TURKISH CLASSICAL ARTS EXHIBITION AT SHANGHAI LIBRARY

(21-28 August 2018)

2018 is the year of tourism of Turkey in China. Tourism is a perfect way of improving people-to-people exchanges by understanding better different cultures.

Turkey, like China, represents an ancient culture. Throughout the history, Turks had been in contact with different cultures and civilizations. Thanks to this interaction, Turkish classical arts had been developed as part of ancient Turkish and Islamic civilizations.

As part of 2018 year of tourism of Turkey activities, we are honored to exhibit some pieces of Turkish classical arts, which were made by well-known contemporary Turkish artists at Shanghai Library.

Pieces of Turkish classical arts to be exhibited at Shanghai Library includes marbling (Ebru or Water Painting), calligraphy, tezhip (book ornament art) and miniature (Classical painting).

These classical arts had been reached to their current form at a time when majority of Turks were part of Islamic civilization. Therefore, you can see the impact of Islamic civilization at first look.

In the meantime, they still represents the pre-Islamic history of Turks and their ancient culture mostly shaped at the steps of Euroasia.

Marbling, for instance, was borne at the heart of Asia around 1000 years ago. Its first name “Ebre” originated from one of the ancient dialects of a Turkish tribe meaning clouds.

Miniature, on the other hand, is partly result of an interaction between Turks and Persians which dates back around 1000 years ago. This classical way of painting was extremely popular in the Ottoman court and widely used in ancient texts to describe legends or daily lives of Ottoman Sultans.

Calligraphy and Tezhip (book ornament) is more related to Islamic civilization which had become integral part of Turkish culture.

In  short, all these classical arts are borne in Asia and developed in constant interaction with different cultures. They are integral part of ancient Silk Road.

Exhibition Information

Date: August 21-28, 2018

Time: 9.00-16.30

Venue: Shanghai Library (No: 1555, Middle Huaihai Rd)