Arab Spring Triggers Renaissance in Turkish Art
More than 560 years after the fall of Constantinople, which precipitated an exodus of artists, the Arab Spring has created an influx of artists to Istanbul.
“The mosque first meets the eye, preceding the palace. And as we approach, it is Stamboul indeed — for me dear old Stamboul — which is called to mind; there is nothing, whether in the lines of its architecture or in the details of its ornamentation, to suggest the art of the Arabs — a purer art it may be than this and of which many excellent examples may be seen in Cairo. No; it is a corner of Turkey into which we have suddenly come.”
This was the most appropriate passage that I could quote, as I was sitting across Ahmed Fawzi, an Egyptian artist.
In the first day of Eid al-Fitr, we were sipping our coffees on the old hill overlooking the Golden Horn in Istanbul.
This overcrowded touristic district, as well as the coffeehouse itself, was named after Pierre Loti, French novelist who wrote the aforementioned passage in “La Mort de Philae” in 1909.
