Turkish art
Turkish art refers to all works of visual art originating from the geographical area of what is present day Turkey since the arrival of the Turks in the Middle Ages. Turkey also was the home of much significant art produced by earlier cultures, including the Hittites, Ancient Greeks, and Byzantines. The 16th and 17th centuries are generally recognised as the finest period for art in the Ottoman Empire, much of it associated with the huge Imperial court. Apart from Ottoman architecture and Ottoman illumination of manuscripts the most important media were in the applied or decorative arts rather than figurative work. Pottery, especially İznik pottery, hardstone carvings, Turkish carpets and textiles were all produced to extremely high standards. Other Turkish art ranges from traditional Ebru or paper marbling to Western style paintings.
A transition from Islamic artistic traditions under the Ottoman Empire to a more secular, Western orientation has taken place in Turkey. Turkish painters today are striving to find their own art forms, free from Western influence. Sculpture is less developed, and public monuments are usually heroic representations of Atatürk and events from the war of independence. Literature is considered the most advanced of contemporary Turkish arts. The reign of the early Ottoman Turks in the 16th and early 17th centuries introduced the Turkish form of Islamic calligraphy. This art form reached the height of its popularity during the reign of Suleiman the Magnificent (1520–66). As decorative as it was communicative, Diwani was distinguished by the complexity of the line within the letter and the close juxtaposition of the letters within the word.
See also