Yunus Emre InstituteIllustrating London with Ottoman Miniature Painting Technique
By Filiz Adıgüzel Toprak
This workshop will give participants a thorough understanding of the Ottoman style of making cityscapes and illustrating architecture which was invented by the famous Ottoman painter Matrakçı Nasuh in 16th century. We will briefly look at the amazing illustrations of various Ottoman cities painted by Matrakçı Nasuh and explore the way how he transformed three-dimensional architectural structures into two-dimensional miniature paintings. Participants will choose from a variety of ready London miniature drawings (prepared by the tutor) and produce their own painted versions. Participants will follow a step by step process: Tracing the drawing on paper; colour filling; applying liquid gold; burnishing the gold painted areas with mühre (a special stone); using a squirrel hair brush for fine detailing. Finally participants will create their own London miniature paintings.
Dr Adıgüzel Toprak received her BA from the Department of Traditional Turkish Arts, Major of Manuscript Illumination, Faculty of Fine Arts of Dokuz Eylül University in 1997 and her MA degree with honors from the same faculty by conducting a research on illuminated Islamic manuscripts held by the Victoria & Albert Museum in 2000. In 2004, she obtain a Diploma in Asian Arts from the Asia Department at the British Museum in affiliation with Royal Holloway College. In 2007, she received her PhD entitled “Signs of Sultanate in the Miniature Paintings of Arifi’s Suleymanname” (TSM H.1517) from the Institute of Fine Arts. She participated at the “Persian and Indian Miniature Painting Workshop” at The Prince’s School of Traditional Arts held in February 2010 and has presented numerous academic papers on Ottoman Miniature Paintings in and outside Turkey as well as opened a number of solo miniature painting exhibitions. Currently, she is working on the application techniques of architectural elements in Ottoman miniatures of the 16th century period by aiming of producing unique miniature paintings of cities, in and outside Turkey. Dr Adıgüzel Toprak is Associate Professor at Dokuz Eylül University, Fine Arts Faculty, Department of Traditional Arts in Izmir, Turkey, and she is the Head of the Art of Illumination and Miniature Painting Branch at the same department.