The exhibition “A Route on the Borders of the Mind”, which offers a comprehensive look at Fikret Mualla’s life and art, opened at the Erimtan Museum in Ankara. The exhibition makes the artist’s story visible and shows that he wanders around both the same and the opposite feelings in his art practice.
Mental labyrinths that console with lines
Fikret Mualla is one of the most special characters of Turkish painting and one of the most unique painters with his works. His life, which first consists of searches and then of turmoil, makes him and his works unique. So do we know Fikret Mualla well enough? An exhibition that offers a comprehensive look at the painter opened at the Erimtan Archaeology and Art Museum in Ankara last week. Curated by Ebru Nalan Sülün from Bor Sanat Hancan Art Collection, the exhibition “A Route on the Borders of the Mind” examines the turning points that trigger the painter’s nerve endings through his works and practice.
A turbulent life
Fikret Muallâ Saygı was born in Istanbul in 1903… One of his first passions was football, in 1915 he fell and limped while playing football at Galatasaray High School, three years later he caught the Spanish flu and transmitted the disease first to his mother and then to his grandmother, and both of them lost their lives. He then experienced dramatic events with his father. In other words, a series of traumas… Then the well-known period in Bakırköy and the Paris Sainte-Anne Mental Hospital in Paris… He experienced setbacks, depressions, back and forths, and delusions that would follow him until his death in 1967. But everything that did not kill him strengthened both his lines and colors.
Lines became a cure.
Abidin Dino says in an article he wrote in 1980, “Fikret Muallâ was treating himself with lines.” This is exactly the route the painter’s life-resistance stops follow. He describes the cities he visited on the streets, the ordinary people he saw in the markets, the taverns and coffeehouses with his unique images. The “A Route on the Borders of the Mind” exhibition at Erimtan selects traces from this journey and conveys them with stories. The exhibition, which begins with the “Beyond the Line” section, begins its journey by first remembering the Yeni Adam magazine published by İsmail Hakkı Baltacıoğlu in 935 issues and Fikret Muallâ’s drawings and lines. The works in the first section give clues to a shocking and striking world of painting from his first drawings. In the second part of the exhibition, there is a look at the artist’s art and life after 1939. His paintings “Still Life with Two Faces” and “Three People on the Counter” dated 1954 appear before us, reflecting this style in its most characteristic form.
Mental labyrinths comforted by lines
The third section titled “A Departure / A Paris / A Fikret Muallâ-1939/1967” presents traces from the artist’s more well-known mature period. The selection consisting of paintings such as “Paris Street (1954)”, “Two Customers Chatting (1957)”, “In the Market (1957)”, “Man with a Newspaper (1953)”, “Woman in Green at the Hairdresser” (1954) presents a Muallâ narrative with the curator’s choice. The Archive Area in the last section of the exhibition – a very meaningful and complementary choice for these exhibitions – includes newspaper archives containing articles and comments about Fikret Muallâ between 1967-1989.
The path extending from the first drawings to the archive area makes Fikret Muallâ’s story visible, showing that he navigates around both the same and contradictory feelings in his artistic practice. Ordinary people, who were frequently featured in poetry and stories during his time, wink at Mualla’s paintings and pass into history with the reflections of the painter within his own stream of consciousness. Again, just like Abidin Dino and Ara Güler’s words describing him: “More than anything else, he drew people, he hunted them with color and lines.”
The exhibition can be visited until July 7.
To understand Fikret Mualla better
A talk program has also been prepared at Erimtan in addition to the exhibition. The program to be held within the scope of the “A Route on the Borders of the Mind: Fikret Mualla exhibition begins today with the “The Problem of Originality in Art and Fikret Mualla” talk. As is known, fake works of Fikret Mualla are constantly circulating in the market. Curator Ebru Nalan Sülün draws attention to the fact that the works in the exhibition were verified through examinations conducted by experts. The program includes the following sections: “A Collector’s Story | The series of talks such as “Hancan Art Collection”, “Fikret Muallâ’nın Vafile Dünyası”, “A Route on the Borders of the Mind | Book Launch and Interview” and “Paris and Istanbul Line in the First Half of the 20th Century” will be held free of charge.
Source: https://www.milliyet.com.tr/kultur-sanat/cizgiyle-avunan-zihni-labirentler-7324768