HIKMET ONAT . 1882-1997
KARIYE MOSQUE
1947
Oil on canvas, 50 x 65 cm
Attractive blues combined here and there with shades of green, brown and yellow... A dynamic colour harmony created by broad brush-stokes... And from this exuberance of light and colour there suddenly emerges Kariye Cami and the small buildings surrounding it... Is it the colours that define the subject or the subject that lends visual significance to the colours? The rendering of a scene with such senstivity could only be achieved by according the same value and the same importance to both colour and motif. The unique quality of this painting, dated 1947, arises from the sense of upward motion stressing the sacred character of the mosque and the use of contrasting colours in a manner resembling the ascension of choral music The distinguishing feature of Hikmet Onat's work is the way in which sensibility is paralleled by an interpretative significance achieved through the distribution of light and colour. Onat's paintings are marked first and foremost by the brilliance and strength of the light. Then the relatively lucid and vivid colour... Harmony is created by the dynamic and oblique strokes of the brush. The resulting picture is a scene rendered in deep perspective. Sometimes it is an ancient monument that offers a glimpse into the depths of the past. Sometimes it is a magnificent strip of shore seen from the top of a hill in all its loveliness, or a vista of unparalled beauty suddenly emerging from among the trees... All these beauties could be found only in Istanbul, and all reflect the soul of the city.

Scenes of Istanbul in which every different district arouses completely different feelings and inspires our imagination with new and different aspects of life were an inexhaustible source of inspiration for Hikmet Onat. Those were the years in which the winds of the Istanbul tempest were blowing strongly in all the various branches of art. Novels revealed Istanbul in all its beauty and vitality, whilst poems versified Istanbul with love and affection. The poems of Yahya Kemal Beyatli, with their passionate love and affection for Istanbul, which were at that time appearing in periodicals such as Yeni Mecmua, Tavus and Istanbul, occupied a very special place in the literature of the time and aroused very great admiration. At the same time, artists like Halil Pasha, Ibrahim Çalli and Hikmet Onat were depicting the unique beauties of Istanbul, each day from a different hill, with the same cultural background, the same world view and the same aesthetic approach, but in quite different styles.


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