Istanbul Exhibition in Paris Gathers 29 Artists’ Views
Türkiye's Communications Directorate staged 74 works by 29 artists in Paris on October 19-20.
An Istanbul exhibition in Paris has brought together 74 works by 29 artists under the title “Istanbul: A City, a Thousand Perspectives.” Türkiye’s Directorate of Communications organized the show, which ran on October 19 and 20 at Le Réfectoire des Cordeliers in the French capital.
The works look at Istanbul through several art forms, from traditional crafts to digital art. Organizers presented the exhibition as a way to introduce the city’s history and cultural heritage to Paris audiences.
What the Istanbul exhibition in Paris showed
The display covered modern miniature, illumination, painting, watercolor, illustration, tile art and digital art. Miniature (minyatür) is the detailed small-scale painting tradition long linked to Ottoman manuscripts. Illumination (tezhip) is the decoration of pages and borders with gold and rich colour.
Leyla Kara, an artist in miniature and illumination, curated the show. According to the reporting, the works offer fresh views of well-known landmarks, including Hagia Sophia and the Maiden’s Tower (Kız Kulesi), the small tower on an islet at the Bosphorus entrance.
Kara said the 29 artists’ individual outlooks make up the “thousand perspectives” of the title. She also said she hoped every visitor would find at least one piece that spoke to them.
Who attended and what they said
The opening drew several officials. They included Türkiye’s Ambassador to France Yunus Demirer, Consul General in Paris Kerem Yılmaz, and French Senator Bernard Fialaire, who chairs the France-Türkiye Friendship Group in the French Senate.
Presidential Communications Director Burhanettin Duran sent a message to the ceremony. He described Istanbul as a city where the past is never fully separated from the present. He also said the exhibition could strengthen cultural dialogue between Türkiye and France.
Fialaire thanked the organizers and said art had helped enrich dialogue between the two countries. He called Istanbul an extraordinary city.
Why Istanbul keeps inspiring artists abroad
Duran noted that the city has inspired work in poetry, literature, music and painting. This exhibition shows that range in a single room. Older crafts such as illumination sit beside digital art, and each approach offers its own reading of familiar places.
For readers who follow Turkish historical series, the show is a reminder of how much visual tradition lies behind the screen. Series set in Ottoman Istanbul draw on the same architecture and decorative arts, though a drama’s portrayal is an interpretation, not a historical record.
The exhibition was a two-day event, so it has already closed. The reports do not mention a tour or a later showing.
Source: Daily Sabah, Türkiye Today
Featured image: Matti Blume / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
