Generation of 1914 Painters Take Over Istanbul Museum
Nearly 200 works from the İş Bank and Arkas collections are on view until July 12, 2027.
The Generation of 1914, a group of painters who shaped modern Turkish art, is the subject of a large new exhibition in Istanbul. “Generation of 1914: Painters We Know” brings together nearly 200 works from the Türkiye İş Bank and Arkas collections. It runs through July 12, 2027.
The show is at the Türkiye İş Bank Museum of Painting and Sculpture in Istanbul’s Beyoğlu district. It was organised by İş Sanat in collaboration with Arkas Sanat. For readers who enjoy Ottoman-era and early Republican imagery, it offers a close look at how Turkish painters learned to see their own country.
Who Were the Generation of 1914 Painters?
The name refers to artists who first trained in Istanbul and were then sent to Paris to study. They returned to Türkiye after World War I broke out in 1914, which gave the generation its name.
The exhibition features Ibrahim Çallı, Feyhaman Duran, Namık İsmail, Sami Yetik, Ali Sami Boyar, Hüseyin Avni Lifij, Mehmed Ruhi Arel, Nazmi Ziya Güran and Hikmet Onat. It also includes works by their teachers, their contemporaries and the later artists they influenced.
Suat Sözen, deputy general manager of İş Bank, said the generation brought a change in artistic thinking, not only in style. In his words, the painters moved beyond academic conventions and turned to open air, the light of the Bosporus, nature and people. He described their work as laying the foundations of Republican-era painting.
What Visitors Will See in the Exhibition
The display opens with works by the generation’s teachers. It then presents the leading artists, grouped by subject. Further rooms show painters active in the same period and students trained by the generation.
Highlights include Fernand Cormon’s “The Wait,” Ibrahim Çallı’s “Woman Smelling a Rose,” Feyhaman Duran’s “The Girl in the Blue Shalwar” and Namık İsmail’s “Harvest.” A shalwar is the loose, gathered trousers traditionally worn in Anatolia and across the wider region.
Hikmet Onat’s “Landscape-Ortaköy” is also on show. It was the first work acquired for the İşbank Painting Collection. Visitors will also find Nazmi Ziya’s nature scenes, Avni Lifij’s enigmatic compositions and Sami Yetik’s and Ruhi Arel’s scenes of everyday life.
Why the 1914 Generation Matters to Turkish Culture
The exhibition also reflects the growth of private collecting and museum work in Türkiye. Sözen credited the Arkas Group for its commitment to preserving and sharing cultural heritage. Lucien Arkas, chairman of Arkas Holding, said he hoped the partnership with İş Bank would encourage other institutions to combine their strengths for art.
For viewers of Turkish period dramas, paintings like these are a useful visual record of the late Ottoman and early Republican eras. They are artists’ interpretations, not documentary evidence, but they show how that world was seen and remembered.
The museum is open from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Tuesday through Friday, and from noon to 7 p.m. on Saturdays and Sundays. The exhibition fills the second and third floors.
Source: Daily Sabah
Featured image: Dosseman / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
