H ow about a
Sunday breakfast
a t your Cafe?
Arjantin Caddesi Budak Sok. No. I Tel: 468 4613
Thursday, August 28, 1997
Füreya Koral relaxing at home.
Fureya
Koral was a
member of a
gifted and
artistic
family and
was a fine
example of
the Turkish
modern
woman
Koral:
'There [in
a Swiss
workshop]
I took some
clay in my
hands. What
familiarity
there was.
I have been
kneading
clay now for
some 40
years.
I am so
attached
to it...
The
influence
of Anatolia
on KoraTs
ceramic
works shows
in the motifs
and the
deep and
vivid colors
she used
More Domestic News, pages A3, A4 & A5
(Photo: Ara Güler)
The ceramiclst Füreya Koral with some of her works.
Istanbul - Turkish Daily News
pasha’s granddaughter, a mem­
ber of a family full of distin­
guished writers and artists, a
person bom with a silver spoon
in her mouth, as it were.
Pedigree, money and a good
education.
Füreya Koral was bom on Büyükada on June
2, 1910. Her grandfather on her mother’s side
was Şakir Paşa, whose brother was the Grand
Vezir Cevat Paşa. Both were military men and
government officials and also interested in art
and historical subjects. The two entered a photo­
graphic exhibition in Paris where they won a
prize and both wrote books.
And it was from the books in Şakir Paşa’s
library that Füreya Koral first learned to read.
When she was five, she began taking violin
lessons and later at the age of nine she played for
Atatürk, who it seems was a fairly frequent visi­
tor.
Her father, Emin Koral, was a classmate of
Mustafa Kemal Atatürk and a military officer,
one of those who supported the latter’s efforts to
establish the Turkish Republic. His family, how­
ever, had thought he was destined for a religious
career since he memorized the Kuran. But the
lure of the military proved stronger.
Her mother, Hakiye Koral, served as a volun­
teer nurse in a military hospital during World
War I. After the war, she became one of the first
women members of the Istanbul municipal
Assembly.
Füreya Koral was also the niece of the famed
Turkish writer Cevat Şakir who wrote under the
name of Halicamassis Balikcisi, and the niece of
Fahrelnissa Zeid, a painter and one of the pio­
neers of contemporary Turkish art. Zeid (19011991) had many exhibitions all over the world
and especially in Paris, London and Istanbul. As
an artist she seems to have preferred to work in
oil on canvas in different styles. Yet another aunt
was the block print artist Aliye Berger. In short
there were many examples of artists in her fami­
ly especially amongst the women.
Füreya Koral’s educational qualifications
were among the best which a woman could
aspire to in the Ottoman Empire of the time. Her
elementary education was from private tutors but
later she went to Notre Dame de Sion Lycee
from which she graduated. She then attended
courses at the Darülfünun (today the University
of Istanbul) Literature Faculty’s Philosophy
Department.
She married and lived in Bursa for a time. In
1935 she founded herself in Ankara and
becausergiz and bass Ayhan Baran. The “Yunus
Emre Oratorio” premiered in Ankara in 1946 and
received world acclaim the following year when
Saygun brought it to Paris. In 1958 an English
version was performed in the Hall of the United
Nations in New York.
The poetry of Yunus Emre describes life and
death, God and destiny, fate, friendship and the
struggle against injustice. Saygun was interested
in the philosophy of Emre and created a unique
work of art by setting the poet’s work to music
of his own composition which conveys the mys­
ticism and spiritual evolution of the poet.
“See what this love has done to me” writes
Emre, “Now like the wind I sigh and blow, Now
A
The mural at Ziraat Bank. Fureya Koral. Ceramic.
80 square meters. 1966.
like the road to dust I go, Now like the raging
torrent flow, See what this love has done to me.”
After the Sivrihisar performance, the “Yunus
Emre Oratorio” will be performed again on
August 26th in the Bilkent Concert Hall in
Ankara.
Wednesday August 27 BASSO will be per­
forming works by Mozart in Bolu and on
Wednesday September 1 Paganini and
Beethoven in the antique theatre of Ephesus.
They will then do two performances in Bodrum
Castle, followed by another in the ampitheatre at
Marmaris and again at Altmoluk. On September
13 they will be at the Kiiltiir Park in Bursa and
on the 20th in Sinop.
The form al side of K o ral’s life
Fureya Koral went to Paris in 1949 as did so
many artists from all over the world after the
Second World War. The French capital still held
allure for artists and musicians although not
nearly as much as it had after the First World
War. She studied with the famous French ceramicist Serre and within two years, she staged her
first exhibition. Her first prize, a silver medal,
was awarded to her by the 1955 International
Ceramic Competition Exhibition in Cannes. She
was already in her forties, quite late to start what
was to be her lifelong profession. But as often
happens maturity tips the scales in a person’s
favor.
Since she was able to achieve so much was
astonishing as there was not even a kiln in which
to fire her work in Istanbul in the early 50’s. She
built her own in 1954.
Her next prize was the gold medal in the 1962
International Ceramic Competition in Prague.
The following year she received an award from
the Smithsonian Institute in Washington, D.C. In
'W alking People' Fureya K oral. 37.5cm .
Terracotta. 1990.
1967 she won a silver medal in the International
Ceramic Competition in Istanbul, where it seems
that she spent most of her time. In 1968, there
was the Vallauris-Biennale Honorary Certificate;
in 1981, the Cultural Ministry’s Award for
Success; and five years later the Sedat Simavi
Foundation Visual Arts Award.
Fureya K o ral’s c era m ic w orks
Koral was active during most of her later life,
concentrating on statues and objects, and for the
first time in Turkey she produced large wall pan­
els creating them from mini panels. The artist
drew on Anatolia for much of her inspiration.
Examples of her works are reproduced beautiful­
ly in a book brought out by Ege Ceramic in
1992, “Füreya, Ateş ve Sir” by Ferit Edgu.
Among some of her best known works is “Owls”
which she created in 1970. The birds are perched
on a log, looking off in various directions and
remind one of the famous owls of the goddess
Athena, wise but inscrutable.
Anatolia gave birth to many different civiliza­
tions and cultures and was also the prey of many
a conqueror. These influences show in Koral’s
series of terracotta pieces “Walking People,”
created in 1990. Looking at them, the statuettes
found in archaeological digs of prehistoric sites
seem the most appropriate comparison. The fig­
ures which are 37.5 cm are clearly female or
amoiphous. Their legs are barely articulated
despite the title “Walking People.” Mouths are
mere gashes, bodies bent as if in thought or
dejection or standing straight. They would bring
Picasso to mind if there weren’t such a clearer
connection with early Anatolia.
The wall panels are semi-abstract in concept.
For example, the one at the Harbiye Ziraat Bank
which Koral created in 1966 represents the sea
and the animals and plants which live in it. The
dolphins gambole the waves and plants and
schools of smaller fish.
The panel at the Divan Pastry Shop from 1968
brings to life birds flying amid trees. The colors
are blacks and greys on grey but all the forms
swirl with great liveliness in the back above
where the cakes and cookies are sold. Other
examples of her work can be seen at Başak
Sigorta and the Manifaturacılar Çarşısı.
One could compare her work with other
ceramicists today. Jale Yilmabasar comes to
mind first of all, although she is also known for
her paintings. She has followed in quite similar
steps and seems to have been greatly influenced
by Koral and her work. You see the same bird
themes, a similar use of motifs from Anatolia,
deep, bright colors.
Ceramicist Alev Ebuzziya Seibye who also
comes from an aristocratic Turkish family stud­
ied in Istanbul and then more importantly in
Copenhagen before moving to Paris. Her work
however shows little influence of Anatolia
although the bold use of colors is reminiscent of
her Turkish heritage. She has emphasized pure
lines for her world-renown bowls. Koral is not
particularly known for making bowls and chose
a different route to follow but she also used the
rich colors of Anatolia in her work.
Koral, who died on Tuesday, was held in high
regard by her fellow artists. Photographer Ara
Güler who knew her and had opportunities to
take her picture described her to the TDN as “an
example of the modern Turkish woman. I deeply
respected her.”
Ceramicist Jale Ayti Anarat told the TDN,
“She was the first Turkish artist to have emotion­
al ties with ceramics.
It is impossible to not remember the ceramic
pieces which she made with such deep emotional
feeling. Her artistic work will live with us and
we will always remember her with love.” Füreya
Koral and her work can surely find no better epi­
taph.
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