Günümüz Türkiye'sinde Naif Sanat: Bir Grup Sanatçı Üzerine Araştırma

Abstract

Ondokuzuncu yüzyılın ikinci yarısında sanatta yeni arayışlar başlamış, akademik sanat eğitimi almış kişilerden farklı olan Henri Rousseau'yla "naif" terimi özdeşleşmiş, daha sonra modern sanatın saf ve yalın anlatım arayışı içinde olan Klee ve Dubuffet ile bu terimin sınırları sorgulanmış ve aşılmıştır. Dünyada, özellikle Amerika Birleşik Devletleri'nde (ABD), çeşitli terimler türetilmiş ve sanatçılar bu terimlere göre gruplandırılmaya çalışılmıştır. Bu değişimlerin Türkiye'ye yansıması ve naif sanat teriminin tanımlanması ise uzun süre sonra gerçekleşmiştir. Türkiye'de Nuri Abaç, İbrahim Balaban, Cihat Burak, Bedri Rahmi Eyüboğlu, Nedim Günsür, İhsan Cemal Karaburçak, Ali Galip Onat, Hüseyin Yüce ve Turgut Zaim gibi isimlerle ilk adımları atılmış ve gazeteci-yazarlığın yanısıra kendisi de naif bir sanatçı olan Fahir Aksoy'la gruplaşarak yaygınlaşmıştır. Günümüzde Fahir Aksoy'un naif sanat tanımına bağlı kalınmış, hatta "insite" dışında diğer terimler duyulmamıştır bile. Tezin amacı problematik olan terimleri tek tek ele alıp onları tanıtmak, naif sanatı Türkiye'de algılanışı yönünden inceleyerek sorgulamaktır. Yüksek Lisans tezi kapsamına uyacak şekilde Fahir Aksoy'un kendi grubuna dahil ettiği sanatçılardan sekizi araştırılmış ve değerlendirilmiştir. Türkiye'deki naif sanat ancak evrensel bir bakış açısıyla tam olarak değerlendirilebilir. Bu nedenle araştırma kitap, dergi, broşür, müze, sanat galerisi, sempozyum ve söyleşilerden oluşmuştur. Ayrıca karşılaştırmak amacıyla, Kuzey ve Güney Amerika, Avrupa, Asya ve Afrika kıtalarından ülkeler seçilip örnekler incelenmiştir.

The need to find information and reading material in the fîeld of Turkish naive art and the lack of such resources are the main reasons for the determination of this thesis topic. The reason it is called Naive Art in Turkey and not Turkish Naive Art is intentional: the understanding of the term "naive" in Turkey compared to other countries is also dealt with in this thesis. The term "naive" is a problematic one throughout the world. The problem arises simply by the defmition of the term. In the United States of America alone where the fıeld is very extensively researched, there are many recent new terms invented for the simple reason of categorizing artists by the differences in their artwork and their purpose for the creation. The artists who are placed in these categories do not even know why they belong to the particular group; nor do they know (or sometimes care about) the definition of the term itself. Some of the terms which cause confusion among artists and others alike are called, Art Brüt (Raw Art), Neuve Invention, Outsider Art, Insite Art, Folk Art, Contemporary Folk Art, Marginal Art, Art Singulier, Visionary Art, Intuitive Art, Visionary Environments, Children’s Art, Art of the Mentally 111, Primitive Art, Grassroots Art, Self-Taught Art, ete. Most of them are defıned in the thesis giving examples for each category. The popular or the currently used ones are addressed in more detail than others. The seetion that ineludes the nomenclature also deals with the problem of determining who can be qualifîed to fit the term "naive". There are controversies över the fact that art education destroys original creativity, thus people who have gone to an art school should be excluded from this category. The criteria also inelude being an ordinary Citizen. These two characteristics are common to most naive artists; however, they are not the sole determining factors. The pioneer of naive art, Henri Rousseau, the customs officer, was not naive at ali in certain aspects, especially in art. Although he did not have a formal art education, he was best friends with Pablo Picasso and Oto Bihalji-Merin, the naive art expert. He also extensively visited art museums and galleries. In addition, the extent of remaining naive after being discovered and renown is questionable because whatever was innocent and private for the artist until then becomes public and gets exhibited and sold. Especially the monetary aspect of the situation plays a majör role in the loss of naivete and ingenuity. The second section of the thesis reviews the situation around the world. It starts with a close-up on North America concentrating on the USA, South America with examples from Brazil thanks to exhibitions held in İstanbul by the nephew of the renown painter and critic Fikret Adil who lives in Brazil. Examples from former Yugoslavia, especially Croatia (Dragon Gazi, Mijo Kovaciö, and Ivan Generaliâ), and the avid thinkers in the fîeld in France and the Czech Republic are representatives of Europe. In Asia, the Georgian Nikolai Pirosmanashvili and the Israili Shalom Moskowitz (better known as Shalom of Safed) are more famous than their Far Eastern counterparts. Worth mentioning are the Japanese Kiyoshi Yamashita and Suma Maruki who in their original paintings prove the possibility of co-existence of very strong traditions and individual naive creativity. This is mainly due to the trend toward a weakening of traditions. The section draws to an end with the African continent with an example by the Moroccan Ahmed Luardiri, the gardener, who recreates his people's gardens made of poems and stories. In general, there exist many original artworks which do not carry the national characteristics of the artist's country. However, some cannot help themselves but succumb to the influences of their traditions similar to those encountered in Turkey. The main section of the thesis is about the situation in Turkey which is quite different from that of the other parts in the world. Fahir Aksoy, who is a naive painter himself, plays the role of a leader in the fıeld. He is the one deciding who to include in his core group which he calls the İstanbul group. The initiation moment is a memorable one for each and every artist to become for it implies the road to success and fame if one desires and works at it. Aksoy who personally favors traditional arts and crafts as a source of inspiration, miniatures in particular, has done some research in the fîeld of naive art and published a few articles in journals and magazines. He has also written a book called Naive Art and the Turkish Naive Painters (his translation of the title) where he mentions the lack of data on naive art and his intention to gather information for the purpose of putting it ali in one book. In this book, he also tries to set the record straight by going into the aesthetics and philosophy of art. He first addresses Folk Art and the Art of the Mentally 111. Then, he talks about Children’s Art and Primitive Art, stressing that they cannot be accepted as Naive Art because of their purpose. He adds that although there are many similarities between these groups, there are also a number of clearly marked differences. Ali of them produce works characterized by instinct, spontaneity and lack of inhibition rather than by the observance of certain rules and academic norms. They thus tend to display aesthetic values that cannot be categorized under general headings. He also states that being academically trained does not exclude someone from the naive category. He finally admits at an interview held with him on July 29-30, 1997, that it is not a thorough book, however he adds that ali he had wished to accomplish was to clarify some confusions över the terminology and to summarize the situation around the world. The tendency of the Croatian naive artists to gather to form a school is not extant in Turkish naive painting. Each naive artist follows his/her own path to the chosen destination. However, similarities between artists do exist partly due to their close relationship with each other. Artists see each other at openings of their exhibitions held at least once in Destek Reasürans Gallery, once at Galeri Oda, both in İstanbul, then again in Ankara and in İzmir. The resemblance may also be partly due to the influence of the strong-rooted traditions. The pioneers of naive art in Turkey are Nedim Günsür and Cihat Burak who have been mainly inspired by folk art. Others such as Nuri Abaç and Fahir Aksoy have been influenced by Karagöz puppet figures and miniatures, respectively. Ali Galip Onat, İhsan Cemal Karaburçak, Hüseyin Yüce and Turgut Zaim are also worth mentioning among the pioneers of the fıeld although their current status as naive artist is questionable. One of the above-mentioned similarities among artists is an atmosphere of optimism and happiness. Subjects such as fear, sorrow, or melancholy are rarely reflected. Snowy paintings are seldom and recently used. At the 6th exhibition held at Destek Reasürans Gallery in 1996, the following artists were represented with at least one painting: Fahir Aksoy, Elif Aksoy, Doğan Akça, Mehmet Arpacık, Meral Atsan, Fatma Bulut, Şeyho Bulut, Betül Bozdağ, Şebnem T. Çamdalı, İbrahim Dilsiz, Tülin Erünsal, Uğural Gafuroğlu, Saha liman, Hikmet Karabucak, Muzaffer Kaya, Oğuz Makal, Şükrü Olcay, Zeynep San, Belgin Saral, Nihal Sıralar, Esra Sirman, Tamer Şahinoğlu, Selçuk Togul, Berna Türemen, H. Nusret Uludoğan, İsmail Yalçın, Nur Yaycıoğlu, Bengisu Yıldırım. Most of these artists have quit their main jobs and preoccupations and concentrated on painting. Again, some of them have held one-man/woman exhibitions. Fahir Aksoy is stili in search of new talents. Although the gathering of artists under a formal school as in Croatia does not exist in Turkey, Aksoy stili manages to keep them together as an informal group -either socially or professionally- and to support them in every way. Thanks to his initiative and efforts, they have succeeded to exhibit their works at the Museum of Naive Art in France.