6th ANNUAL BOSTON TURKISH FILM FESTIVAL SM
March 29 - May 13, 2007
HOME About BTFF 2007 Program Past Programs The Competition The Board Sponsors Arts&CultURE Festival Cinema News Contact
 
 
Exhibition: GLITTERING GOLD: ILLUMINATION IN ISLAMIC ART
Including Works of Tezhip Artist GULHIS DIPTAS 
  

 
Ya Hazrat Mevlana  (Ink, pigment and gold on paper, 2006)
Illumination and painting by Gulhis Diptas
Calligraphy by Ahmet Kutluhan
 

 

Nothingness

 

 

Vav

 

Friday, May 11   
 
 Gallery Tour with artist Gulhis Diptas and curator Dr. Woodman Taylor
5:00pm-6:30pm: Islamic Art Gallery 
 
Reception for the Artist
6:30pm: School of the Museum of Fine Arts 
 
RSVP REQUIRED FOR ADMISSION TO THE MUSEUM. 
RSVP TO info@BostonTurkishFilmFestival.org BY THURSDAY, MAY 10th. 
NAMES WILL BE CHECKED FROM THE RSVP LIST AT THE ENTRANCE OF MFA.
 
Museum of Fine Arts, 465 Huntington Avenue, Boston

 

Gold has a long history of use in manuscripts and paintings from the Islamic world. Koran manuscripts from the 8th century establish a tradition of elaborate gold illumination for verse headings, which later extended to frontispieces and section headings of most manuscripts. Meticulous methods transforming gold foil into a fluid pigment facilitated the use of brushes and reed pens to apply gold which, after drying, was burnished to create surfaces that glitter. 

The Turkish word for illumination, tezhip, comes from zahab, Arabic for gold. An early reference to gold occurs in the Koran. Discovering a glittering yellow, hard substance that pleased his eyes, Adam names this zahab. This gives gold and its stunning visual qualities a positive connotation in Islam, which explains the initial use for illumination in Islamic art, for creating visually pleasing effects within the Koran. 

lluminated headings often include dense decoration using intense mineral pigments, partcularly deep blue made from crushed lapis lazuli. These elaborate designs combine scrolls, floral forms, and curvy cloud patterns. Illumination techniques were also applied in other arts - calligraphers penned text in gold and, by the sixteenth century, painters used gold pigment and incorporated decorative designs within their paintings. Court painters from Safavid Iran, Ottoman Turkey, and Mughal India often were also masters of illumination.

Gulhis Diptas, whose work is included in this exhibition, is one of Turkey’s new generation of illuminators. This fall she visits the MFA to demonstrate her techniques, including how to make gold glitter. 

The exhibit will remain open until January 27, 2008
Co-presented with the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston

 

Tolerance

  
GULHIS DIPTAS:

Born in Adana lives in Istanbul, Turkey. After Ayas High School, she continued her education in Business Administration and majored in computer programming in Washington, D.C.  Gulhis Diptas started her "Tezhip" education at Seven Art House in 1990. Since then she has been working with Dr. Cahide Keskiner from Topkapi Palace. 
Ms. Diptas's works of art have been displayed in 29 solo or group exhibitions in Turkey and abroad, including:
T.O.B. Art Gallery, Brussels, Belgium  (Solo, 2004)
Turkish Information Office, Paris, France  (Solo, 2004)
'80th year of the Turkish Republic', Isik University, Istanbul, Turkey (Solo, 2004)
Indus Gallery, Karachi, Pakistan  (Solo, 2003)
'Women in Art', Rockville Municipal Center, Maryland, USA (Solo, 2003)
European Council Exhibition Center, Strasbourg, France (Solo, 2000)
'75th Year of the Turkish Republic', New York, USA (Solo, 1999)
'Antiques of the Future', Istanbul, Adana, Mersin, Turkey  (Five solo exhibitions, 1993-1998)
7th and 8th 'Turkish Illuminating Arts Exhibition' organized by the Turkish Government  (1995-1997)
'Women's Eye Exhibition' in the World Bank, Washington, D.C., USA (1995)