Modernist Architectural Ceramic Murals and Panels
Last week at the Maçka Sanat Galerisi here in Istanbul I made a presentation on the Turkish modernist master Füreya Koral's architectural ceramics as part of the exhibition, "görülmemiş eserleriyle, Füreya Koral". I had a conversation with historian Dündar Hızal about these previously unseen Koral sketches for ceramic wall panels and ceramic wall panels by the likes of other Turkish modernist artists such as Bedri Rahmi Eyüboğlu, Sadi Diren, Jale Yılmabaşar, Atilla Galatalı as well as other international artists such as Athos Bulcao and Joan Miró & Josep Lloréns Artigas. I spoke about Koral's contribution to the genre of ceramic wall panels that focuses on the visual balance between her larger compositional ideas for architectural space and her particular organic geometries that utilize swirls, circles and spirals.
Here are some photos and details I took at the exhibition:
The area of modernist architectural ceramic wall panels, murals and tiles has yet to be explored in its entirety. I had actually submitted a proposal to the Richard Rogers Foundation to do just this a number of years ago. I post it here to get this on the record.
"The pursuit of architecture is often determined by the possibilities of context. This reality applies not only to the practice of architectural design but also research in the history of architecture and the opportunities in design this research opens and facilitates. This has been the case for me in my interest over the last 10 years of the role of architectural ceramics in modern architecture.
The study of ceramics was a topic that I came across after entered into the culture of Turkey in the 2000s after a move from New York to Istanbul. Historically, ceramics was a central feature of the built environment of Anatolia since the Neolithic period. Intriguingly for me were the advancements made by the Turkic cultures of the Medieval Seljuk period and Ottoman Empire. These histories and their pedigree in architectural ceramics were well known throughout the world due to the great interest in classical Ottoman architecture in general and the use of architectural ceramics in these buildings in particular.
What was not very well known was the continuation of architectural ceramics in the modern era in Turkey, a field of production and design whose quality and originality motivated a series of my research and publishing efforts over ten years. Initiallye this research and the archival work in the history of design in Turkey in the post war period exposed me to a number of modern Turkish ceramists who produced unique tiling and mural designs. As the Research Curator of the Architecture and Design Archive of Turkey at the Salt Archive in the late 2000s I collected two important archives of the post war period in Turkey, the ceramist Sadi Diren and the Gorbon Tiles company that showed the breadth and quality of design and architecture from this period. This research was brought together in the exhibition I co-curated at Salt, “The Performance of Modernity, Ataturk Cultural Center, 1946-1977”, Salt Galata 2012, which exposed the extensive scale of the ceramic program of this important modernist opera building by Sadi Diren executed with the architecture of Hayati Tabanlioglu and the nascent ceramics industry in Turkey in the post war period. The review of architectural ceramics in modernist architecture in Turkey was not well known at the time and motivated me to further research in this area as an independent scholar including a full review of the role of architectural ceramics in design in Turkey since the 19th century published in a series of articles. These include “Handmade Modernity: Post-war design in Turkey” in Global Design History, 2011, ed. by Adamson, Riello, Teasley, “|Ceramics, Turkish Design Chronology 18-21st c., Istanbul Design Biennial, curators Wigley and Colomina, coordinated by P. Dervis, 2016 and most recently a historical review of architectural ceramics in Turkish architecture in a volume on Han Tumertekin's Turkish Mission to the EU Building, Strasbourg, edited by L. Molinari, Skira, 2019 which utilizes an extensive system of contemporary Iznik Tiles in its design.
I mention this research work in detail as I have tried to understand the continuity within the history of architecture in Turkey that has led to the emergence of modernist architectural ceramics as a central feature in the work of architects and designers such as Tabanlioglu, Sedad Hakki Eldem in coordination with ceramists such as Bedri Rahmi Eyuboglu, Fureya Koral, Atilla Galatali, Jale Yilmabasar and others. The role of artisanal craft in the hands of designers/artists working with modernist architects showed an original iteration of modern architecture as a quasi craft based design in Turkey's combination of traditional Eastern arts with a modernist ethos that led to a unique synthesis particular to 20th century modernist design from Turkey.
While I was able to successfully review the implications of this union of architecture, design, craft and industry in the Turkish case what has been missing in my work is the opportunity to contextualize the Turkish examples by assessing these developments at a global scale in the role of architectural ceramics in architecture in the post war period. This goal, the opportunity to establish a larger understanding around modernist architectural ceramics in tile work, murals, cladding, interior design and structural ceramics is the purpose of my application to the Richard Rogers Fellowship. While attempting to gain context on the Turkish modernist ceramics importantly and surprisingly I found there has been no serious assessment of architectural ceramics in post war period architecture. We know of important projects with prominent use of architectural ceramics such as the collaboration of Oscar Niemeyer with the painter and sculpture Athos Bulcao, or Jorn Utzon’s Sydney Opera House, 1957, and Alvar Aalto’s Seinajoki Town Hall in Finland, 1962-65, that use extensive tile cladding. We are also aware of the increase in use of architectural ceramics in the last 10 years by architects such as Eric Parry, Herzog & de Meuron, Han Tümertekin, FAT, Squire & Partners, Alvaro Siza, UN Studio, Enric Miralles and Benedetta Tagliabue, an intriguing and suggestive trend that also has not been fully examined.
This recent interest in contemporary architecture of architectural ceramics as facade cladding raises the issue of the larger role of architectural ceramics in architecture which I believe needs to be assessed in more detailed way specifically connected to the history of modern architecture from the post-war period. In the case of modern architecture in Turkey I have been able to deduce certain features of this architecture guided by economic, aesthetic and performative factors as a case study that can be compared and contrasted with other national architectural cultures in places like Brazil, Spain and the UK. Also looking functionally beyond cladding, architectural ceramics also have a role to play in 21st century architecture in terms of local sustainability as ceramics can be produced at both artisanal and industrial scale in a wide variance of economic and technological contexts. The new opportunities for production in our times with for example digital fabrication methods also open the possibility of structural architectural ceramic which is an area in my own design work I have been pursuing in the realm of 3d tiling systems.
Ultimately the area of architectural ceramics needs to be analyzed from the post war period until today to more clearly identify it's possible roles in our times. For me, I have been able see this is possible but due to the lack of research libraries and knowledge centers here in Istanbul, I have only been able to grasp at a distance global histories and trends. An opportunity to engage the research facilities and interested parties in London and the UK (for there is a strong tradition of modernist architectural ceramics there) through the auspices of a Richard Rogers Fellowship would be crucial in creating this history and theorizing future application of architectural ceramics. This is the purpose of my application to you." Gökhan Karakuş, 2018