82. Today in 1920s Turkey: 28 April 1928 (Part 2 of 3: Famous Ottoman Painter, Osman Hamdi Bey)

(Caption: Here is the Turk whose name is written above; among the painters who have been raised in our country, he is a refined and sensitive Turkish painter who has ascended to quite a special and outstanding status. Original Caption in Turkish: “İşte ismini yukarıda yazdığımız Türk; vatanımızda yetişen ressamların arasında pek hususi ve büyük bir mevkii kadar yükselmiş ince ve hassas bir Türk ressamıdır.”)

Comments:
This is the second installment in a three-part translation of Nurettin İbrahim’s "Mr. Hamdi" article published in the Illustrated Gazette (Resimli Gazete) eighty-nine years ago. The below text considers Osman Hamdi’s professional life as painter, archaeologist, and museum director. For the first third of this essay, refer to post #81 (Part 1 of 3: Famous Ottoman Painter, Osman Hamdi Bey).

This third of the article portrays Mr. Hamdi as an Orientalist insider, whose non-European perspective secured a degree of authenticity in “representing” the East unmatched in even the most well-traveled, Western-trained artists. As proof, the author points to a number of well-known Orientalist artists who spent time in the Ottoman Empire and were inspired by the alien atmosphere. Orientalism has always suffered from an authenticity deficit created by the “outsider’s gaze” which tended to objectify the East in paintings that were viewed by a largely European audience. As a “Turk” with a unique perspective among his otherwise European peers, Mr. Hamdi, offered an enhanced, and thus superior window into the true essence of the East. However, this “identity” of Osman Hamdi is only partially true. While as an Ottoman subject who lived in Istanbul he could indeed be considered an “insider” to the so-called Orient, but a “Turk” in ethnicity he was not. Mr. Hamdi, like many living in the cosmopolitan city of Istanbul at the turn of the previous century, was actually of Greek descent. Over the course of the 20th century (and apparently as early as the 1920s), Turkish nationalist historiography claimed Osman Hamdi as a great Turkish intellectual. And why would they not? Any race or state would be proud to have such a talented and passionate individual to be considered an outstanding member of their community.

This section of the article also outlines the upward battle Mr. Hamdi faced as an archaeologist and museum director. He worked during the reign of Abdülhamid II (r. 1876-1909), a sultan who had a propensity to give away or “gift” artworks and artifacts that were found in his territories to European rulers and institutions in return for various favors. Mr. Hamdi’s appointment to the directorship of the Imperial Museum came at a time when archaeology was experiencing a boom and European collectors and museums were flocking to Ottoman lands to profit from the “riches” and remove them from an Ottoman state too weak to enforce stricter Antiquities Laws. In this regard, Mr. Hamdi’s terminated law degree came in handy when he personally drafted newer, better antiquities laws as an administrator with the museum. Thus, he is also celebrated as a protector of the state’s cultural heritage; one who, according to the anecdote conveyed in the below essay, was not above putting his own life on the line to save a work of art from being lost to the Louvre.

English
(The continuation of Nurettin İbrahim’s article, “Mr. Hamdi”)
During the reign of Sultan Ahmet III, Vanmour portrayed landscapes of Istanbul that moved the heart; completing his fine arts training and traveling in the East, Gérôme, elevated Turkey’s poetic, enchanting horizons by using them for inspiration in his art; and even the famous Colorist painter Zonaro who lived for many years in our country brought numerous precious works pertaining to the East into existence. But none of them were able to attain an adequate level of locating and presenting the beauty of Turkey’s assets, local costume, and palace life, in short the national subjects of all of the East, like the great Turkish Orientalist, Mr. Hamdi. Even though they may have made paintings of admiration, rich in fountains decorated in Turkish motifs, [معایدک], our national dress, traditions, they nevertheless fell short in regards to experiencing the force of emotions only a true Turk could feel when creating scenes of his nation. In the paintings that he made, Mr. Hamdi succeeded in recreating Turkish traditions of the past in all their tribalism, and with a wholly Eastern atmosphere, including the sorrowful, mixed colors of the cypresses with such great refinement so to excite any artist.

Mr. Hamdi, who represented Turkey at the Vienna Exhibition in 1873, was appointed head of the new Fine Arts Academy and director to the Imperial Museum in 1881. Once again thanks to the efforts and zeal of Mr. Hamdi, in 1892 the construction of a second museum was started and finished, making him an unequaled contributor to the enrichment of these institutions.

In 1887 and 1888 Mr. Hamdi conducted excavations at Sidon and recovered valuable works of art including sargophagi and tombs. In the former period, in order to protect the Imperial Museum’s collections from Abdülhamid offering them as [?] gifts to the Louvre Museum, he worked by himself and with daring perseverance in opposition to the Palace, the Louvre, and even greater forces and succeeded in keeping the objects of concern at the Ottoman museum. One time, to oppose the [ملحوظنی] request of a visiting (foreign) ruler, thinking of his previous administration’s profession, appealed to his ambassador, explaining with such passion and resolution that if they try to remove the Sidon sarcophagus from the museum he will commit suicide right on the tomb and they would have to remove his body with it and in this way, he nearly sacrificed his own life to save our museum’s brilliant work of art whose fame circulates in the worlds of science and knowledge.

Türkçe
(Nurettin İbrahim’in “Hamdi Bey” isimli makalesinin devamı)
Sultan Ahmet salis devrinde İstanbul’un kalpleri teshir eden manzaralarını tersim eden “Vanmor,” şarkta seyahat ile bediyi terbiyesini Türkiye afaklarının şair füsunundan ilham alarak yükselten ressam “Jerom,” ve uzun müddet memleketimizde ikamet ile şarka dair birçok kısmetdar eserler vücuda getiren meşhur “Kolorist” bir ressam olan “Zonaro” bile, Türk varlığın güzelliklerini, kıyafetlerini, saray hayatlarını velhasıl bütün şarka ait milli mevzuları büyük bir Türk müsteşriki olan Hamdi Bey kadar tespit etmeye mevki olamamışlardır. Onlar Türk motifleri ile tezyin edilmiş çeşmelerin, [معایدک], kıyafet-i milliyemizin, adetlerimizin meftuniyetile zengin tablolar yapmışlarsa da öz bir Türk’ün milli şekilleri yaratırken duyduğu hisleri yaşamak kudretinden uzak kalmışlardır. İşte Hamdi Bey, meydana getirdiği tablolarda bütün urbanlığıyla geçmiş senelerin Türk adetlerini büyük bir zevkle her sanatkarı heyecana düşüren tamamıyla bir şark karakterini, servilerin hazin amiz renkleriyle derin hikmetlerini büyük bir seziş ile canlandırmağa muvaffak olmuştur.

1294 tarihinde Viyana sergisinde Türkiye’yi temsil eden Hamdi Bey, 1302’de te’sis edilen Sanayi-yi Nefise Mekteb-i Alisi ile aynı senede yeni ihdat olunan müze müdüriyetine tayin olundu. 1313 tarihinde yine Hamdi Bey’in gayret ve himmeti sayesinde ikinci bir müzenin inşaasına başlanarak itmam edildi, ve bu müzelerin zenginleştirilmesi hususunda yegane amel oldu.

Hamdi Bey, 1887 ve 1888 tarihlerinde Sayda’da hafriyat icra ettirdiği ve buradan pek kıymetdar eser-i nefise ile lahitler ve kabirler çıkarıldı. Devr-i sabıkta Abdülhamit tarafından Louvre Müzesi’ne ihsan [?] buyurulan Osmanlı müzesi asarını muhafaza için yalnız başına saraya, Louvre Müzesi’ne ve daha büyük kuvvetlere karşı mütecellidane bir azim ile uğraşa uğraşa asıl matmah-ı nazar olan asari Osmanlı müzesinde ibkaya muvaffak oldu. Bir defa İstanbul’u ziyarete gelen bir hükümdarın teşebbüs [ملحوظنی] buna karşı idare-yi sabıkanın mesleğini düşünerek sefirine müracaatla “eğer Sayda lahidi müzeden çıkarılmak istenilirse kendisinin o lahit üzerinde intihar ederek cesedinin de birlikte çıkacağını” en kat’i bir azim ile anlatmış ve işte bugün müzemizi alem-i ilim ve marifetin matafı eden eser-i enfes adeta feda-yı can ile kurtarılmıştır.

(“Hamdi Bey” article by Nurettin İbrahim, Resimli Gazete or “Illustrated Gazette,” 28 April 1928, no. 243, page 3.)