Lab to take care of paintings

ISTANBUL-Hürriyet Daily News

The laboratory, which will welcome its first students this year, will serve as a scientific base for the conservation and restoration of paintings, and will also be the base to cultivate professional support of restoration. Company Photos

Türkiye İş Bank has opened the first painting conservation and restoration laboratory in Turkey, as part of Mimar Sinan University. İş Bank aims to support art and painting and conserve cultural heritage with the project.

While the new laboratory will serve as a scientific base for the conservation and restoration of paintings, it will also be the base to cultivate professional support of restoration. The laboratory will welcome its first students this year.

İş Bank’s collection, one of the largest in Turkey, will also be conserved and restored at this laboratory by Turkish professionals.

The opening of the laboratory was attended by Culture and Tourism Minister Ertuğrul Günay, İş Bank chairman Ersin Özince, general manager of İş Bank Adnan Bali, and Mimar Sinan Fine Arts Department rector Yalçın Karayağız.

Speaking during the opening ceremony, Özince said the laboratory showed confidence in Turkish painting and its evolution over time. “Thanks to the new laboratory, the whole İş Bank collection will be protected. This is a huge development not only for the İş Bank collection, but for Turkey’s painting history and future,” Özince said.

The new students at the laboratory will give Turkey special restoration resources, and Turkey will have the opportunity to develop itself in the conservation and restoration field, said Özince. The work at the laboratory will be done to international standards.

İş Bank collection

The İş Bank collection contains more than 2,000 paintings, said Özince. “İş Bank always tried to support Turkish art, painting and artists with new projects. The bank started its collection during the 1940s and supported development incentives in this field for many years.”

There are now more than 800 artists in the collection, making it one of the best and most comprehensive collections in Turkey. It reveals the classic and contemporary Turkish art periods in chronological order, continuing up to the 20th century.

 It also presents the classic era of Turkish painting, with works by Şeker Ahmet Paşa, Hüseyin Zekai Paşa, Şeref Akdik, Vecih Bereketoğlu, Şeref Bigalı, İbrahim Çallı, Feyhaman Duran. The collection presents the development of Turkish art over time with works from other artists such as Bedri Rahmi Eyüboğlu, Nüzhet İslimyeli, Hikmet Onat and İbrahim Safi.

The first graduates of İnas Sanayi-i Nefise (Fine Art Academy) and their non-figurative paintings are also included in the collection. Non-figurative painting is presented in “The New Group,” which includes works by painters from the 1950s including Orhan Peker, Leyla Gamsız Sarptürk, Mehmet Pesen, Fikret Otyam, Osman Zeki Oral and Turan Erol.

The modern era of Turkish painting can also be seen with works by artists such as Hamit Görele, Adnan Varınca, Şefik Bursalı, Ziya Keseroğlu, Nejat Melih Devrim, Hakkı Anlı, Eren Eyüboğlu, Arif Kaptan, İlhami Demirci and İbrahim Balaban.