The Istanbul archive is dedicated to the city on the Bosporus as a destination for migrant and refugee painters, photographers, and architects in the early 20th century. One part of the archive focuses on the Russian-speaking refugees...
moreThe Istanbul archive is dedicated to the city on the Bosporus as a destination for migrant and refugee painters, photographers, and architects in the early 20th century.
One part of the archive focuses on the Russian-speaking refugees who chose the city mainly because of its geographical proximity and relaxed visa policies. It analyses the interrelations between émigré artists from the former Russian Empire themselves and their supporters, who were directly or indirectly related to the Union of Russian Painters in Constantinople, as well as their interactions with the city’s venues. In terms of biography, greater emphasis is placed on the Istanbul period of these artists’ lives, although brief information is also given for other cities of their émigré ways. Since many of them are still not very well-researched, we would like to ask for help from those readers who have any information on the names of the artists in a group photo, which is a part of the entry named “Union of Russian Painters in Constantinople”, their private archives, and important details concerning their lives in general.
Another part of this archive focuses on German-speaking artists, architects, and intellectuals who came to Istanbul after 1927; in other words, when the great body of the Russian-speaking emigrants had already left the city. Many of them followed an invitation from Turkish ministries and authorities and were part of the modernisation project of the Turkish Republic. They settled on the European side of the city in the vicinity of the Academy, the Istanbul University and the Technical University, as this was where they had their professional affiliations. However, there were exceptions: in Bebek, a former fishing village many kilometres from the historical centre of the city, an emigrant community developed, and traces of emigration can also be found on the Prince Islands.
For the first time, Russian- and German-speaking emigrants in Istanbul are represented in one archive. One finding of this is that even if there were not many direct relations between the different émigré communities, the city and urban matrix connected them. They shared the same residential district − today’s Beyoğlu − and left their traces in this neighbourhood and beyond.
