Emine Naciye Tevfik

Emine Neyyal Naciye Tevfik (Biren) (born 1875 in Istanbul ; died 1960 there ) was one of the first Ottoman and Turkish portrait painters . Her work and her name did not become known until decades after her death.

Life

Emire Naciye Tevfik was born in Istanbul. Information about the year of her birth varies, but her memoir gives 1875.

family

In her father's family there were Beylerbeys , Valis and high officers. The earliest ancestor is said to be the Bey of the Dulkadir , Şehsuvar Bey (d. 1640). On the maternal side, the family descends from Grand Vizier Koca Yusuf Pascha (1730-1800).

childhood

Emine Naciye spent her early childhood with her grandparents in Doğancılar in Üsküdar in one of the konaks of Mehmed Namık Pascha. Her grandfather was the former finance minister of the Ottoman Empire. Her grandmother had come from the Caucasus as a small child and had been the concubine of the hammam operator and was then bought by Emine Naciye Tevfik's great-grandmother and married to her son. She first attended school with her sister Muzaffer. Later she received private lessons at home and after moving to her villa (Köşk) in Çamlıca . Emine Naciye's father died when she was very young. Her brother was Zekai Beyefendi.

Adult life

The family chose Tevfik Hamdi (1856–1956) as a suitable partner for Emine Naciye. Her very old grandfather obtained the sultan's lordly permission for the marriage. The couple spent the first part of their marriage apart. Tevfik Hamdi became Bulgaria Commissioner and Emine Naciye stayed with her mother-in-law. The eldest daughter Meliha was born during this time.

When Tevfik Hamdi (Mehmet Tevfik Biren) was then appointed Mutasarrıf of Jerusalem (October 1897 – May 1901), she went with him. The daughter stayed with her grandparents in Istanbul. The couple was accompanied by the slave Nadide. The second daughter was born in Istanbul when Emine Naciye traveled there after the death of her grandfather. This was followed by stations in Thessaloniki (May 1901– March 1902), Konya (1902–1903), Yemen (1904–1905), Bursa (1906–1909) and finally in Ankara. In Bursa she lived in the governor's palace with 45 rooms. In her memoirs, she reports on intrigues in the palace that she experienced there. For example, she had dealings with Sultan Abdülhamid's son-in-law, who had a relationship with Hatice Sultan, Murad V's daughter , and who had tried to poison her husband.

Instead of embroidering and handicrafts, as is usual for women of her class, Emine Naciye Tevfik painted. She took private lessons from the Italian artist Salvatore Valeri , who taught at the Ottoman Academy of Fine Arts in Istanbul. These lessons took place hidden from the authorities, as otherwise the Sultan's exile would have threatened. Valeri gave her a still life she had painted. Her pictures were never exhibited throughout her life.

Emine Naciye Tevfik had three daughters, including the painter and teacher Meliha Zafir, wife of the founder of Turkey's first anti-authoritarian children's home, Çocukları Kurtarma Yurdu . Emine Naciye Tevfik wrote her memoir in 1948. These were published under the title Ressam Naciye Neyyal in Mutlakiyet Meşrutiyet ve Cumhuriyet Hatıraları .

plant

About 30 paintings have been preserved, including a nude entitled Naked on the Beach . She is credited with the portrait of Nizamettin Efendis, the grandson of a sultan, which was in the estate of Mihrişah Valide Sultan . She also portrayed her Abyssinian slave Nadide Bacı ("Sister Nadide") and the daughter of Murad V, Fehime Sultan, and a tribal leader from Jerusalem. Emine Naciye also used photographs as templates. Portraits of Franz Liszt, Goethe, Darwin and Herbert Spencer have survived. Copies of the oil paintings are printed in her memoir. Accordingly, she also painted people from her environment such as the servant Mesned (Mesned Kalfa) in Jerusalem costume, her daughters Meliha and Rezan, her husband, brother, but also Prince Charles as a child, Koca Yusuf Pascha, Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy, Suphiye Hanım (the Daughter of Grand Vizier Küçük Said Pasha) or their son Şefkatî.

In addition to the portraits, Emine Naciye also painted the visit of Kaiser Wilhelm II to Jerusalem , during whose visit she acted as the hostess as the wife of Mutasarrıf . The painting (140 × 220 cm) is owned by the Turkish Naval Museum in Beşiktaş and was created from a photographic template.

The Naval Museum in İskenderun has set up its own hall for their works.

Trivia

• The tribal leader from Jerusalem portrayed by Emine Naciye Tevfik had saved her husband from certain death. She painted the portrait for him as a present.
• Nadide, the Abyssinian slave, was kidnapped as a child and bought by the family. She was released, bought a house with Mesned with the donated money and was married several times, but remained childless. She remained connected to the family until her death and was cared for by her niece Emines until the end.

literature

• Ümit Bayazoğlu: Uzun, İnce Yolcular. 42 portre. Istanbul 2014, pp. 146–151.
• Fatma Rezan Purring: Ressam Naciye Neyyal'in Mutlakiyet Meşrutiyet ve Cumhuriyet Hatıraları . Istanbul 2004

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b} Taha Toros: İlk kadın ressamlarımız. Istanbul 1988, p. 40.
2. ↑ Emine Neyyal Hanım'dan hatıra Article on the memoirs of Emine Naciye Tevfik (Turkish)
3. ↑ Ümit Bayazoğlu: Uzun, İnce Yolcular. 42 portre. Istanbul 2014, p. 147.
4. ↑ Nokta magazine of June 21, 1991, pp. 88ff .; online: Yüz yıldır gizlenen ressam
5. ↑ Fatma Rezan Hürmen: Ressam Naciye Neyyal'in Mutlakiyet Meşrutiyet ve Cumhuriyet Hatıraları . Istanbul 2004, pp. 487-492
6. ↑ Deniz Müzesi Komutanligi. ( Memento of the original from January 3, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. In: denizmuzeleri.tsk.tr (Turkish).  
7. ↑ İskenderun Deniz Müzesi ve Kültür Sitesi Müdürlüğü. ( Memento of the original from January 3, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. In: denizmuzeleri.tsk.tr (Turkish).