Turkish Plastic Arts in the Republican Era
The development of contemporary Turkish sculpture and paintings based on western techniques and methods began during the last period of the Ottoman Empire. The actual output in the field, however, was produced under the Republic of Turkey. This rather quick development, occurring in less than a century, points to an intensive process marked by rapid and striking transformations. Considering their role in social development and awareness as the main elements of the cultural policy for modernization, understanding and differentiating the courses of sculpture and painting since the beginning of the Republic has utmost significance. Especially the overall evaluation of secondary literature demands a multi-disciplinary team approach as well as a wide coverage of scope and chronology. In this sense, this article is not an analytical or a critical work treating all aspects of the literature on contemporary Turkish arts of painting and sculpture. The existence of extensive documentation, books, theses, articles, encyclopedia articles, exhibition catalogues, and archival documents, newspapers, foreign sources etc. makes it impossible to compile together even a general identification list. Therefore, this article, besides serving as an introduction to the literature on painting and sculpture within the frame of a systematic and chronological grouping based on books and journals, aims to create a perspective for further studies in the field.
Sevay Okay Atılgan
