Publication: Celal Esad Arseven’in Les Arts Décoratifs Turcs adlı eseri ve Türk süsleme sanatına katkıları
Abstract
Türkiye’de sanat tarihyazımına öncülük eden Celal Esad Arseven, 1952 yılında yayınladığı Les Arts Décoratifs Turcs isimli eseriyle tüm dünyaya duyurmak istediği Türk sanatı anlayışını, süsleme sanatları çerçevesinde aktarmaya çalışmıştır. Bu tez, Celal Esad Arseven’in Les Arts Décoratifs Turcs eserinde ortaya koyduğu Türk süsleme sanatı anlayışını saptamayı ve buradan hareketle, cumhuriyetin erken dönem düşünce akımlarının söz konusu eserde ne şekilde gözlemlendiğini tespit etmeyi hedeflemektedir. Arseven eserinde, Türk süsleme sanatlarının kökenlerinden başlayarak, kullanılan motiflerin anlamlarına, başlıca el sanatlarına ve bu sanatların tekniğine, tarihine ve süslemesine değinmektedir. Bu tez kapsamında, Arseven’in yabancı okuru hedefleyerek Fransızca olarak kaleme aldığı ve henüz Türkçeye çevrilmemiş bu eserini Türkçe literatüre kazandırmak amaçlanmaktadır. Hem II. Meşrutiyet hem de Cumhuriyet döneminde eserler veren bir ilim insanı olan Celal Esad Arseven, o döneme kadar İslam sanatlarının bir şubesi sayılan Türk sanatını Orta Asya’daki kökenlerinden itibaren bir süreklilik içerisinde ele alarak diğer İslam sanatlarından ayrışan yönlerine dikkat çekmiştir. Arseven, Türklerin kendine has ve özgün bir sanatı olduğunu ve bu sanatın farklı kıtalarda meydana getirdiği eserlerin bir bütün içinde değerlendirilmesi gerektiğini ifade eden yaklaşımıyla bir Türk sanatı çerçevesi çizmiş, bu yaklaşımını sistematik bir kurguya oturtup Türk sanat tarihine ilim haysiyeti kazandırmıştır. Arseven’in Türkiye’de sanat tarihi literatürünün yerleşmesi açısından önemli bir boşluğu dolduran Les Arts Décoratifs Turcs eserini çevirmek suretiyle gerçekleştirilen bu tezin amacı, Türk sanatını sadece mimari üzerinden değerlendiren çalışmaların dışına çıkarak geleneksel Türk el sanatlarının da tarihsel süreçte bütünsel bir yapı sergilediğini, bununla birlikte erken cumhuriyetin ulusalcı anlayışına uygun sanat tarihi kavrayışıyla eserin nasıl bir paralellik kurduğunu ortaya koymaktır. Bu tez çalışmasıyla, günümüzden yaklaşık 70 yıl önce yazılmış bir kaynak eser niteliğindeki Les Arts Décoratifs Turcs, Türkçe okuyan araştırmacıların erişimine açılmış olacak ve böylelikle Türk sanat tarihi yazıcılığının öncü ismi Celal Esad Arseven’in Türk sanatı anlayışını daha iyi kavramamıza imkan sağlayacaktır.
Celal Esad Arseven, the pioneer of art historiography in Turkey, tried to convey the sense of Turkish art that he wanted to announce to the whole world through his work named Les Arts Décoratifs Turcs, published in 1952, within the framework of decorative arts. This thesis aims to determine the understanding of Turkish decorative arts put forward by Celal Esad Arseven in his work Les Arts Décoratifs Turcs and from this point of view, to determine how the early movements of thought of the republic were observed in the book. Starting from the origins of the Turkish decorative arts, in his work Arseven touches on the meanings of the motifs used, the main handicrafts and the technique, history and ornamentation of such arts. Within the scope of this thesis, it is aimed to bring Les Arts Décoratifs Turcs, which was written in French targeting foreign readers and which has not yet been translated into Turkish, to Turkish literature. As a scholar who generated a variety of works during the second Constitutional and Republican era, Celal Esad Arseven drew attention to the aspects of Turkish art that differ from other Islamic arts by considering it in a continuity based on its origins in Central Asia. Arseven, whose approach states that Turks have a unique and original art and that the pieces of this art from different continents should be evaluated holisticly, drew a framework for Turkish art historiography studies and placed this approach in a systematic construct, thus bringing Turkish art history a scientific dignity. The aim of this thesis, constituted by translating Arseven's work Les Arts Décoratifs Turcs which fills an important gap in art history literature in Turkey, is to go beyond the studies that evaluate Turkish art only through architecture, indicating how traditional Turkish handicrafts also display a holistic structure in the historical process, and to reveal how the book establishes a parallelism with the understanding of art history in accordance with the nationalist conception of the early Republican era. With this thesis, Les Arts Décoratifs Turcs, which is a pioneer work written about 70 years ago, will be opened to the access of Turkish readers, and thus will allow us to better understand Celal Esad Arseven’s sense of Turkish art.
Celal Esad Arseven, the pioneer of art historiography in Turkey, tried to convey the sense of Turkish art that he wanted to announce to the whole world through his work named Les Arts Décoratifs Turcs, published in 1952, within the framework of decorative arts. This thesis aims to determine the understanding of Turkish decorative arts put forward by Celal Esad Arseven in his work Les Arts Décoratifs Turcs and from this point of view, to determine how the early movements of thought of the republic were observed in the book. Starting from the origins of the Turkish decorative arts, in his work Arseven touches on the meanings of the motifs used, the main handicrafts and the technique, history and ornamentation of such arts. Within the scope of this thesis, it is aimed to bring Les Arts Décoratifs Turcs, which was written in French targeting foreign readers and which has not yet been translated into Turkish, to Turkish literature. As a scholar who generated a variety of works during the second Constitutional and Republican era, Celal Esad Arseven drew attention to the aspects of Turkish art that differ from other Islamic arts by considering it in a continuity based on its origins in Central Asia. Arseven, whose approach states that Turks have a unique and original art and that the pieces of this art from different continents should be evaluated holisticly, drew a framework for Turkish art historiography studies and placed this approach in a systematic construct, thus bringing Turkish art history a scientific dignity. The aim of this thesis, constituted by translating Arseven's work Les Arts Décoratifs Turcs which fills an important gap in art history literature in Turkey, is to go beyond the studies that evaluate Turkish art only through architecture, indicating how traditional Turkish handicrafts also display a holistic structure in the historical process, and to reveal how the book establishes a parallelism with the understanding of art history in accordance with the nationalist conception of the early Republican era. With this thesis, Les Arts Décoratifs Turcs, which is a pioneer work written about 70 years ago, will be opened to the access of Turkish readers, and thus will allow us to better understand Celal Esad Arseven’s sense of Turkish art.