The "Fureya Koral With Her Unseen Works" exhibition opened in Macka Art Gallery, brought the pioneer of modern ceramic art, our first woman ceramicist Fureya Koral together with art lovers in the 100th Year of the Republic.
DIDEM CAPA
As Macka Art Gallery, we are celebrating the 100th Year of the Republic with the first woman ceramic artist of the Republic Turkey and the pioneer of modern ceramic art Fureya Koral who is one of the unforgettable names of the Turkish art history with her extraordinary life, inspiring struggle and ambition to ceramic art.
"For me, introducing ceramics into architecture does not mean making it decorative. Let me make this difference for sure at first. For me, making a wall and introducing ceramics into architecture is a tradition and creating something based on tradition." says Fureya Koral who has made ceramic panels for the indoors and exteriors of several structures between 1954-1975. She marked an era in ceramic art especially with large sized wall panels. She played an important role in gaining traditional tile art to the architecture with a modern interpretation.
The exhibition opened in Macka Art Gallery, is comprised of the pictures made by the artist of some of the ceramic panels she made for the Hilton Hotel, Divan Hotel, KA Han, Marmara Hotel, Hacettepe University Faculty of Dentistry, Istanbul Bazaar of Drapers, Ziraat Bank, Basak Insurance, Anafartalar Bazaar, Sheraton Hotel and Beytem Palas.
Being the pieces of Rabia Capa collection, these works are exhibited for the first time alongside with a portrait of Fureya Korel made by Fahrelnisa Zeid, Fureya Koral's ceramic hands made by Candeger Furtun by taking a mold of her hands and the "Fureya" documentary prepared and presented by Zuhal Demirarslan.
Divan Hotel, Istanbul, 1968
Only one of the wall panels made by Fureya Koral in the exhibition, has been brought into being; and the rest remained as her works which she wanted to make but couldn't brought into being so we couldn't see before.
Fureya Koral has worked with the important architectures of that time such as Affan Kirimli, Asim Mutlu, Avedis Hubeser, Dogan Tekeli, Ertan Balin, Esad Suher, Ferzan Baydar, Haluk Baysal, Hamdi Sensoy, Melih Birsel, Metin Hepguler, Rana Zipci, Ruknettin Guney, Sami Sisa, Sedat Hakki Eldem, Tayfur Sahbaz, Utarit Izgi and produced numerous wall panels in a period with technical difficulties between the years 1954 – 1975.
When we look at that period, we see art works attached with the collaboration of the architect and the artist to several structures built with a modern touch by the end of 1950s and onwards. This approach with lots of examples often coming across abroad in that period is grounded on the Bauhaus model and ensures the design to be taken at hand holistically and the artist to be involved into the process from the beginning. The works arising with this approach had the purpose of being an integral part of the architecture rather than an "adornment" element.
Basak Insurance, Istanbul, 1966
In this period, particularly gaining momentum with the strike of the panels made for the Pavilion of Turkey in the 1958 Brussels Exhibition, the important architectures of that time who approaches design in a holistic way, have made collaborative works with the artists. Apart from Fureya Koral we can also regard names like Bedri Rahmi Eyuboglu, Jale Yilmabasar, Sadi Diren, Attila Galatali, Ali Teoman Germaner, Eren Eyuboglu, Hamiye Colakoglu among these artists. In the popularization of these joint works, we should also not ignore the obligation to reserve a certain percentage of construction costs to the art work. For instance, in the Bazaar of Drapers; we see that the works of artists from different disciplines such as Bedri Rahmi Eyuboglu, Eren Eyuboglu, Nedim Gunsur, Fureya Koral, Sadi Diren, Yavuz Gorey, Kuzgun Acar, Teoman Germaner have taken place together in public and private areas.
Some of the structures constructed as a result of the architecture-artist collaboration, have been demolished for various reasons such as static problems, urban transformation, quakeproofing, hand-over, and renovation.
And this threat still exists for other structures left from that period.
This decreasing number structures of the era, has lead the way to losing a substantial part of the urban memory and disappearance of art works together with these structures.
Istanbul Drapers Bazaar, 1966
Fureya Koral's panels taking place in the Sheraton Hotel and the Marmara Hotel in Ankara have demolished together with the structure and they're just a few of several works that couldn't make to this date.
When we look at the global geography, the Anatolian territories have been the habitat of numerous civilizations and communities and present us an endless cultural background with its deep-rooted history and rich cultural heritage.
We see the form of this background reflected on ceramics with mother goddess idols at first and then in many civilizations with a rich variety of forms and technical differences particularly in Hittite, Phrygia and Urartu. In Seljukian and Ottoman Era, the best examples of rare architectural structures are again located in these lands where ceramics produced in centers such as Iznik and Kutahya as a complementary element met with architecture. What about today?
Are ceramics turning into an industrial product which we cover our wet volumes with in today's capitalist world?
The “Fureya Koral With Her Unseen Works" Exhibition, invites us to remember the past and see where we are today over the works of the first woman ceramic artist of the Republic Turkey and the pioneer of the modern ceramic art who has made a great contribution in introducing tile art to modern architecture.
