The History Of The Academy Of Fine Arts

SCHOOL OF FİNE ARTS: ADMINISTRATION AND CURRICULUM
The School of Fine Arts was governed by a principal who acted as head of all the teachers and employees in the school and the museum. He was also responsible for the supervision and control of all expenses. The governing board consisted of a secretary, an accountant and a member responsible for the fixtures and equipment connected with the models and antiquities used in the studios, as well as for certain library duties (14). Books for the library to the value of Fr. 3,250 were purchased from France, most of these being reference books on artistic subjects (15). The teaching faculty was the consist of teachers and assistants. Besides these there was to be a Büyük Meclis (General Council) forming a sub-committee attached to the School Directorate responsible for education and chosen by the Director of the school. This council was to be composed of five honorary members consisting of a deputy principal, a painter, a sculpture, an engraver engaged in various types of work such as engraving and seal engraving, an architect and a skill craftsman.

Painting, sculpture, architecture and engraving were to be taught in the school, together with the means of applying the knowledge and ability so acquired. The teachers were to teach subjects such as the historyof art, decorative arts, perspective, simple arithmatic, plane geometry, book-keeping,history, antiquities and anatomy, together with their practical application.

Studios were to be opened in the school for painting, sculpture, engravingand the decorative arts, each run by a studio head. Every three months the studio heads were to prepare a report on the progress of the students to be presented to the principal. These reports were to be read in the General Concil. In April an exam was to be arranged in the school studio for both the students of the school and external students who wished to enter the exam. These examinations were to consist of two parts. The first consisted of a sketch or design made on a topic announced by the General Council. The second was to consist of a work in either oil paint or plaster. This exam was to be announced by the principal eight days in advance.

On the basis of the rules and regulations laid down in the foundation statues, the principal was to take all necessary measures to ensure the efficient conduct of the lessons in the classrooms and studios as well the orderly state and functioning of the gardens, outhouses and other details . The principal was also responsible for arranging library hours, the methods of acquisitionand borrowing of books and for the preservation of all books and documents.

The Grand Council was to arrange an annual art exhibition. The examination and acceptance of the works offered by the artists for display in this exhibition were the responsibility of a jury chosen by the Grand Council, which was also responsible for the award of prizes. At the same time, a Museum of National Arts was to be established in addition to the already existing Archaeological Museum for specimens of the pictorial and sculptural arts (16).

In his book, Ali Sami Boyar offers some information on the state of the classes in the School of Fine Arts . According  to this, the School of Fine Arts was modelled on the Ecole des Beaux Arts in Paris. As in the Paris school, the curriculum consisted of free studio work, compulsory slasses and other programmes, but, instead of annual examinations, competitions and prize-giving, the drawing classes were divided into six years, each class having a seperate studio with an examination at the end of the year. Students who passed these classes portrait heads and, more particularly in the last class, completely draped figures were painted from elderly models. This type of work continued in the oil-painting classes until 1906 when the oil-painting system was changed as a result of the opposition offered by a group composed of Ruhi Arel, Nazmi Ziya and Ali Sami Boyar. After this, nude models began to be employed. At this point, the most dificult problem confronting them was that of finding nude models. It was Nazmi Ziya who found a solution to the problem. Nazmi Ziya was very interested in greased wrestling and had a number of wrestler friends to whom he suggested the idea of nude modelling. These wrestlers were the first to pose as nude models in the School of Fine Arts (17).

The dating of some of the works left by artists who were students in those days is greatly facilitated by reference to the curriculum of the Schol of Fine Arts. For example, by this means, we have been able to confirm  the date of a studio work  carried out by Hikmet Onat now preserved in the Istanbul Museumof Painting and Sculpture. We have suggested that this painting, entitled "Work on a Live Model", the date of which is given as 1904 in some sources, could not have been painted before 1909. As the artist entered the School of Fine Arts in 1904 he would have engaged in oil-painting only in the fifth or sixth class, namely, in 1909-1910 (18). In the course of the twenty-seven years in which Osman Hamdi Bey was principal, the School of Fine Arts never succeeded in exerting the same influence in the community as other educational establishments, such as the Civil Service School, Medical School or even the Commercial School, which were all founded at around the same time. These school attracted public attention through the work of graduates who played an influential role in the political and intellectual life of the time. The reason for the failure of the graduates from the School of Fine Arts to achieve a position of influence comparable to that achieved by the graduates of these other schools cannot be attributed to the fact their interests were totally restricted to artistic subjects. Other reasons must be sought, such as the fact that the majority of the professors at the school, at which the students spent many years, were of foreign nationality. This meant that the students of the School of Fine Arts had the misfortune of being unable to play an effective role in the discussion of local questions and were much less involved than the students in the other schools in political and cultural affairs. We should also mention the general inadequacy of the cultural teaching offered in the school.

Another point of interest is the failure, during the Osman Hamdi Bey period, to produced an artist of any real significance even in the Turkish context. This is undoubtedly to be ascribed to the conditions prevailing in the country at that time  and to the existence of an environment, it would obviously be unreasonable to expect works of artistic value suddenly to appear in so short a period of time. It is nevertheless remarkable that in the 20-25 years following the opening of the School of Fine Arts the school produced no artist of the calibre of a Seker Ahmet Pasha, an Osman Hamdi Bey, a Süleyman Seyyid or a Zekai Pasha. In this respect, it may be reckoned a fault in Osman Hamdi Bey to have devoted so much more of his time to the museum rather than to the School of Fine Arts, and to have retained for something like 25 years the services of foreign teachers who not only lacked the necessary competence but who also tended to withdraw into their own shells (19). On the other hand, however, it is very doubtful, considering the economic, social, political and cultural conditions of the country at that time, if better teachers could have been found. In view of the lack of an artistic infra structure in the Western sense of the term and the condition of the country at that time, the  period must be regarded as one of transition. However, in spite of the unfavourable conditions prevailing in the country in that time, it is very clear from the records that all work was undertaken with the greatest seriousness. Furthermore, it must never be forgotton that art is a work of emotion and inspiration that comprises a number of different elements (20). Finally, as Mastafa Cezar has stressed and as we ourselves have mentioned above, while it would have been perfectly possible to provide instruction  in the fine arts in any building in the country, this expedient was dismissed in favour of the construction of a new building specially designed for the purpose (21). At first, like any other newly foundedinstitution, the School of Fine Arts had to go through an initial trial period-perhaps rather longer than in similiar institutions in other parts of the world. It may be said to have entered on its maturity following return of several of its outstanding graduates, like the 1914 gneration, who had been sent abroad further study and who initiated the process of artistic education which has continued to the present day.