Exhibition of Fahrelnissa Zeid's Portraits Opens in İstanbul
Source: Dirimart
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An exhibition featuring a selection of portraits by Fahrelnissa Zeid, a prominent figure of modernism in Turkey, has opened in İstanbul.
Representing various periods of the artist's life, the exhibition titled, "A Three-Character Play" includes portraits of her family, close friends, and students.
Born in 1901 in İstanbul, Zeid was the daughter of an Ottoman diplomat, Ahmet Şakir Pasha. Her uncle, Cevat Pasha served as the grand vizier, who is only subordinate to the sultan of the empire.
She produced portraits extensively in two periods in her life, between 1960 and 1972, and after 1975, when she moved to Amman.
Zeid's portraits dating to 1960–1972 fall into two categories: the bust and half-length social portraits of her gallerists, their families, and her casual friends; and the close-up, full-face psychological studies of people to whom she was closest.
In her Amman years, Zeid focused on portraits in her practice while teaching art. Bringing the dominance of color into the forefront with contrasted saturated colors, she animates still faces in an expressionistic style.
Untitled, 1979, oil on canvas
According to Zeid, the portrait is "[not] the form. It is much stronger and so much beyond that [...] with a portrait, you find yourself in a theatre with three characters: there is the human being posing—the model. There is the painter and the third character that one must create not only by looking at [the face][...] of the model," says the biography of the artist, titled, "Painter of Inner Worlds."
The exhibition also includes the full version of the documentary titled "Fahrelnissa Zeid à Paris 1949-1975" by Olivier Lorquin, the son of Fahrelnissa's gallerist, old friend Dina Vierny.
The documentary hosts André Parinaud, Katia Granoff, Dina Vierny and her daughter Şirin Devrim who had important roles in her life, as well as various works from her career.
The exhibition at Dirimart gallery in Beyoğlu, İstanbul will be open until April 5.
About Fahrelnissa Zeid
Fahrelnissa Zeid was an artist best known for her large-scale abstract paintings with kaleidoscopic patterns. Also using drawings, lithographs, and sculptures, her work blended elements of Islamic and Byzantine art with abstraction and other influences from the West. Zeid was one of the first women to go to art school in Istanbul. She lived in different cities and became part of the avant-garde scenes in Istanbul, pre-war Berlin and post-war Paris. Her work has been exhibited at various institutions in Paris, New York, and London, including the Institute of Contemporary Art in 1954. In the 1970s, she moved to Amman, Jordan, where she established an art school. In the 1930s, she married into the Hashemite royal family of Iraq and was the mother of Prince Ra'ad bin Zeid and the grandmother of Prince Zeid bin Ra'ad. She was born in 1901 in İstanbul and died in Amman in 1991. Source: Tate |
(AÖ/VK)