Bedri Rahmi Eyüboğlu
Bride With Red Legs, 1954
Gouache on paper
205h x 162w cm
BRE008
The Anatolian influence in Bedri Rahmi’s paintings cannot be denied. The motifs in rugs and carpets woven in Anatolia have always influenced him. The red leg series is one of the paintings that integrates both those motifs and Anatolian women.
Bedri Rahmi Eyüboğlu
Motif, 1953
Gouache on paper
11.50h x 68w cm
BRE003
Bedri Rahmi started working more on his motif works in the early 1950s. The effects of graphic design are very evident in these works. Bedri Rahmi who was fascinated by the motifs in Turkish rugs and carpets, created many more motifs to capture his own style.
Common swift birds, Karagöz (Black-eyed)’s ship, Kiss and Çamçak are the best examples to illustrate this.
Bedri Rahmi Eyüboğlu
Pomfret Kemenche Player, 1970
Oil on canvas
101h x 65w cm
BRE001
Coming from the Black Sea Region, it’s clear to see the influence this has had to Bedri Rahmi’s work in which he reflects the culture of this area. Horon (folk dance), kemenche, taka (small sailing boats especially known in the east Black sea area), fish and “Pomfret Kemenche Player” is one of the common motifs he used.
This work, which depicts a kemenche player playing his kemenche with a strong and sharp appearance, is perhaps an expression of his longing for Trabzon, where he rarely travelled after leaving in 1928.
Bedri Rahmi Eyüboğlu
Peasant Mother, 1972
Mixed media
100h x 74w cm
BRE002
Bedri Rahmi loves and values his mother “Lady Lütfiye” because she taught him the meaning of love through her showing it for Yunus Emre. He even calls his own mother “honey granny”.
In one of the letters to his mum he writes;
You are always with us wherever we are. Because you melt in our soul like sugar dissolves in water. You are our taste and salt. But the most beautiful of all this is, is you are our “honey granny”.
This is why Bedri Rahmi has used the mother figure motif many times, because they are the strongest and most secretive hero of Anatolia. Mothers, fertility, productivity and diligence have influenced him very much.
Bedri Rahmi Eyüboğlu
Motif, 1967
Gouache on paper
25h x 70w cm
BRE005
Bedri Rahmi started working more on his motif works in the early 1950s. The effects of graphic design are very evident in these works. Bedri Rahmi who was fascinated by the motifs in Turkish rugs and carpets, created many more motifs to capture his own style.
Common swift birds, Karagöz (Black-eyed)’s ship, Kiss and Çamçak are the best examples to illustrate this.
Bedri Rahmi Eyüboğlu
Vakko Çiti, 1972
Mixed media
63h x 113w cm
BRE004
In the mid 1950s Bedri Rahmi started to work on how to combine architecture and art. With his first experimental mosaic combinations Bedri Rahmi made for the NATO Expo exhibition at the Turkish Pavilion in 1958; using a large scale mosaic in an architectural context.
In the early 1970s, when Vakko decided to open a factory in Merter, Bedri Rahmi designed various “Wall” works and sculpture works in this place. “Vakko fence” is a motif of a sculpture work he made there. Vakko moved all their Bedri Rahmi Works to their new centre in Nakkastepe after closing the factory in Merter.
Bedri Rahmi Eyüboğlu
Yavuz is coming Yavuz, 1932
Oil on canvas
115h x 145w cm
BRE006
Gülcemal, Yavuz and Midilli (Lesbos) ships were in the Turkish Maritime in the 1910s and were loved by the youth because of their special duties during that period. The Gulcemal ship was used as a postal ship in the Black Sea area for a while and people expected letters from their loved ones which made this ship even more precious for everyone. The same ship was used during the migration between Greece and Turkey in 1924 and as a result it also lives long in the memory where many tragic events took place.
In the poem “Saga of Istanbul”, Bedri Rahmi writes:
Say Istanbul and Gülcemal comes to mind
Whose songs are sung in the adobe huts of Anatolia;
Milk flows out of her taps, roses bloom on her masts;
My childhood in Anatolia’s adobe huts
Sail to Istanbul and back on Gülcemal.
Bedri Rahmi went to France in 1930 and made this important painting in order to put an end to the longing for his homeland.
In 1958, when he moved into the last house he lived in, the painting was hanging above his bed; which shows the importance for him.
Bedri Rahmi Eyüboğlu
Turkish Key, 1962
Acrylic on canvas
37h x 130w cm
BRE007
Bedri Rahmi, who went to the United States for two years in 1960, discovered new painting techniques and encountered non-figurative paintings that he had previously thought of but did not reflect in his previous paintings. Mark Rothko is the most important influence of them.
Acrylic paint, white binder, sand and even pebbles were introduced into his paintings in this period.
His work series Turkish Key, Turkish Neckles and Pomegranate garden emerged in this period.