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- Title
OSMANLI MİNYATÜRLERİNDE SÜRREALİST YAKLAŞIMLAR (XVI. - XVII. YÜZYILLAR).
- Authors
TAŞ, Ela; ÖZTÜRK, Gamze
- Abstract
Miniature is the massless painting with no depth which is free from chiaroscuro and added into the text to explain the contents of manuscripts. Miniatures which gain meaning according to the written text have the characteristics of historical document by means of giving information about their era. They are also important in terms of reflecting the life style, worldview, expectations, and concerns of their era. Earliest pieces of Turkish painting have been presented by Uighurs who adopted Manichaeism and Buddhism in A.D. VIII century. Uighurs who have headed to the art of painting in conjunction with religious change has produced manuscripts and decorated them with painting to spread their religion. Uighur painting which has been affected by Gandhara, China, Tibet, Scyth, Sasanian Empire, Part, Greco - Buddhist and Byzantine has formed its style starting from IX century and grown into maturity in XI - XII centuries. It is well known that Uighurs' sense of art has moved to west after Battle of Talas. Thanks to the works of art from Umayyad and Abbasid eras, it appears that the painting art exists in the early periods of Islam. It is known that religious structures of these periods were geometrical and botanical, on the other hand civil structures were decorated with ornaments generated by figures. Uighur effect as well as Orientalisation seen in works of art proves that Islamic art has adopted Central Asian Turkish painting style. Uighur painting style has therefore passed via Abbasids to Islamic countries such as Fatimid and Ghaznavid. The effect of this style has not been limited to mural paintings and also applied to book paintings. In Islam, although the systematic manuscripting has started at IX century by Caliph Memnun to make ancient books translate into Arabic, first manuscripts with miniatures are from Seljuk Empire at the end of XI century. This is because the paintings of the translated works of art have started to be duplicated. The fact that the miniature has been considered important in the era of Seljuks, and the art of miniature has also been performed in the Ottoman Empire which has ruled over Anatolia after that period of time is understood thanks to the extant documents and made a big contribution to the art of miniature. It is well known that the art of miniature which has reached an advanced level in that period has been presented as collective work products by muralists, illuminators, masters named Cetvelkeş, calligraphers affiliated with Craftsman organization and actively located in Enderun from XV century to XVIII century. Ottoman miniatures which bear traces of religious, storyteller, scientific, literary characters stand out with their real subjects as well as their depictions with surrealistic approaches. Surrealism which is suggested first by Andre Breton at France in XX century intends to reveal the mental disorders of human totally. The artist gravitates to its own shell by disconnecting from nature. Surrealism which is based on psychoanalysis idea of Freud argues that the art should rise not from logic, morals, aesthetical judgments, but directly from what exists in subconscious. Subconscious is therefore the fundamental source of surrealism. Surrealists have suggested that the subconscious is a large store due to suppressed emotions and ideas, and have believed that the society would develop through examination and liberalization of the treasure in this store and have presented two different methods. First method is the abstract surrealism which is based on psychoanalysis, and stands up for absolute weakness of will, and gives voice to expressing the emotions in subconscious through symbols; second method is the truthful surrealism which defends the fact that the objects are reminiscents of dream, nightmare or incubus and it is appropriate to present them in irrational environments. The large parts of surrealists have preferred to benefit from extraordinary beings as an indicator of spiritual world rather than tangible proofs. In spite of the fact that the surrealism is a movement emerged in Europe at XX century, it is known that the manuscripts from Ottoman Empire era has descriptions made by this approach. But Ottoman description shows an approach which is devoid of reality even if they hold a reality as substance. In short, Ottoman's miniatures with surrealistic approach have been presented according to faith, namely faithful surrealism which is adopted in Europe, but on the other hand Western surrealism reveals itself as reflection of the object, namely abstract surrealism. The important part of Ottoman miniatures which have developed in parallel with the power and growth of the empire and have reflected characteristics, worldview of the era includes the works applied between XVI and XVII centuries. The matters in hand between those centuries vary and this study covers some miniature examples with surrealistic approaches. Muralists who have dealt same matters by different perspectives and styles in those descriptions with surrealistic perspectives have become concerned about various abstract matters such as the creation of the world, doomsday, life after death, Dabbetü'l Arz, Dajjal, jinns, demons, angels, hell. Muralists who have performed miniatures about these matters have processed the shapes they imagined in their subconscious with surrealistic expressions through their observational abilities and imaginations by starting out of statements in Qur'an and hadiths. The fact that the obligation of muralists is to portray the abstract events, to reflect a spiritual world, to make the unknown known gives the impression that they have been forced to exploit their subconscious and imaginations as well as observational abilities. In this process, muralists who have presented manuscripts with portrayals devoid of reality due to the depiction ban of Islam, including miniatures with surrealist approaches such as Acaibü'l Mahlûkat, Fal-1 Kuran, Ahval-i Kıyamet, Falname, Metaliü'l Saade, Davetname have built imaginary places to reflect the spiritual world and have supported these places with fantastical creatures. They thus have provided miniatures that have contents with reality traces and forms with surrealist traces. The purpose of these miniatures where abstract has been transformed to concrete is to make matters adopted by Islam religion more understandable and transfer to the society by portraying through miniature which is a different communication method. In conclusion, these works of art based on religion are important in terms of being images that reflect the ideas of Ottoman muralist in their subconsciouses through surrealistic approach.
- Subjects
MINIATURE craft; MANUSCRIPTS; HISTORICAL source material; LIFESTYLES; MANICHAEISM; EXPECTATION (Psychology)
- Publication
Electronic Turkish Studies, 2015, Vol 10, Issue 2, p907
- ISSN
1308-2140
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.7827/TurkishStudies.7864