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This study aims to propose a reading of the discussions and ideas on building a
monument for Atatürk in the context and campus of the Grand National Assembly of
Turkey in a period starting in 1937 and reaching to the 1980’s political and social
climate of Turkey. The analysis of data used in this research is mostly based on records
of working of some committees of the National Assembly and Republican Senate of the
Grand National Assembly of Turkey between 1976 and 1980.Similar to the domination
of the field of state architecture of the Turkish Republican period mostly by the foreign
architects especially between the foundation dates till the midst of the twentieth
century, it was also very rare to see public sculpture owned by Turkish sculptors as well
as architects and artists. This depended mainly on the fact that the Imperial School of
Fine Arts , “Sanayii Nefise Mektebi” with a curriculum of the Painting, Sculpture,
Architecture and Calligraphy started to give education no before than 1882 and gave
only four recognized Turkish artists in 40 years (Gezer 1984: 17).
1
In the foundation
years of the Republic around 1920’s, students were sent to Europe for arts education
but since 1940’s this could not be valid for sculpture education for a number of reasons
such as the delays due to Second World War and the arrival of Belling to the academy no
before than 1937 (Gezer 1984: 15).Whereas during 1930’s there had been many
monuments by foreign artists built at the city squares with the aim of appropriation of
the new order by the Republican cadres for awakening of national consciousness.
Formal depictions of glorious past were proposed to the public at city squares. The
focus of these glory depictions was the formal representations of the grand savior
Atatürk with most generally military uniform on horseback and rarely with civil clothes
as in İstanbul, Tekirdağ, Muğla and Isparta. According to Gezer, the sculpture as a term
was coined with “Atatürk sculpture” in the urban repertoire of the public those times.
However the issue of foreign sculptors and artists already started to be criticized in the
newspapers and magazines amongst enlightened bourgeoisie.
For example Ahmet Haşim suggested that where a big monument or sculpture to
be erected, we shall leave a marble mass or a bronze cast and write under it “till the
Turkish artist is raised…” (Gezer 1984: 20). In response it is said that Kenan Yontunç,
who would later be known as the reproducer of his initial Atatürk monument at Çorum
for two other cities as Elazığ and Kayseri, would ask from Mustafa Kemal Atatürk that
public statues shall be assigned to Turkish artists who were new, underdeveloped and
in need of practice. It is believed that after that instance between Yontunç and Atatürk,
Turkish artists were incorporated more into the public monuments and sculpture.
However public sculpture was spreading from big cities to small towns and villages.
2
1
According to Gezer these four artists would be İhsan Özsoy, Behzat, Mahir Tomruk and Nijad Sirel.
2
Besides foreign artists, a number of Turkish artists produced city monuments after 1930’s. Kenan Yontuç built
Çorum ve Edirne Atatürk monuments in 1931, Rahip Aşir Acudoğlu built Menemen-Kubilay Monument in
1932, Kenan Yontunç built Silifke Atatürk Monument in 1934; Hadi Bara erected İstanbul-Harbiye Atatürk
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This also meant that the movement developed into erecting public structure for
founders of institutions or people who gave significant public service. It is stated by
many scholars that the patronage of the public statues were mainly municipalities and
city. It is thought that the biggest public sculptural work in terms of its
comprehensiveness was said to be the ornamentation of Anıt Kabir during 1952 and
1953 under the direction of Belling with many artists working on the ranges of
sculptural compositions such as two groups with three figures, 24 lions and a number of
reliefs.
Another important event for the Turkish sculpture would be the enterprise of the
Grand National Assembly Presidency Council in building a monument for Atatürk in his
centennial anniversary of birthday in 1981. Though it may seem that it was just a
commemorative event produced for the celebrations of the year, the search for a
monument for Atatürk was again in the agenda of the Turkish parliament 40 years after
the international competition for the Grand National Assembly of Turkey launched in
1937. There had been envisages of a monument in the perspective drawings in the
international and national submissions in 1937. Many of the projects depicted
monuments erected in front of the elevated entrances with high colonnades and
monumental stairs. Austrian architect Holzmeister, the winner of the competition also
envisaged statues or monuments in two different places depicted in his submissions of
1937 and 1938.After the realization of the Grand National Assembly building around
1960’s, the issue of building a monument in the site of the Assembly turned into a
search for artworks to be done in the Assembly building and Assembly site. For that
reason a committee of historians, artists, architects, parliament and senate members
assembled a number of times to discuss the character and meaning of the artworks and
a monument for Atatürk to be placed. As a result of these discussions, a two stepped
competition was decided to determine the Atatürk monument which could not be
realized though where the monument should be built was already defined by its
architect, Clemens Holzmeister in his early submissions for the parliament building.
Following the Beaux-Arts neo-classical tradition, Holzmeister developed great
halls on major and minor axes in the Grand National Assembly building. He was already
researching on a parliament house since he was commissioned for the governmental
district in Yenişehir. In his scheme for the group of governmental buildings he planned
the parliament house at the highest point of the site where it can be reached via an
outdoor alley connected with inner squares and gardens. The submitted schemes of the
parliament building involved public sculpture especially placed at the front façade in
1937 and the outer space in the front of the façade in 1938. Actually the international
competition submissions of Clemens Holzmeister, Albert Laprade, Alois Mezara all had
monument in 1937. Also Hadi Bara and Zühtü Müridoğlu’s common work of Barbaros Monument in Beşiktaş ,
İstanbul (1936) is a significant work of art.
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