The entire collection of the İstanbul Painting and Sculpture Museum (İRHM), which hosts the works of Turkish artists across the board from Osman Hamdi Bey to date, can now be accessed at www.resimheykelmuzesi.org.
The Museum’s website was made possible through the contributions of Polimeks Construction Inc., a creator of buildings valued as works of art. As dictated by its corporate mission to perpetuate Turkish culture and the arts to the future generations, Polimeks has made available for the lovers of art on virtual environment the entire collection of İRHM, home to thousands of paintings and sculptures by Turkish artists from the Ottoman and the Republican eras.
İRHM, which also functions as the principal source of art museums in major cities and State Art Galleries in Turkey, was opened by a directive of Ataturk, who allocated a section of the Dolmabahce Palace to the School of Fine Arts (Sanayi-i Nefise Mektebi. Today, the Mimar Sinan Fine Arts University) for this purpose. Ataturk’s maxim that, ”a nation that does not paint, a nation that does not sculpt, a nation that does not do the requirements of technology has no place, it ought to be confessed, in the path of advancement.” has thus become true as Turkey was endowed with its first painting and sculpture museum in 1937.
The building hosting İRHM was originally built as the Crown Prince’s Apartments within the Dolmabahçe Palace complex. Beginning with its inception in 1937, ardent efforts were immediately under way to initiate the nucleus of the Museum’s collection. To this end, works were collated from the available establishments of the day such as the Dolmabahçe Palace, Ankara Community Center, Ministry of Education and Grand National Assembly. Since then, efforts to enrich the collection have continued through donations and acquisitions.
The Museum’s collection of 7,853 works of art, with 495 sculptures and 7,213 paintings include works by such Turkish masters as Osman Hamdi Bey, Seker Ahmet Ali Pasa, İbrahim Calli, Bedri Rahmi, Abidin Dino and Sabri Berkel among hundreds of other equally valuable items.
The İRHM web site, offers a virtual tour of the works under easily navigable categories by each artist including their biographical backgrounds in addition to information about the Museum and past, current and future exhibitions in particular and Turkish plastic arts in general.
The riches of the Turkish plastic arts await the visit of all enthusiasts of the arts at:
www. resimheykelmuzesi.org
For detailed information:
Ozlem Koymen
Ozgu İletisim
Tel: +90 212 244 88 41
Fax: +90 212 244 88 48
e-mail: ozlemk@ozgu.com.tr
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