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| The
Centenary of Fahrelnissa Zeid |
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"In order to achieve a masterprice, first you
have to feel yourself within the picture, you must
settle yourself in it with all your existence."
Fahr el nissa Zaid
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An
Artist and an Explorer Beyond Ideologies in a Globalized
World
Zeynep Yasa
Yaman, Turkish art critic
The biography of Fahr el nissa is as
colorful and sophisticated as the story of her family
and; her art is equally confused and elaborated.
Therefore, the name of Fahr el nissa Zeid seems
to be destined to stand alone in the contemporary
Turkish art. On the other hand. her artistic life
bears some resemblance to those of other artists.
For example, she was taught in the Academy of Fine
Arts like almost all her contemporaries, had contacts
with the European culture and joined a certain group
of artists, namely the d-Group. Her artistic persona,
which places her in a prominent position among these
similarities, involves a fascinating story of an
explorer. |
| I.
Fahr el nissa Zeid II Born in Istanbul
in 1901, Fahr el nissa Zeid is the daughter of the
Shakir Pasha, who was the Grand Vizier Cevat Pasha's
brother, an Ottoman diplomat, a photographer and
a historian. Her mother was Sare Ismet Hanim of
Cretan origin. She is the sister of the outstanding
writer Cevat Shakir Kabaaghacli, the Fisherman of
Halicarnassus, and the painter Aliye Berger. She
is also the aunt of artist Cem Kabaaghac and ceramist
Fureya Koral. Her father's descendants are the Kabaaghacli
family of nomadic origin, emigrated from Turkmenistan
to Kabaaghac village near Afyonkarahisar towards
the end of the 18th century. Being the owner of
a Medresse (Muslim theological school), the family
taught at their Medresse for years. Her mother's
family produced outstanding calligraphers. Her grandfather,
a poet and a calligrapher, was also interested in
archeology (Oral 1972: 9, Anonymous 1964a, Koksal
1989a: 8, Devrim 1996). |
Around Shakir
Pasha, her brother, Lieutenant Assim Shakir, her
sister Hakie et Aichem, her mother. Down: Herself,
her brother and her little sister. |
Her primary education started in an elementary school
on Buyukada (Grand Island), which was opened by
Shakir Pasha, an art lover. She completed her secondary
education in Notre Dame de Sion and Pansion Bnagiotti.
Meanwhile Sare Ismet Hanim, who was said to have
attended a Dergah (monastery of dervishes) in Fatih
together with her parents who were members of Rufaiyah
dervish order, attributed great importance to allowing
her children to take English, French, piano and
painting lessons, besides Oriental culture and languages.
Thanks to their mother, the children studied Persian,
Arabic and the Holy Koran as well (Erbil 1975:3,
Ozdoghru 1975: 32, Berger 1980: 5. Edgu 1981). This
background may account for Zeid's appeal to mysticism
and a personality full of love and tolerance.
Being a prototype of the Ottoman intellectuals,
Fahr el nissa's family occupies a prominent place
among the Republican humanists. Zeid marked the
meeting with Ataturk in Dolmabahce Palace and her
conversation with him on art as one of the turning
points of her life (Anonymous 1976). Zeid was always
close to Ataturk . For instance she was seated next
to Ataturk at the conference on new Turkish Alphabet
and the first word written on the blackboard was
her name: "Fahrunissa". |
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With her family, Bagdat, 1939
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The
World War I and the tragic death of Shakir Pasha
in 1914 shook the family deeply. Her first marriage
was to novelist Izzet Melih Devrim, one of Servet-i
Funun writers, in 1920. Artist Nejad Devrim
and director - play actress Shirin Devrim were
born of this marriage. In 1934, she married
to Prince Emir Zeid el Huseyin. Ambassador of
Iraq to Ankara. She gave birth to her son Prince
Raad. She performed her duty as ambassador's
wife in Berlin and London. Her husband died
in 1970. Since 1975 she moved to Jordan where
her son lives. She established an institute
of fine Arts that bore her name (Parinaud l984,
Turay l988, Sonmez l994:12).
She
began her artistic training at the Imperial
Academy of Fine Arts in Istanbul. Her first
visit to Europe was to Venice. She was deeply
impressed by Palace of Doges, channels, gondolas,
and charming beauty of the city as well as the
intertwining nature of the city with the art.
Then she went to Spain. She visited Seville,
Granada and Cordoba.
|
She
returned to Italy and witnessed all the artistic heritage
of Rome and Florence (Anonymous 1950). Visits to various
European cities every year with Izzet Melih Devrim enabled
her to familiarize with the Western art and to study
the splendid masters (Devrim 1996, Sonmez 1994: 24).
.
In 1928. she went to Paris and worked in the studio
of Stalbach and Roger Bissiere at Ranson Academy. After
returning to Turkey, she studied under Namik Ismail
at the Academy of Fine Arts between 1929 and 1930. She
was in Berlin 1935- 1939 and visited Budapest. She returned
to Istanbul in 1941 (Seuphor: 294. Anonymous 1988, Koksal
1989). She abandoned painting for some time. She also
left Istanbul. She joined the d-Group in 1942. She left
for Paris in 1946. She lived in big metropolitans of
Europe such as Paris, London and Berlin for a long time.
Starting from 1942, she displayed her works in the d-Group
exhibitions. In 1944, she held-her first private exhibition
at the apartment named Ralli in Macka, where she lived.
Her second exhibition was opened in 1945 at the same
place. She moved this exhibition to Izmir in 1946. Between
1946 and 1964, Zeid realized 13 exhibitions in London,
Paris, New York. Brussels and Zurich. She also participated
in the UNESCO Exhibition in Paris, in Dublin Academy
of Fine Arts Exhibition in Paris School Exhibition in
Florence, in the exhibitions of Cincinnati and Pittsburg
museums, in the Exhibition of Bern Modern Art Museum,
at the Pittsburg Festival, in Bristol Contemporary Art
Exhibition, in London International Women Exhibition,
at Salon des Realities Nouvelles and Salon des Mai (Anonymous
1964b).
She held a number of exhibitions at the world's major
galleries and museums, and participated in various exhibitions
(Anonymous 1964a). In 1964, she opened her exhibition
in Turkey after 19 years in Ankara and Istanbul. This
was followed by another exhibition composed of her works
from her niece Fureya Koral's private collection organized
by Macka Art Gallery at Ataturk Culture Center. In 1990,
her works were displayed at Neue Galerie-sammlung Ludwig
in Aachen and at Institute of Arab World in Paris. After
her death. various exhibitions were held in Istanbul
in 1991, 1994, 1996, and 2000 and in Ankara in 2001
in the memory of this unique painter.
The world's well-known authors and critics, namely Jacques
Lassaigne, R.V. Gindertael, Charles Estienne, Denys
Chevalier, Andre Parinaud, Jean Guichard-Meili Maurois,
Rene Barotte, Andre Breton, Leon Degand, Bernard Gheerbrant,
Edouard Roditi, Roland Penrose, Dora Ouvaliev, Maurice
Collis wrote various articles about her.
The works of Fahr el nissa Zeid entered in various collections
in Europe and drew attention of artistic community.
Her works were bought by Musee de L'art Moderne, in
Dusseldorf Museum, in the museums of Cincinnati and
Pittsburg, and in the Jordan Royal Collection. In Turkey,
the State Painting and Sculpture museums in Ankara and
Izmir as well as the Painting and Sculpture Museum in
Istanbul contain her works. Fahr el nissa Zeid was awarded
with decorations like "Kingdom of Jordan",
Italian "Rispoli", and French "Commandeur
des arts et des lettres."
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II-
Fahr el nissa and Art Several critics
asserted that painting was a passion for Fahr
el nissa. Even in 1945, Vedat Nedim Tor's words
emphasized that her affiliation with art was essential
to her (Tor 1945):
"...Painting is like a natural phenomenon
for Zeid. Just as flowers cannot help blooming
in the Spring, Just as bees cannot stop making
honey, just as fishes cannot quit migrating, so
Fahrel nissa Zeid cannot survive without painting.
...A frenzied creativity, a complex of deceiving
and playing and a magnificent sample of sublimation!
Zeid's letter to Aliye Berger evidenced that,
painting was a genuine ritual for her and that
the rituals of this ceremony were not arising
only from a formal need, but also from a spiritual
one (Erbil 1975:3):
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She said: "in order to achieve a masterpiece,
first you have to feel yourself within the picture,
you must settle yourself in it with all your existence."
Then she was defining the people in her paintings.
She
gave explanations on these people by using diagrams
as if she was giving a painting course to me. She advised
me to think of my beloved ones, the people whom I was
longing for, whenever I wished to add sweetness to my
colors, to my figures. She was telling me "Think
of my mother, think of Berger, think of me. Choose your
colors that describe a world in which you wish your
beloved ones could live in." Her advice may be
considered an important clue that describes her art
She expressed the process of creation as follows:
"While painting, I find myself integrated to
all living things... Then I lose myself and become a
part of a superhuman creative process, which produces
pictures like a volcano erupting lava and rocks. Mostly.
I become aware of the picture only after it is completed"
(Mansel 1990: 12). Manifesting the mystical aspect of
her personality. Fahr el nissa implied that her abstract
expressionism was a trance like Pollock's and an inevitable
adventure.
| II.
1 The Beginning Zeid started painting
at the age of four, envying her brother Cevat
Shakir. She said, "the sound of his brush
was coming to my ears like a melody. He held my
hand and started moving it on the paper. Since
that day. neither that sound vanished, nor the
passion for painting". At the age of twelve,
she was already drawing portraits. The art appealed
to her mother Sare Ismet Hanim, like many other
members of the family. She used to paint oil pictures
on silk clothes and hang them on the walls of
her home (Erbil 1975:3). Aliye Berger described
her as," a meticulous woman". She said
"when she noticed that a part of the picture
was dirty, she would cover it by painting a butterfly
on it, If the stain was small she would paint
a caterpillar"(Erbil 1975:3). |
hjhjhjhjh
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My grandmother(signed Fahrelnissa Chakir, age
14)(1915)
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The
Kabaaghacli family would spend the summers in
Buyukada, which used to be a voluntary exile for
some eight or ten Ottoman families, and the winters
in Elmadagh, Istanbul. Their children continued
to study painting and music (Edgu 1981, Turay
1988:4). Literature, painting and music were the
indispensable occupations for the Shakir Pasha
family. When she was a child, Fahr el nissa had
seen the nude pictures painted by her brother
Cevat Shakir in this large house set in a big
garden full of flowers. Aliye Berger tells the
story of the children meeting with these paintings
as follows: "One day when the parents saw
these pictures, all hell broke loose. They were
removed to the attic in a great hurry.
However,
the attic was totally a different universe for
us. who were seven brothers and sisters. First
of all, there were little musical boxes up there.
They were thrown out there because the ballerinas
of the boxes were damaged somehow. But I used
to go upstairs to listen to them: it was so strange
to see naked women among the toys" (Erbil
1975: 3)
Zeid,
who had painted some realistic pictures based
on imitation in the beginning, started to make
figurative exercises while attending the Ranson
Academy in Paris. She used a semi-impressionist
technique for a while. Then with her tutor's encouragement,
she chose abstract painting. In her first exhibition
of 1944, she cared for design and structure. In
1945, the colors became dominant Moving closer
to Ecole de Paris, she was influenced by the Paris
Abstract.
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