Osman Hamdi Bey
Osman Hamdi Bey (born December 30, 1842 in Istanbul , † February 24, 1910 in his beach villa in Istanbul- Kuruçeşme ) was a Turkish archaeologist , painter and museum founder.
As a painter, he is considered the founder of his own Turkish school; as an archaeologist and museum founder, he did pioneering work in the development of archeology on Turkish soil and in the preservation of ancient cultural assets. He founded and directed the first archaeological museum in Turkey.
Life
Osman Hamdi was the eldest son of Sadrazam (Grand Vizier ) İbrahim Edhem Pascha , a politician and technician with western training. The son showed a pronounced artistic interest and the ability to draw and paint from an early age. Although he was born into a very wealthy family of the country's upper class at the time, he completed his education in a public school in Beşiktaş and from 1856 attended the law school ( Maarif-i Adliye ) in Constantinople. In 1860 his father sent him to Paris to study law, where he was also to enjoy a Western education. While studying there, he developed his talent for painting at the same time. He became a student of Jean-Léon Gérôme , Louis Boulanger and Fausto Zonaro .
In 1864 he married a French woman named Marie, with whom he had two daughters, Fatma and Hayriye. The marriage lasted ten years. In 1873 he met a 17-year-old girl who was also French and was called Marie at the Vienna World Exhibition , where he had been sent professionally. Osman Hamdi called her Naile and married her. The couple had three daughters and one son: Melek, Leyla, Edhem (son) and Nazlı.
plant
When he finished his studies in 1869 and returned home, Osman Hamdi was appointed to the diplomatic service of the Ottoman Empire and was initially employed in the protocol department of the palace and for foreign affairs in the Ottoman province of Baghdad . There he began to study history and archeology, and took part in excavations.
He also led the first archaeological excavations and investigations by Turkish working groups in Sidon in Lebanon . The sarcophagi he discovered there (among them the so-called Alexander sarcophagus ) are still regarded today as archaeological pearls of world significance.
In order to create a worthy storage and exhibition framework for these finds, he set up an archaeological museum. In 1881 Hamdi Bey was appointed director of Turkey's first museum, the Müze-i Humayun ('Museum of the Empire') which he founded in the Sultanahmet district of Constantinople , which opened on June 13, 1891, today's Archaeological Museum .
The building was built by Alexandre Vallaury (1850-1921), an architect of Levantine descent. The outer facade refers to the shape of the Alexander sarcophagus. It is a fine example of the neoclassical buildings in Istanbul.
In 1883, Osman Hamdi opened the Sanayi-i Nefise Mektebi art school ( Institute for Fine Arts ) in the immediate vicinity of the museum , which was the first Turkish institution to devote itself to modern painting. The building of this institute now houses the Museum of Ancient Near Eastern Works. Also in 1883, “Osman Hamdi Bey, head of the Ottoman Imperial Museum and Osgan Efendi, teacher at the Academy of Fine Arts, ... were commissioned to go to the Nemrut to examine the monuments and the inscriptions in detail and to collect as much information as possible . ”The excavations at Nemrut Dağı were followed by a project in the Carian Lagina .
Osman Hamdi Bey was also instrumental in the preparatory work for the "Law for the Protection of Ancient Cultural Assets " ( Asar-ı Atika Nizamnamesi , or Ancient Law for short) issued in 1884 , by which all antiquities of the Ottoman Empire were declared state property and all antiquities found through excavations initially were awarded to the archaeological museum. This law was very important for the Ottomans at the time, as it was necessary to prevent the uncontrolled export of ancient cultural goods. For Hamdi Beys Museum it meant that it was given the status of a "state museum" and became the central office for the Ottoman antiquity.
At the same time he continued his artistic activity as a painter. In 1884 he had a summer house built in Eskihisar, a village near İzmit , where his father already had a residence, which he used as a studio. Today it is owned by the state and has been a museum since 1987 as Osman Hamdi Bey Evi (Osman Hamdi Bey's home) with personal items, photographs, memories of Osman Hamdi Bey and reproductions of his paintings - figurative compositions of oriental themes - whose originals are today in private collections and museums.
In the last years of his life he focused on improving the museum and his activities as an artist. He died on February 24, 1910 in his beach villa in Istanbul Kuruçesme.
Paintings (selection)
- Coffee oven, 1879
- In the harem, 1880
- Two girls making music, 1880
- Girl reading the Koran, 1880
- Reading Arab, 1904. Old National Gallery , Berlin
- The turtle educator , 1906
- This 1906 painting broke a 2004 auction sales record in Turkey when it changed hands for $ 3.5 million. The painting was acquired by the Suna and Inan Kıraç Foundation for their Pera Museum in Istanbul.
- The arms dealer, 1907
- Women in the courtyard of the Şehzadebaşı mosque, 1908
- Gate of the Karaman Madrasa
- The reading man
Publications
- with Osgan Efendi : Le tumulus de Nemroud-Dagh. Voyage, description, inscriptions , Istanbul 1883 (reprinted Istanbul 1987)
- with Théodore Reinach : Une nécropole royale à Sidon , Paris 1892 [1]
Remarks
- ↑ Sadan Gökovali: Commagene Nemrut. Milet Publishing Ltd 1999, ISBN 975-7199-11-7 .
- ^ FR Kraus: The Istanbul clay tablet collection . In: Journal of Cuneiform Studies 1, 1947.
- ^ A Turk in Prussia's Museum in FAZ of March 13, 2014, page 11
- ↑ Turkish Daily News from December 15, 2004 ( Turkish painting sells for record $ 3.5 million ( Memento from September 30, 2007 in the Internet Archive ))
literature
- Mustafa Cezzar / Ferit Edgü: Osman Hamdi Bilinmeyen Resimleri . ISBN 978-975-438-036-1 ( Turkish )
- Edhem Eldem : Un Ottoman en Orient. Osman Hamdi Bey en Irak (1869–1871). Actes Sud, Paris 2010 (fr.).
- Edhem Eldem: Le voyage à Nemrud Dagi d'Osman Hamdi Bey et Osgan Efendi, IFEA-De Boccard 2010.
- Osman Hamdi Bey & the Americans: archeology, diplomacy, art [prepared for the exhibition ... opening on 14 October 2011 at the Suna and İnan Kıraç Foundation, Pera Museum]. Istanbul, Pera Müzesi 2011, ISBN 978-975-912389-5 .
- Klaus-Werner Haupt: Osman Hamdi Bey and the fountain of life . In: OKZIDENT & ORIENT. The fascination of the Orient in the long 19th century. Weimarer Verlagsgesellschaft / Imprint of the publishing house Römerweg Wiesbaden 2015, pp. 181–186 ISBN 978-3-7374-0220-0
Web links
- Osman Hamdi Bey Kimdir? Who was Osman Hamdi Bey? ( Turkish )
- Eczacıbaşı Sanal Müzesi (virtual museum) (Turkish and English)
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Hamdi Bey, Osman |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Hamdi, Osman |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Turkish painter, museum founder and archaeologist |
| DATE OF BIRTH | December 30, 1842 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Istanbul |
| DATE OF DEATH | February 24, 1910 |
| Place of death | Istanbul |