The first, “From Konstantiniyye to İstanbul,” is a collection of more than 200 photographs of the Asian shores of the Bosporus from a period that stretches from the mid-19th to 20th century. The second exhibition, held on the occasion of the 400th anniversary of the commencement of diplomatic ties between Turkey and the Netherlands, is a selection of paintings, assembled under the title “Sultans, Merchants, Painters.”
“From Konstantiniyye to İstanbul” brings together the works of Ali Sami Aközer, Félice Beato, Guillaume Berggren, the Abdullah Brothers, the Gülmez Brothers, Ernest Edouard de Caranza, the duo Pascal Sébah and Polycarpe Joaillier, Maurice Meys, Elisa Pante Zonaro, the wife of painter Fausto Zonaro and Ali Enis Oza, all of whom were master photographers who worked in İstanbul at the turn of the 20th century. The exhibit, assembled from the Suna and İnan Kıraç Foundation Photography Collection and from several other private collections, reveals the beauty of old İstanbul and the daily life in the city.
The second show, held in collaboration with the Amsterdam Museum, Rijksmuseum Amsterdam, the Dutch National Archives in The Hague and the Museum Boijmans van Beuningen in Rotterdam, is aimed at exploring historical and contemporary links between Turkey and the Netherlands. Although the exhibition is not intended as a complete survey of four centuries of diplomatic ties between the two countries, it features important works of art, such as a reconstruction of the Levant trade chamber that was based in the Royal Palace on Amsterdam’s Dam Square from the early 17th to early 19th century. An inventory of the paintings that were displayed on the walls of this commercial office is also offered in the show. A series of portraits by Jean-Baptiste van Mour, from the collection of Amsterdam’s Rijksmuseum, is also featured. The exhibition will travel to the Amsterdam Museum in April.
Both shows are set to run until April 1 at the Pera Museum.
