Flowers from the Bilge Collection
October 27–December 24, 2016
In Flowers, Şükriye Dikmen uses the traditional genre of still life to achieve a minimalist composition of organic figures. With a solid black background and no depth, no perspective, the brightly colored flowers are almost transformed into abstract geometric shapes. The flatness of the painting, which gives it a modern feel, also hints at more historic references. Always staying within the representational frameworks of portraiture, landscape painting, and still life, Dikmen often reduces figuration to lines and monochromatic shapes. Flowers, date unknown, showcases Dikmen’s specific style, prominent in her paintings from the 1970s and 1980s.
Şükriye Dikmen is the first artist Muhsin Bilge included in his art collection which he started in the early 1990s. Focusing on painting and sculpture from post-1923 Turkey, the Bilge Collection aims to offer an in-depth survey of modern art in the country. While making a  conscientious effort to collect artworks from all different periods of each artist, the collector also amassed their notebooks, sketches, and correspondence as a window into their practice. Since his passing in 2014, the collection is being run by his children Aslı and Ali Bilge. This provides an opportunity of discussing the issues faced by the next generation in preserving an established family collection, and envisioning its future.
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Şükriye Dikmen (b. 1918, d. 2000) graduated from the Istanbul Fine Arts Academy in 1948 and from the Art History Department at Paris École du Louvre in 1953. She practiced painting with Fernand Léger as well as Gustave Singier and Roger Chastel at Académie Ranson in Paris. Dikmen opened her first solo exhibition in France in 1953 and in Turkey in 1954. She had several solo exhibitions throughout her long career at institutions such as the State Academy of Fine Arts (1968), Tiglat Art Gallery (1980), İş Bank Art Gallery (1983), and Yapı Kredi Kazım Taşkent Art Gallery (1994). Dikmen’s paintings were also represented in international group exhibitions including the Edinbourgh Festival (1957), the São Paulo Bienal (1961) and Contemporary Turkish Art, Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris (1964), among others.
Muhsin Bilge (b. 1944, d. 2014) started collecting art in the early 1990s after being an avid collector of objects all his life. With the ambition of representing the entire oeuvre of each artist in the collection, Bilge in many cases, established long lasting relationships with their families, and provided crucial financial support at a time when the commercial art market in Turkey had only few players. Being a public notary as profession, Bilge showed the works in his office that turned into an exhibition space of the most public kind. In his own description, his ‘collection of artists’ includes works by Fahr-el Nissa Zeid, Nejad Devrim, Aliye Berger, Bedri Rahmi Eyüboğlu, Celal Tutant, Özdemir Altan, Mehmet Güleryüz, Kemal Önsoy, and Komet, among many others.
Şükriye Dikmen
Flowers (detail)
Date unknown
Oil on hardboard
129.5 x 69.5 cm
Image courtesy: The Bilge Collection
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