeynep İnankur, “Orientalism and Orientalist Art” in Semra Germaner
and Zeynep İnankur, Constantinople and the Orientalists. (İstanbul: Türkiye İş Bankası
Kültür Yayınları, 2002), pp. 36 – 40.

Recommended Readings:
 Ahmet Ersoy, “Osman Hamdi Bey and the Historiophile Mood: Orientalist Vision and the
Romantic Sense of the Past in the Late Ottoman Culture” in Zeynep İnankur, Reina Lewis
and Mary Roberts, Eds., The Poetics and Politics of Place: Ottoman Istanbul and British
Orientalism. Istanbul: Pera Museum, 2011, pp. 145 – 156.

Week 8 – November 15-19

Winter Break

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Week 9- November 22-26
19th Century Ottoman Painting

 Imperial commissions from European artists and the introduction of new techniques and
trends in painting.

Required Readings:
 Günsel Renda, “European Artists at the Ottoman Court: Propagating New Dynastic Image in
the Nineteenth Century” in Zeynep İnankur, Reina Lewis and Mary Roberts, Eds., the Poetics
and Politics of Place: Ottoman Istanbul and British Orientalism. Istanbul: Pera Museum,
2011, pp. 221 – 232.

 Zeynep İnankur, “Official Painters of the Ottoman Palace” in 10th International Congress of
Turkish Art, Proceedings, Geneva, 17 – 23 September, 1995, pp. 381 – 388.

Recommended Readings:
 Pelin Şahin Tekinalp, “Links between Painting and Photography in Nineteenth-Century
Turkey” in History of Photography Vol. 34, Issue 3 (2010): 291 – 299.

 Semra Germaner and Zeynep İnankur, “19. Yüzyılda Oryantalizm ve Türkiye” in Orientalists
at the Ottoman Palace. Istanbul: TBMM Milli Saraylar, 2006, pp. 9 – 31.

Week 10 – November 29-December 3

Institutionalization of Art Education: Part I

 Institutionalization of art education in civil and military schools, art exhibitions, fairs

Required Readings:
 Serpil Bağcı, Filiz Çağman, Günsel Renda, Zeren Tanındı, Eds. Ottoman Painting. Ankara:
Ministry of Culture and Tourism Publications, The Bank Association of Turkey, 2006, pp.
300 – 311.

 Zeynep Yasa Yaman, “Different Impressions, Changing Traditions” in Different Impressions,

Changing Traditions: The Art Collection of the Central Bank of the Republic of Turkey, Ed.
Zeynep Yasa Yaman. (Istanbul: Türkiye Cumhuriyeti Merkez Bankası, 2012), pp. 10 – 32.

Recommended Readings:
 Gülsen Sevinç Kaya, “Padişahın Ressam Kulları” in İhtişam ve Tevazu: Padişahın Ressam
Kulları. İstanbul: TBMM Milli Saraylar, 2012, pp. 41 – 88.

Week 11 – December 6-10

Institutionalization of Art Education: Part II

 Translation of Western art, interactions between past and present

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Required Readings:
 Zeynep Yasa Yaman, “A New Beginning: Mekteb-i Sanayi-i Şahane, Sanayi-i Nefise
Mekteb-i Alisi, and the Painting and Sculpture Museum” in Different Impressions, Changing
Traditions: The Art Collection of the Central Bank of the Republic of Turkey, Ed. Zeynep
Yasa Yaman. (Istanbul: Türkiye Cumhuriyeti Merkez Bankası, 2012), pp. 32 – 38.

Recommended Readings:
 Turan Erol, “Painting in Turkey in XIX and Early XXth Century” in A History of Turkish
Painting, Eds. Günsel Renda, Turan Erol, Adnan Turani, Kaya Önsezgin, and Mustafa Aslıer,
Seattle: University of Washington, 1988, pp. 138 – 148.

Week 12 – December 13-17

Pre-Republican Period

 Cultural and artistic media, movements in art in the early 20th century, and their
reflections in the cultural policies of the Republican period

Required Readings:
 Günsel Renda, “Modern Trends in Turkish Painting” in Günsel Renda and C. Max
Kortepeter, Eds. The Transformation of Turkish Culture: The Atatürk Legacy. USA: the
Kingston Press, 1986, pp. 229 – 247.

 Zeynep Yasa Yaman, “1900 – 1930 New Landscape of a Modernizing Society: The 1914
Impressionists and the Ottoman Painters Society” in Different Impressions, Changing
Traditions: The Art Collection of the Central Bank of the Republic of Turkey, Ed. Zeynep
Yasa Yaman. (Istanbul: Türkiye Cumhuriyeti Merkez Bankası, 2012), pp. 38 – 48.

Recommended Readings:
 Wendy K. Shaw, “From Old Niches to New Paintings” in Ottoman Painting: Reflections of
Western art from the Ottoman Empire to the Turkish Republic. London, New York: I. B.
Tauris, 2011, pp. 9 – 39.

Week 13 – December 20-24

Republican Period I
 Beginnings of Nationalism and multiple currents in post-war architecture

Required Readings:
 Doğan Kuban, “Republican Era” in Doğan Kuban, Istanbul: An Urban History – Byzantion,
Constantinopolis, Istanbul. Istanbul: Economic and Social History Foundation of Turkey,
1996, pp. 417 – 434.

 Yıldırım Yavuz, “Turkish Architecture during the Republican Period” in Günsel Renda and
C. Max Kortepeter, Eds. The Transformation of Turkish Culture: The Atatürk Legacy. USA:
the Kingston Press, 1986, pp. 267 – 283.

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Recommended Readings:
 Sibel Bozdoğan and Esra Akcan, Turkey: Modern Architectures in History (London:
Reaktion Books, 2012), pp. 7 – 80.

Week 14 – December 27-31

Republican Period II

 Republican period- extent of westernization and the national idiom in arts

 State commissions, exhibitions, inland and abroad, homeland trips

Required Readings:
 Zeynep Yasa Yaman, “1930 – 1950 Abstract Freedom on the Complicated Roads of
Cubism,” in Different Impressions, Changing Traditions: The Art Collection of the Central
Bank of the Republic of Turkey, Ed. Zeynep Yasa Yaman. (İstanbul: Türkiye Cumhuriyeti
Merkez Bankası, 2012), pp. 48 – 60.

Recommended Readings:
 Wendy K. Shaw, “Art for a New Nation” in Wendy K. Shaw, Ottoman Painting: Reflections
of Western art from the Ottoman Empire to the Turkish Republic. London, New York: I. B.
Tauris, 2011, pp. 157 – 178.

Week 15 – January 3-7

 Presentations of final papers
 Discussion