art.wikisort.org - Sculpture

Güzel İstanbul (Beautiful Istanbul) is a nude, poured concrete sculpture by Gürdal Duyar, that was removed soon after its inauguration in Karaköy Square square, ending up in Yıldız Park.

Güzel İstanbul
Güzel İstanbul in 2020 where it stands now in the Yıldız Park, Istanbul
Artist	Gürdal Duyar
Year	1974 (1974)
Medium	poured concrete
Dimensions	4800 cm (1,900 in)
Weight	7000 kg
Condition	damaged, parts missing
Location	Karaköy Square, Istanbul (formerly) Yıldız Park, Istanbul

Güzel İstanbul was sculpted by Gürdal Duyar who was commissioned in 1973 as part of an initiative by the Istanbul Municipality, to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Turkish Republic. Güzel İstanbul, literally meaning 'Beautiful Istanbul' in Turkish, represents Istanbul as a nude female figure with different motifs around the figure and on its plinth. It was erected in Karaköy Square. Although nude sculpture is common in art, the sculptures nudeness was misrepresented and misinterpreted by certain media and politicians as being obscene or suggestive. The ensuing public debate strained the foundation of the governing coalition in power at the time. The sculpture was torn from its plinth overnight after only 9 days. It was dragged out of sight and left toppled and damaged. Some time later it was re-erected in the Yıldız Park, albeit damaged and missing parts including its plinth.

About the sculpture

Meaning/Material

Güzel İstanbul is Turkish for Beautiful Istanbul. The sculpture, an ode to Duyars city, identified Istanbul's natural beauty as a female body.[1] The sculpture, which stands at a height of 4.8 meters and is realised in 7000 kg of poured concrete,[2] tells a story of Istanbul. According to Duyar, its plinth relief[3] motifs of pomegranate represents Istanbuls' many legends, fig its divinity, honeysuckle its air and bee its populations' density, dynamism and abundance.[1] Güzel İstanbul leaning back and, with all her might,[2] breaking a chain that binds her arms, represents the chain that the Byzantines spanned across the Golden Horn to keep out the Ottoman Navy during the Conquest of Constantinople as well as women striving for their rights, and social position.

The Commission

In 1972 the 'Board for the Celebration of the 50th Anniversary of the Republic' was formed by the office of the governor of Istanbul, for the 50th Anniversary of the declaration of the Turkish republic coming up the next year in 1973.[4] Following this, in a join initiative of the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality, Istanbul Fine Arts Academy and State College of Fine and Applied Arts,[5][6] the Board for the Celebration of the 50th Anniversary of the Republic-Fine Arts Committee was formed. The committee, which included Şadi Çalık, Mustafa Aslıer and Hüseyin Gezer, decided on commissioning 50 sculptures to celebrate the 50 years of the Republic. The sculptures were to be placed in and around different parks, squares and streets of Istanbul. However due to lack of funds they had to reduce the amount of sculptures to 20, and thus 30 of the 50 chosen sculptors had to be eliminated. To do this they introduced stricter rules; the sculptor had to be living in Istanbul, and had to have received a state award, and if not had to be sculptors who were already accepted in the art environment. Gürdal Duyar was among Kuzgun Acar, Hüseyin Anka, Tamer Başoğlu, Zerrin Bölükbaşı, Namık Denizhan, Muzaffer Ertoran, Ali Teoman Germaner, Yavuz Görey, Metin Haseki, Hakkı Karayiğitoğlu, Bihrat Mavitan, Zühtü Müritoğlu, Füsun Onur, Ferit Özşen, Kamil Sonad, Nusret Suman, Haluk Tezonar, Seyhun Topuz and Mehmet Uyanık in surviving the elimination process.[7]

There was no requirement for the sculptures to present any specific historical topic, on the contrary the requirement was for the sculpture to be of a quality that stands as an example of contemporary Turkish sculpture and the artists own characteristic style. Furthermore, they were told that the sculpture would be placed either in a park, on a square, or by a road. The sculptors' design proposals were to be submitted to the State Art and Sculpture Museum on 20 August 1973.[7]

Gürdal Duyar submitted his sketches for Guzel Istanbul, and they were approved during a meeting of the board with provincial and municipal representatives in attendance. The board selected Duyars proposal, Güzel İstanbul, to be placed on Karaköy Square.[7]

Events following the inauguration

The Güzel İstanbul Affair[note 1] Güzel İstanbul Olayı (English: The Beautiful Istanbul Affair)

Erection

On 10 March 1974, Güzel İstanbul was erected on Istanbuls' Karaköy Square,[2] a triangle formed by the intersection of Bankalar Caddesi and Kemeraltı Caddesi.[9] It is a crowded and open space[10] near the north end of the Galata Bridge which, spanning the Golden Horn, connects Karaköy in the Beyoğlu district to Eminönü in the Fatih district. This area was thus an important crossing and prominent area of Istanbul, especially at the time, when there were less alternative crossings of the Golden Horn than there are today.

Reaction

The design proposal for the sculpture and therein its nudity was never taken issue with when it was submitted to the board, or when it was specifically selected to be the sculpture to be placed in Karaköy. Dr.Antmen suggests that the sculpture, which Onat Kutlar describes as ' a sensuality taking shape ... as if you would feel the bare skin if you touched it.[11] ' being placed in a space so open and crowded as Karaköy Square[10] garnered the particular attention that led to the campaign against it.

"Büstlerinde, torso'larında adeta bir "sensualite" biçimleniyordu. Dokunsanız çıplak teni duyacakmışsınız gibi.
Sanırım bu nedenle, Karaköy alanına dikilip sonra kaldırılan "Güzel İstanbul" heykeli biraktım sanat düşmanı dar kafalıları o derece tahrik etti.[11]"

— Onat Kutlar

The sculpture being a nude, which is a common genre in art and artistic expression and of which other exemplars were to be found around Istanbul at the time,[12] had until then not been seen as an issue by any official in the various stages of the process.[7] Never the less it was seen by some as indecent for its nudity, particularly, members of the National Salvation Party, traditional-conservatives which were part of the recently formed coalition government.

A campaign was started against the sculpture in the media, 10 days of press followed describing the sculpture as indecent and erotic,[3] in particular Sabah, whose eventual 21 March 1974 front page article described the sculpture as responsible for corrupting the morals of Muslim Turks. This led to the sculpture getting on the governments agenda;[13] Deputy-Prime Minister Necmettin Erbakan stated that the sculpture was immoral, and later on 17 March (1974) threatened the removal of the sculpture. [14][2] The minister of interior, Oğuzhan Asiltürk, said that the sculpture aught to be removed because it represented Turkish mothers disgracefully.[5][15][9] The mayor of Istanbul Ahmet İsvan stated that he disliked the sculpture not because it was nude but because they found it tasteless.[2] Governor of Istanbul Namık Kemal Şentürk said that he is unable to judge the sculpture on an artistic level but that the location had been a wrong choice, and thus he had the sculpture removed. [2]

The sculpture and its right to remain were defended by republican intellectuals[10] and others and this led to an intense debate of opposing views on the sculpture. Professor Hüseyin Gezer stated that there's 'a difference between a naked woman and a nude sculpture' .[16] The governing coalition of Turkey at the time was formed less than two months prior. Seyhun Topuz, also a sculptor chosen in the 50th Anniversary sculptures, said that Güzel İstanbul, almost brought an end to the coalition.[note 2][17] The (CHP) Republican People's Party who was the other member of the coalition, ended up going along with the (MSP) National Salvation Party members' narrative that the sculpture was indecent because they did not want the MSP to leave the coalition and for the coalition to fail. Because of this they ended up taking a standpoint that was actually against their own parties values,[9] and thus supporting the idea that the sculpture is indecent.

Removal

Güzel İstanbul was removed on the 18th of March (1974).[6][2]

In a midnight[13] 'sledgehammer operation'[3] the sculpture was broken off its plinth being partially destroyed,[18] its arm broken off and plinth motifs destroyed.[3] It was dragged off and left, thrown on a pile of sand, near the Kumkapı sand depot,[19][2] a municipal construction site.[20]

After it was removed an article in the Sabah newspaper stated that the goal of their campaign to remove the sculpture had been reached, the article alleged that the paper was the voice of what the people wanted in the matter.[20] This was countered by articles in the Milliyet and Cumhuriyet newspapers, describing the sculptures right to be there as a necessity for democracy.[21]

Additionally, other intellectuals reacted to the events. Burhan Felek criticized the removal saying that a sculpture shouldn't be removed just because a minister does not like it, and that there isn't a referendum of beliefs for every issue and Melih Cevdet Anday criticized the way the government was deciding what people could like for them, Hıfzı Veldet Velidedeoğlu stated that the judging of fine arts with a religious conservative mindset will regress Turkey into a desert of bigotry.[22]

Among those that defended Güzel İstanbul were also cartoonists/caricaturists who published cartoons commenting on the removal of the sculpture. One of the cartoons represented those that would remove the sculpture as backwards and outdated, and another that criticized the politicization of art, and others that criticize the censorship mindset and others still that asked why fake issues were being fabricated in the news.[22]

Cartoonists and artists against the removal had an idea to "censor" all the sculptures in Istanbul by covering them in a black cloth in protest but they ended up changing their mind, later 25 artists joined a nude sculpture exhibition organized by the Sculptors Association in protest of the removal of Güzel İstanbul.[22]

The debate about the sculpture grew past Istanbul with Manisa and Zonguldak provinces offering to have Güzel İstanbul erected in their city.[22]

Charges

On the 20th of March (1974), the Istanbul Public Prosecutors Office, considering the articles published about the sculpture in newspapers as charges, opened an inquiry into whether or not the sculpture was obscene.[23][2] According to a news report, if it was found that the sculpture was indeed obscene then the 50th Anniversary Committee would face a lawsuit under articles 426 and 576 of Turkish Law.[23] In a 2010 publication, Mustafa Aslıer, reflected on the events that had happened leading up to the removal of Güzel İstanbul, he was personally implicated as a member of the board, in the statements and publications by the press and the (MSP) National Salvation Party that had led to the charges.[24]

Exile

On 3 May 1974 Güzel İstanbul was brought to Yıldız Park[25][17] and left under a tree, laying on its side.[3] Bülent Ecevit may have been quitely involved in the moving of Güzel İstanbul to Yıldız Park after which the debate about the sculpture stopped.[17] It was left in the park in a sad and sorry state. This time around, the newspapers published articles for months on end describing how the sculpture was disrespected, including articles by Burhan Felek and Bedii Faik.[3] It was then stood upright, on a new makeshift plinth (without motifs as the original one that was destroyed during the removal from Karaköy Square). The sculpture is in an out of sight[17] corner, left of the parks Ortaköy entrance,[19] and is not being well maintained/looked after, with parts of the concrete crumbling off and exposing the inner structure of the sculpture.[25]

Reactions

Gürdal Duyar did not comment much on the Güzel Istanbul affair himself. All that is known is from a 1995 conversation where he told Nebil Özgentürk, who while working on an article about Duyar, had asked what he felt about all these sculptures that he had made being removed (Güzel Istanbul wasn't the only one). Duyar stated: Our job is to make sculptures. Removing, breaking and changing their location is different area of expertise.[18][3]

Recent events

In 2017, the Istanbul Municipality took action against the sculpture, censoring it by covering it with plants and a wood fence structure, after alleged complaints by parents that considered the sculpture indecent. Parents whose children play at a nearby playground. After news of this censoring of the sculpture spread, a social media campaign against the municipalities censorship actions resulted in the plants and wood structure being removed.[26]

References

Notes

Citations

Bibliography

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