Arts :

Adnan Turani :  A language of lines

by Sibel DORSAN

The works of Adnan Turani absorb immediately, conveying experience in dramatic lines. These are not the work of a moment’s inspiration, but the product of a life-time of study, teaching, travel, writing and reflection.

“I am excited by what I see around me. But the interesting thing is, there is no particular form or stylistic language in nature which excites me. This is my job - or the duty which I impose upon myself: to turn the forms of nature into a style which excites me. Of course, to discover this exciting style I always have to go through an adventure of hard work and research. It is an adventure where you choose not the forms of nature but the artistic formation of paint; not a depiction of things but a picture of spiritual life; not the colours of nature but the colours which are striking in images.”

It is with these words that Adnan Turani, one of the masters of Turkish abstract painting, explains the central philosophy which he has developed over long years of work, and which has left its mark on his paintings.

Born in Istanbul in 1925, Turani was to become a great traveller and prolific writer as well as an accomplished artist. The works in his Ankara studio display an extraordinary sense of line and pictorial competence. Immediately you sense the intensity of the experience and emotions which have gone into them. Detail, on the other hand, is sparse, and forms are unclear. Portraits, still lifes, landscapes… all have a charming, poetic atmosphere, frequently enhanced by a dynamic use of colour and careful composition - but what they teach above all is an appreciation of the abstract.

Music to models

Orchestras and musicians are a common Turani theme – and perhaps with good reason. As a schoolboy, the artist took violin lessons from Ekrem Zeki Ün. Ün had every confidence in his pupil’s talent: “Leave Adnan to me,” he said, “and in two years’ time you will have a fine virtuoso.” But Turani’s painting surpassed his love of music. He had already been permitted, on the recommendation of this teachers, to attend the Istanbul State Fine Arts Academy as a guest student every afternoon, and he would spend the evenings drawing the live models at the Adacemy’s ‘Cours du Soir’.

In perceiving the model from different angles, Turani took advantage of the views and criticisms of the Academy’s noted teacher Levy. However, in contrast to Levy’s approach, he found it easier to express himself in line rather than using the ‘modellé’ technique. Already, Turani was seeking to epitomise character in designs devoid of light or shadow.

Soaking up Europe

Turani graduated from the Istanbul Teacher Training College and went on to Ankara’s Gazi Training Institute. Another turning point came in 1953, when he was the only painting candidate to pass the state examination for graduate and postgraduate education abroad. As a result, he was sent to Germany for six years. From this moment on, his appetite for art knew no bounds.

Initially, Turani studied at the Munich Fine Arts Academy and became a student of Franz Nagel. He already knew some French, and he studied German intensively. He bought the books of every author and artist who attracted his interest. He read Goethe and Schopenhauer. He also took an interest in philosophy, especially the Greek thinkers. The 250 books he purchased and read in Germany formed the roots of his current library of almost 5,000 volumes.

The abstract era

Turani paid frequent visits to the Kunsthalle museum. Finding Nagel’s methods conservative, he proceeded to Stuttgart, where he studied first under Henninger and then under Willi Baumeister. Debates about abstract art were sweeping Europe, and Turani made every effort to understand the issues of the day. He was deeply influenced by Baumeister, who opposed academic rules in art and education, and upheld the searching for the “new”. At the same time, he decided he wanted to work with Trökes, a major representative of the pioneering art of the day. This decision took him to the Hamburg Academy.

The “freedom of abstract expression” suited Turani perfectly. 1956 can be described as a beginning of his abstraction period, which subsequently became more definitely abstract. At  Trökes’ workshop, the artist also studied lithography. Meanwhile, he paid visits to Denmark and all the Scandinavian countries. In 1958, he visited the Venice Biennial. He went on to the French Riviera, visited Picasso at his house in Vallauris, and proceeded to Spain for a comprehensive six-week artistic tour via Barcelona – where he visited Miro – to Taragona, Granada and Madrid. He spent days at the Prado Museum in Madrid examining the techniques of Velasquez and the fascinating Goya.

An Ankara base

Heading northwards again at last, Turani visited the galleries in Paris and called on Mannesier and Soulage, two of the famous artists of that period, in their homes. He opened individual exhibitions himself in noted galleries in Hanover and Hamburg in 1958 and in Berlin in 1959, receiving warm accolades and selling many works. Back in Turkey, he returned to teaching, opting for Ankara and the Gazi Education Institute.

He was later also to teach at Hacettepe University and Bilkent University. He obtained his doctorate in 1972-3, became an assistant professor in 1978 and was named a professor in 1986. Turani opened exhibitions in Istanbul and Ankara in 1960. His Tel Aviv exhibition of September 1963 was a sell-out. The artist’s canvases of the 1960-72 period can be described as lyrical, abstract compositions bearing the marks of a struggle to transform the paint into excitement-inspiring forms. The technique is accomplished; the style original.

Perfecting the line

From 1972 onwards, it is more a question of looking at nature again and re-interpreting it in an artistic way with pictorial elements and values. Some archaic formal tendencies, already visible in the earlier work, can also be detected.

As of 1978, calligraphic lines come to the fore. The line, which is the most abstract element of painting, becomes a form of expression in itself. The design and the paintwork are closely integrated. The important thing is to be able to see and realise the whole. “I don’t draw what is apparent in nature; I draw the natural effect - in other words what I have perceived,” Turani says.

Writer and observer

Since he retired in 1989, Turani says, he has painted twice as many paintings as he had in his entire previous career. It is not difficult to believe, since he has been a busy man. Besides his many individual exhibitions, he has published fourteen books to date on art and art history, and has been invited to nearly 40 international exhibitions and biennials in various countries including Yugoslavia, the Netherlands, Japan, the US, the Scandinavian countries, Italy, India, Bulgaria, Germany, Spain, Romania, Jordan, Egypt, Israel and Iraq.

Throughout his working life, Turani has also continued to travel and study. In 1965, he went to Vienna, Salzburg, Munich, Paris, Genoa and Venice. In 1990, he went to London and Madrid in order to examine the paintings of Goya and Velasquez. He realised that the body as drawn by Goya was a design independent of the living model; Goya’s nude was a body composition. This discovery was entirely in line with his own way of thinking. He re-visited Italy and contemplated the pictorial works of Tiziano and Tintoretto. He also stopped off in Padova and Florence. He visited Paris frequently, paying special attention to the Picasso and Pompidou museums. The Pompidou he describes as a “summary of 20^th century art”.

Irresistible blend

Many of Turani’s own works now decorate the walls of museums and private collectors. Abroad, these include the Tel Aviv Museum of Modern Art, the Royal Museum of Fine Arts in Amman, the Capri Museum of Xylographie and the royal palace in Copenhagen. In Turkey, the State Painting and Sculpture Museums of Ankara, İstanbul and İzmir, Hacettepe and Eskişehir Anadolu universities, İşbank, Ziraat Bank, the Central Banks, the Istanbul Modern and the Presidential Palace all possess products of Turani’s ideal blend of hard work and joie de vivre.

( DIPLOMAT  -  March 2006  -  Ankara )