Course Outline - TTAOM

 

Oriental Imaginings, Occidental Refashioning: Turquerie, Tulip Age and Ottoman Modernity, 1683-1867

 

3 sessions (2 hours per session): Weekly

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The art trend inspired by ‘all things Turkish’ influenced European aristocracy and elite in Paris, London, Saxony, Poland, Sweden and other capitals. Turquerie affected most aspects of European cultural creativity including costumes, paintings, architecture, music, theatre, plays, ballets and operas. Ottoman art and culture inspired European aristocracy, including Louis XVI, Madame de Pompadour and Marie Antoinette.

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Concurrently, at the Ottoman court in Istanbul, the love of flowers by the sultans ushered in the Tulip Age (1718-30), reflected in the works of court poet Nedim. The Tulip Age epitomised the ‘opening to the West’ and ‘all things European’ influenced art and architecture in the Ottoman Empire. The Ottoman rococo and baroque styles blossomed throughout the century with distinctively Ottoman flair.

 

Aims

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The aim of the course is to allow students to gain understanding of the cultural and artistic exchanges between the Ottoman Empire and European courts during the 18th century. For 18th century Europe, the slow decline of Ottoman military power following the defeat at Vienna in 1683, led to the growing fascination with ‘all things Ottoman’ – a movement called Turquerie by enlivening the familiar with colourful and whimsical novelty. Turquerie is representative of the changing perceptions of the Ottomans in the eyes of the Europeans due to increased diplomatic activity between the two cultures. The Turquerie movement was often reflected in the artistic and visual expressions of the period. Most aspects of European cultural creativity, including costumes, paintings, architecture, music, theatre, plays, ballets, and operas were often inspired by Turkish and Ottoman aesthetics and techniques. Bright colours and sharp contrasts often depicted the Ottomans in paintings, reinforcing their exotic characteristics. As the Europeans imagined the exotic orient, the Ottomans fashioned their court by engaging with occidental visual language reflecting the changing perceptions between East and West respectively. For the Ottomans, the period coincided with the Lâle Devri (The  Tulip Age, 1718-30) that witnessed closer diplomatic connections with Europe and the fusing of Western rococo and baroque aesstehtics into their art and architecture with creativity and innovation, while still retaining close links with the visual vocabulary of Islamic East.

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Learning Outcomes

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By the end of this course, you should be able to:

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• Discuss the nature of 18th century artistic trend in Europe and the Ottoman Empire

• Understand the simultaneous aesthetic developments in Paris and Istanbul

• Understand and analyse historical continuity

• Develop and extend their knowledge and understanding of cultural, artistic and political influences on 18th century art in European courts and Ottoman Istanbul

• Appreciate the cross-cultural interactions that shaped 18th century art

 

Content

 

This course covers the following topics:

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Introducing Turquerie

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• Süleyman Ağa and 17th century French theatre

• The influence of The Tales of the Arabian Nights and French theatre

• Mozart and music

• Turquerie as status and power: ceremonial and public processions, and an audience with the sultan

• Public carnivals

• The influence of Lady Mary Wortley Montagu

• The French Royal Family

• Turquerie and architecture: Europe – Istanbul exchanges

 

Opening to the West

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• Ottoman-European diplomatic interactions in the 18th century

 

Contextualising 18th century Ottoman art: Mediating between East and West

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• The Ottomans: Looking East, looking West – a brief overview

• ‘The Tulip Age’ (1718-1730): The ‘myth’ of westernisation and:

  • Turkish historiography

  • Turkish nationalist paradigm

  • ‘The Tulip Age’: A symbolic interpretation

• The westernisation of the Ottoman Empire in the 18th century: An overview

• The western ~ eastern ~ Ottoman?

 

Ottoman Rococo: Original, adaptation or imitation

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• Ottoman Köşk (kiosks), Kasır (pavilions) and Yalı (seaside mansions)

• Yalı: Bosphorus waterside mansions

 

Ahmet III – The Tulip Sultan

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• 1705: The Fruit Room

• 1719: Library of Ahmet III

• Age of Water: Rococo Imperial Fountains

  • 1728: Fountain of Ahmet III at Topkapı Palace Gate

  • 1728: Ahmet III Fountain at Üsküdar

  • 1732: Tophane Fountain of Mahmut I and others

 

1722: Sa’dabad Palace (The Palace of Happiness) – the East-West fusion

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• Contextualising the Isfahan-Mughal exchange

• The French exchange & the westernisation debate

• Distinctively Ottoman: East-West fusion

 

1730-1789: The Age of Ottoman Rococo-Baroque Mahmud I (r.1730-54)

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• Şehzadegân Mektebi

• The Nuruosmaniye Mosque (1748-55)

 

Osman III (r.1754-57)

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• Osman III Kiosk and the Topkapı Palace

 

Abdul Hamid I (r.1774-1789): Harem Apartments

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• The Has Oda of Abdul Hamid I

• Apartment of the Haseki Sultan of Abdul Hamid I

 

Selim III (r.1789-1807) – The ‘Just Padishah’

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• Ottoman urban and religious rococo

• Meşk Odası of Selim III and the Mihrişah Valide Sultan (1789-1805) apartment

 

Harem & Turquerie

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• The handkerchief has been thrown!

• The Valide Sultan meets Madame de Pompadour and Queen Marie Antoinette

 

 1760-1861: Ottoman Baroque ~ Symbol of Imperial Modernity in the Eyalets 

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Ottoman Cairo: The sebil-kuttab of Mustafa III (1759-60)

19th Century: Reform, Modernity and Ottoman Baroque in the Provinces

     Mahmud II (r. 1808-1839) and Abdulmecid I (r. 1839-1861)

     Damascus: Beit Nizam (al Azam) Palace

     Hırka-i Saadet Çeşmesi (1822)

The Holy Land: Ottoman Prayer Hall in Medina (c.1817-61)

          Baroque meets Prophet Muhammad at Mescid-i Nebevî

     Samokov ~ Ottoman Bulgaria (1845)

     Ottoman Maghreb: Eyalet-i Cezâyîr-i Ġarb and Beylik of Tunis

 

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1865: Back to the Future ~ Between Modernity and Hybrid Orientalism

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The Alhambresque Style

            1865: Nezareti Harbiye

            1861-65: Beylerbeyi Palace

            1863-67: Çiragan Palace

 

1867 ~ The Occident meets the Modern Orient – The Turquerie Renaissance

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            1867: L’Exposition Universelle ~ Paris

    Ottoman modernity on show: Paintings of Osman Hamdi Bey (1842-1910)

            1867: Sultan meets the Queen

                July 13th ~ La Gondole Barcarolle

                July 15th ~ Sultan at the Covent Garden opera

                July 16th ~ Sultan at the Royal Concert at Crystal Palace

                July 17th ~ Arise, “My Oriental brother”

                July 18th ~ “WELCOME” Abdulaziz Othomanorum Imperator Londinium Invisit

                July 28th ~ Vienna

       Altered Perceptions

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Intended audience

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Anyone interested in extending their knowledge of 18th century Ottoman and European art history with a revisionist, inclusive and global approach.

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Prerequisites

 

NA

 

Intended audience

 

Participants interested in extending their knowledge of how cross-cultural interactions contribute to great works of art.

 

People of any age interested in art.

 

Delivery style

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• Weekly Online Lecture with audio-visual presentation

• Online discussion forums

• Analysing written and visual sources

 

Materials

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• Writing pad / laptop

 

 

PRESCRIBED TEXT AND OR RECOMMENDED READING

 

Croutier, Alev L. Harem - The World Behind the Veil. London: Bloomsbury, 1989.

 

Kuban, D. Ottoman Architecture. Suffolk, England: Antique Collectors’ Club, 2010.

 

Levey, M. The World of Ottoman Art. London: Thames & London, 1976.

 

Rustem, U. Ottoman Baroque: The Architectural Refashioning of Eighteenth-Century Istanbul. New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 2019.

 

Williams, H. Turquerie. London: Thames & London, 2014.

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ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

 

NA

 

 

TUTOR BIOGRAPHY

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Metin Mustafa is a former secondary teacher of history with over two decades of teaching experience. He holds a PhD in Ottoman Renaissance art from The University of Notre Dame Australia and Bachelor of Education in Humanities from The University of Sydney. He lectured and tutored the units The History of Western Civilisation and Religious Traditions in Multicultural Australia at The University of Notre Dame Australia and Charles Sturt University respectively. Dr. Metin Mustafa also taught Teaching Methodology at the Australian Catholic University. He presented at numerous history conferences on cross-cultural interactions in the early modern period: 

 

• Sultan Mehmed II and Rethinking the Renaissance (University of Sydney)

• Ottoman Renaissance Material Culture in Early Modern Europe (University of Sydney) 

• Renaissance Self-Fashioning of Süleyman the Magnificent (University of Notre Dame Australia) 

• Representations of the Divine and Salvation: An Alternative Reading of Sinan's Iznik tiles of Rustem Pasha Mosque and Michelangelo's Last Judgement (University of Sydney)

• History and gender in Sultan Murad III's Surname-i Hümayun 1582,

• Islam, Ottoman Turks and Orientalism (Powerhouse Museum, Sydney, 1999) 

• Abraham: Our Ancestor - Judaism, Christianity and Islam (Aquinas Academy, Sydney, 1998)

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Metin is the founder of the Centre for Ottoman Renaissance and Civilisation. Between 2019 and 2023, he taught Ottoman and Renaissance art history courses at The University of Sydney Centre for Continuing Education. His research interests include: Early modern Mediterranean cross-cultural interactions; civilisation of the Ottoman Renaissance (1400-1683); the idea of many renaissances. He is the author of the monograph: The Ottoman Renaissance: A Reconsideration of Early Modern Ottoman Art, 1413-1575 and History of Ottoman Renaissance Art: From Mehmed I to Selim II.  His other publications include: Michelangelo meets Sinan: Representations of the Divine, Salvation and Paradise in Renaissance Art, The Ottoman Renaissance and the Early Modern World, 1400-1699 (Essays Series Complete Edition), 'The Divine Comedy’ of Süleyman Çelebi and Mir Heidar: A Sufi Mystical Reading of Early Modern Turkic Representations of Prophet Muhammad's 'Isra' and 'Mir'aj' and Oriental Imaginings, Occidental Re-Fashioning: Turquerie, the Tulip Age and Ottoman Modernity, 1683-1867.