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The arena of the Sun,
1954, Oil on Canvas, 200X270 cm. |
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II.3.2.
Contributions of Byzantine art Zeid's
Eastern spirit seems to be affiliated not only to
the Islamic traditions, but also directly to Roman,
Byzantine, Christian arts and cultures. Fahr el
nissa's fondness for Eastern culture stemmed from
the fact that she was born and raised in Istanbul
and attended to French schools such as Notre Dame
de Sion. Dame de Sion students were taught under
Christian rituals. Aliye Berger says "it was
a horrible school at those days. A god damned place!
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Jesus covered all over with blood, Saint Pierre
is dying; everyday you would experience such
things. Praying before lunch, praying after
lunch. I was not praying, but the others were.
It is the same. I was cursing, not praying.
Buyukada was coming into my mind; the smell
of jasmines. It was used to pray for all prophets:
bla, bla, bla.. .(Erbil 1975:3). These were
Aliye Berger's experiences. But, Zeid may have
had similar experiences. It is conceivable that
the images of the Saints left marks in her imagination
and in her visual world. Hence, the relationship
between the taste of icons in her portraits
and her memories is unquestionable.
Especially in 1950's. there appeared the
luminous, colorful mingling of precious stones
and mosaics in her works (Köksal 1989a: 8).
Cemil Eren believes that Istanbul, with its
Byzantine heritage. He finds impressions of
Byzantine art in her portraits, just as in her
abstract non-figurative works. According to
Eren, Zeid captured a happy synthesis of Roman,
Byzantine, Arab and Turkish arts and cultures,
like the blending of the branches of a huge
river (Eren 1982:48-51). "Zeid's first
look to outer world was through a colorful mosaic
separated into details by an Arabian lattice.
She never forgot it..." says Jacques Lassaigne.
In Lassaigne's opinion, Fahr el nissa owed her
artistic persona to these images and memories
of her childhood. Andre Maurois is among those
who captured the Byzantine primitives and Rouault's
marks in the essence of her paintings Maurois
1950, Parinaud 1984: 150).
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II.
3.3. A Synthesis or none Zeid was an
artist who bore her Eastern identity with all its
intensity. This identity manifested itself in her
art rather than her behavior or life style (Ozsezgin
2000: 6). The mystical aspect of her approach to
objects or events may be a key to interpreting the
abstract nature of her works. Meanwhile she studied
Symbolism, Surrealism, Realism, Mysticism, Non-figurative
and Abstract Art.
Denys Chevalier, capturing independent, poetical
inspirations in her works beyond ornamental art,
defines her art as
"Unclassifiable, exceptional and original".
He also says, "each of her works -oil paintings,
watercolors or stones - whatever their periods are,
is a sign of her power to invent and to create and
a sign of her plastic strength renewed over and
over again. The artist, in a breathless pursuit
of personal and real expression, is continuously
maturing without cease. This continuity is becoming
more amazing to the extent it has manifested itself
through various attempts."
In her first large-scale composition, the hardly-seen
splitting of designs was handled with somewhat an
understanding of miniature. While concerns for technique
and monumentality were prevailing in the picture,
the desire for monumentality was later on replaced
by canvases painted under strong lights in the character
of non-figurative wall paintings (Cited from Chevalier,
anonymously 1964a).
Along with Maurice Collis (Cited from 1956. anonymously
1964a), who sensed, in her paintings. the magnificence
and glitter that reminds of diamonds. Keith Sutton
(cited from 1957, anonymously) noticed how a controlled
enthusiasm and sensation were transformed into a
conscious concept of design. For Fahr el nissa Zeid,
painting is a miracle, which happens repeatedly.
And it is this feature of painting that transforms
her into a meticulous calligrapher (cited from Lassaigne
1953, anonymously 1964a, 1994a: 18).
The French critic, Jacques Lassaigne says:
"For Fahr el nissa Zeid, painting is a miracle,
which happens repeatedly. She warms up with the
non-smoking flames of this miracle, throws herself
into these flames and re-appears, with her eyes
blushed by the illusions of corals and pearls. She
feels the picture, she lives the picture, her paintings
do not resemble to anyone else's. You cannot openly
classify them as abstract, non-figurative, etc.
It is even futile to find out their origin in the
Iranian miniatures, Byzantine mosaics or colored
windows of Arabian mosques. Fahr el nissa's art
is a power in a continuous progress."
III.
Thematic components/stylistic elements
Fahr el nissa's art presents a multidimensional
structure. An artistic archeological study on its
components, history, geography, culture, etc.. would
be a hard and challenging work, which cannot be
achieved within the confines of the exhibition catalogue
prepared in memory of the 100th anniversary of her
birth. Nevertheless, as a modest start, I will try
to make a rough classification of the thematic and
stylistic elements of her art
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Submarine world, 1962, Oil on Canvas, 179X208
cm.
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III.
1. Thematic components III.1.1. Nature/Geography/Location
Fahr el nissa Zeid was a nature lover. Her
approach to abstract was based on understanding,
analyzing and feeling the nature. She seems
to believe that "what is concrete is
abstract enough." Most of her paintings
embrace a particular theme or, bear names
that may evoke a certain subject matter or
theme. We must seek the abstract expression
in Zeid's art in the context of the mystical
relationship that she established with nature/geography
and life/culture. |
Most
of her paintings refer to a certain period of
her life. The places where she visited or lived,
the events that influenced her life, and her passions
are transformed into the paintings, by keeping
them alive in the second dimension as well. It'
is apparent that in choosing the titles of her
paintings, she makes reference sometimes to impressions
or to certain objects perceived when she visited
various civilizations. Moreover, her works reflected
her inner expressions as well as her fantasies
and dreams.
Observing the big/small relationship in the nature/universe,
Zeid endeavored to reflect her impressions on
canvases. When studied meticulously, the supposed
similarity between the whole and its components
as well as the beliefs and approaches that suggest
a metaphysical relationship between human and
nature element can clearly be observed. Being
the basis of abstract art, this new platonist
approach corresponds to the similar conception
of human and universe in G.W. Leibniz's monadology
as well. Zeid's pictures try to probe into the
one that is bigger than any "whole"
as well as the status of "whole" that
is smaller than any other "whole". Hence,
"the abstract-concrete relationship"
observed in her paintings does not present contrast,
but harmony.
Beginning
from her childhood, she traveled first in Istanbul,
in Turkey and then all over the world. Thanks
to those travels, she became an explorer who could
adapt to more than one culture.
Therefore, it is not surprising to find a variety
of subjects from different countries, cultures
or locations, with the concrete and abstract ones
standing side by side.
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