Rikkat Kunt

Fatma Rikkat Kunt (born February 27, 1903 in Istanbul ; † January 14, 1986 there ) was a Turkish illuminator and calligrapher . She worked and taught at the Istanbul Academy of Fine Arts for over 32 years . She is the heroine of the historical novel The Night of the Calligraphers , which the art historian Yasmine Ghata (Rikkat Kunt's granddaughter) wrote in her honor.

Life

Kunt was the daughter of the Istanbul scholar Hüseyin Kazim Kadri Bey and his wife Güzede Hanim. Her father was Wali in the Ottoman Empire . Her father's job necessitated numerous changes of residence: Serez , Saloniki , Aleppo and Beirut were the cities in which she spent her childhood. She not only attended French and German schools there, but also received piano lessons from a German teacher . The family did not return to Istanbul until 1918.

With her first husband Ismail Bey (marriage 1920) she went to Germany for three years, where he studied dentistry and Rikkat Kunt took piano lessons at the conservatory. It was not until years later that her second husband's uncle brought her to occupy herself with the art of illumination . On his advice, she enrolled at the Academy of Fine Arts in Istanbul , where her first teacher was Ismail Hakki Altinbezer. Later she supported the ceramic master Feyzullah Dayigil with her painting skills. From this period some works have been preserved with the signature “Design Feyzi, ornament Rikkat”.

She also learned English at the academy . After graduating in 1944, she worked as a librarian in the Academy's library for four years. From 1948 she was a teacher for ceramics and illumination art at the Academy of Fine Arts. Her studio was closed in 1968 when she retired. However, she continued to work as an artist and lecturer in her home in Beylerbeyi . Because of her skills, she was even invited to do restoration work on Ottoman manuscripts at the Gulbenkian Museum in Lisbon , where, among other things, she took care of the restoration of some manuscripts with works by Ali Schir Nevai . She died on January 14, 1986 of a heart attack in Istanbul.

Works

Her works were not exhibited during her lifetime. The exact number and storage locations are not known. One month after her death, an exhibition with a selection of 80 of her works of art was held in her honor at the Research Center for Islamic History, Art and Culture in Istanbul. Her most important work is an ornate lettering in honor of the 500th anniversary of Sultan Mehmed II , which is now in the private collection of the Sevket Rado family.

literature

• Çiçek Derman: Rikkat Kunt Hoca Hanım . Kubbealti Nesriyati, 2013, ISBN 978-975-6444-43-6
• Yasmine Ghata: The Night of the Calligraphers . Cologne, 2007, ISBN 978-3-518-46006-1

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Doğan Hızlan, Anıtkabir Defterinin Tezhini O Yaptı, Hürriyet Gazetesi
2. ↑ Rikkat Kunt Hoca Hanım, Kubbealti Yayinları web sitesi ( Memento of the original from April 2, 2015 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. 
3. ↑ Faruk Taşkale, Rikkat Kunt'un hayatı, - faruktaskale.com ( Memento of the original from September 24, 2015 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. (PDF file) 
4. ↑ Tezhibin Büyük Annesine Veda, Zaman gazetesi ( Memento of the original from April 2, 2015 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.