Abstract:

This article aims to discuss the subject of nationaliy and universality in modern art through Turkey’s participation in international biennials and exhibitions in which it was represented at the national level between 1950 and 1970, and how international representation of Turkey was interpreted through discourses of Turkish and foreign art critics, art historians and curators. Turkey continued to participate in North and South Biennials such as Venice, São Paulo, Paris and Ljubljana Graphic Arts Biennials in the 1960s, where it was represented as a country in the 1950s. It was also represented in biennials in different geographies, as it participated in the Tehran Biennale in 1966. In addition to biennials, exhibitions on Turkish Art held in the East and West, also attracted the attention of art critics. It is seen that the subjects of western influence, originality, locality, and universality which were discussed with the westernization in Tanzimat period and the establishment of the Turkish Republic, were also on agenda between 1950 and 1970, in a way that preceded the globalization period. The article examines the place of Turkey in international exhibitions, the problems of interpretation of Turkish art from an orientalist, western-centric perspective, and nationality-locality-universality debates using primary sources such as correspondences, exhibition reviews, and catalogs about international biennials and exhibitions.

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