Half a century woven with a love for art

One of the doyens of calligraphy, Turan Sevgili, who is also the deputy secretary-general of the Directorate of National Palaces under the Turkish Grand National Assembly National, celebrates his 52nd year in the art world with an exhibition of his calligraphic works at the Museum of the Dolmabahçe Palace Collections, formerly known as "Depo Müze" (Storage Museum). Starting on May 10 with an opening reception, the exhibition entitled "The 52nd Year in Art" will run until Sunday this week. Sevgili will give a talk on calligraphy on Saturday.

Sevgili started his calligraphy career as one of the first students of the late acclaimed calligrapher Hamit Aytaç in 1963. For the last fifty years, he has created many works and guided a number of today's calligraphers. His ambition led him to design unique works of art.

The exhibition is curated by miniature and marble artist Melis Sevilay Uludağ, who gathered Turan's classical and modern calligraphy works. She said in a statement that the exhibition displays 41 calligraphic works and 70 calligrapher portraits. Aside from his talent in calligraphy, Sevgili is also a master painter. The works of Uludağ and illumination and marble artist Eda Funda Özkan embellish the calligraphies of Turan at the exhibition. The artists bring three traditional Turkish arts under one roof. Özkan conducted all ornamentation works on Sevgili's calligraphic panels and other pieces featuring different characteristics. Recognized as the state artist of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, Özkan has been awarded numerous prizes in local and international competitions. Her works are on display both at home and abroad. Her 1.5-meter long "Hilye-i Şerif" (The Noble Description) attracts viewers with its ornamentations and writings. Similarly, Uludağ applies miniature art on sacred relics to design different compositions. She interprets Prophet Muhammad's sword "Seyf-i Nebevi" glittering with rubies and turquoise stones through miniature art. For the exhibition, Uludağ designed an elegant work with Turan by applying calligraphic writing in golden letters. The exhibition invites all art lovers dedicated to calligraphy and miniature.