Owner of Turkish Calligraphy Exhibit Seeks Western Understanding of Turkey’s Cultural Heritage

By David P. Johnson Jr.

An art exhibit now on view at Harvard University’s Sackler Museum in Cambridge, Massachusetts, displaying the splendor of the Ottoman Empire is more than simply another cultural show, according to the businessman who amassed the collection. Turkish industrialist Sakip Sabanci, who says the 70 works from his private collection represent the beauty and goodness of Turkish culture, wants the world, particularly Americans, to have a better view of his nation’s heritage.

“First of all America is very important, we must have better economic relations,” Sabanci explains. “That calls us to the cultural area which is important.” Turkey has often been judged solely on its past. Sabanci said, “The democracy we have is not perfect. We are learning.”

The exhibit, “Letters in Gold: Ottoman Calligraphy from the Sakip Sabanci Museum, Sabanci University, Istanbul,” which opened in Cambridge after successful runs in New York and Los Angeles, will remain on display at the Sackler Museum through Jan. 2. It is the most extensive collection ever presented in the U.S. of Islamic calligraphy, which is “the quintessential art form in the Islamic world,” according to Mary McWilliams, associate curator of Islamic and Later Indian Art. “It was the work of scribes for several centuries.”

She noted that the calligraphy in the collection represents several styles developed by the Ottoman courts, when Turkish was written in the Arabic script. Turkish was not written in Western characters until after the establishment of the Turkish Republic, which followed the collapse of the Ottoman Empire in World War I.

Calligraphy is rooted in the sacred writings of the Qur’an and developed throughout the Muslim world since people needed to be able to read in order to fully receive the word of the Qur’an.

However, Arabic calligraphy, which was popularized by the desire of the people throughout the Islamic world to read the Holy Qur’an, developed into a vibrant art form that varied enormously from place to place. “It is a conservative art form,” McWilliams explained, “but it’s not a static art form.”

The show contains examples of various styles from the 1500s to the early 1900s. Of the 71 calligraphy examples, the several elaborate Qur’ans and three paintings in the exhibit, Sabanci said his favorite is Levha, or pious inspiration, a spectacular example written in gold on painted blue cardboard and framed in red. The calligraphy was done by Sultan Mahmud II, who ruled from 1785 to 1839 and was an active patron of the arts as well as a renowned calligrapher in his own right.

Sabanci said he bought the painting several years ago when it was being sold by a private Turkish collector. Although the Turkish government was interested, it could not offer enough money. Sabanci said that meant that unless he bought it, the Levha would have been sold on the London market, most likely to a foreign institution or collector, and lost to Turkey forever.

A Turkish reporter covering the show said the exhibit has received considerable press attention in Turkey and agreed with Sabanci that such events improve Turkey’s international image. In addition Kamer Ozbucok, a reporter with Star Gazetesi newspaper in Istanbul, praised Sabanci for his aggressive role in purchasing Turkish works for sale overseas and returning them to Turkey. “He buys in New York and London and returns it to Turkey,” she said. “He is the only businessman who is doing this.”

Another exhibit of Turkish art concurrently on display at the Sackler is entitled, “A Grand Legacy.” It features Ottoman painting, textiles, ceramics and metalwork, drawn from the collections of the Harvard University art museums and supplemented by loans from other public and private collections.

Organized by Rochelle Kessler, assistant curator of Islamic and Later Indian Art, the exhibit will run until Jan. 2. For more information, call (617) 495-9400, or visit the web site, www.artmuseums.harvard.edu.

Cambridge Activist Plans Arab-American Almanac

In the elegant living room of her Cambridge, Massachusetts home, Corinne Mudarri wrung her hands in frustration about the lack of information about the achievements of Arab Americans. “If anybody wants statistics about the Arab Americans, they have to go to many sources, if the information is there at all,” she said.

Mudarri charged that in university courses, encyclopedia listings, and in the mainstream media, Arab Americans are either absent or inaccurately portrayed.

A second-generation Arab American, whose father came from Damascus and whose mother came from Zahle in Lebanon’s Bekaa Valley, Mudarri said she is taking action to change all this by compiling an almanac of Arab-American life. “Currently there is no almanac of its kind,” the retired American Airlines official said.

Mudarri plans to include census figures on the number of Arabs living in each state since 1900, profiles of Arab communities in various cities, lists of mosques, churches, architecture, art, notable achievements and other interesting facts.

Estimating that this effort will take some two years to compile, Mudarri is welcoming help. “If anybody feels there is something interesting or worthwhile,” she says, she would like to hear from them.

She is listing people from the Arabic-speaking countries of the Middle East and North Africa. She is not including information on neighboring non-Arab nations such as Turkey or Iran, even though in the past U.S. government officials often listed people’s origins incorrectly, or confused various places. For instance, Mudarri explained that at the turn of the century most Arabs coming to the United States were from provinces of the Ottoman Empire and therefore often were labeled Turkish.

Eight years ago Mudarri compiled an almanac on Arab culture in Massachusetts, which was published by the Massachusetts chapter of the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC).

Persons interested in contributing to or learning more about the project may contact Mudarri via electronic mail at: corinnecm@earthlink.net

David P. Johnson Jr. is a Boston-based free-lance writer specializing in international affairs.

SIDEBAR

Turkish Industrialist Calls for More Democracy

Turkey must continue to strengthen its democratic institutions and seek closer political and economic ties with Europe and the United States, according to Turkish industrialist Sakip Sabanci. During an exclusive interview held at Harvard University prior to the opening of the art show “Letters in Gold: Ottoman Calligraphy,” based upon his personal collection, Sabanci called on his nation to develop stable political and economic institutions based upon Western models.

He said recent reforms in Turkish law have improved the business climate to the point where Turkey can now reach its economic potential. In the past Turkey was often overlooked by international financiers because the country was perceived to be unstable and lacking a civil and legal framework adequate to protect investments. “Turkey is finally developing a strong civil society,” Sabanci said. “We are ready to boom.

“Foreign investment in energy was held back because of [inadequate] arbitration [law],” Sabanci explained. “The only way to get international investments was to get the proper legal system.”

Politically, he claimed, Turkey is more stable than it has been in recent years. He predicted that continued political openness and an improved economy will weaken potentially destabilizing influences in the country. He said that a decline in Kurdish separatist violence in Turkey could also improve the domestic political and economic situation.

As for foreign affairs, Turkey should continue to look toward the West, Sabanci asserted, despite disappointment at being rejected for membership in the European Community. Sabanci said that Turkey often feels neglected by the United States and Europe, despite its role as the southern anchor of NATO. For instance, he said Turkey lost some $50 billion in trade as a result of its cooperation with coalition forces in the Gulf war, a fact which is not generally appreciated in the U.S. or Europe. “Turkey felt alone at times,” he said.

Sabanci also said that despite cultural ties, Turkey would probably not do a great deal of business with the former Soviet republics in Central Asia for the time being. He blamed political and economic problems there for slowing down such trade.

The expansion of the oil industry in the Caucasus could be an exception, Sabanci said, although for environmental reasons Turkey does not want the Central Asian oil to be transported to world markets through the Bosphorus linking the Black Sea to the Mediterranean. A pipeline moving the oil to a Turkish port on the Mediterranean would be preferable, he said.

Sabanci defended Turkey’s controversial military partnership with Israel, stating that Turkey should maintain good relations with all of its regional neighbors, including Greece, despite their traditional enmity.