CONFERENCE: BELARUSSIANS AND NACİ KALMUKOĞLU

10 April 2013

Speaker: İ.Halilhan Dostal

This talk will address the impact of the 1917 Revolution on the Tzar’s Russia and other communities. The social and cultural effect of the Belarussian army and the bourgeoisie—who had to leave their countries when faced with the Red Army’s force—on the land that they immigrated to, will be discussed.

There were important artists among this group who immigrated to various places around the world; their names were frequently heard before in the fields of photography, ballet, literature, music, sculpture, and painting.

Of these artists was Belarussian Nikolai Kalmikoff (1896-1951), who later became a Turkish citizen and left a deep mark on the history of painting as Naci Kalmukoğlu. The artist’s life will be discussed; his work ranged widely in topic, from portraiture to nudes, still-lifes to historical events and persons, allegorical murals to landscapes.

İ.Halilhan Dostal

Dostal was born in Istanbul in 1958. He graduated from the Economics department in Ege University and completed his graduate studies in Istanbul University’s School of Management in the “Money-Credit-Bank” division.

Dostal has worked as a gallerist, consultant, curator and art writer in the field of painting and visual arts for over 30 years. Since 1997, Dostal’s articles, academic writing and research have been published in “Yeni Binyıl Gazetesi”, “Türkiye’de Sanat”, “Sanat Çevresi”, “Genç Sanat”, “Antik Dekor”, the social lifestyle portal www.bugunbugece.com. He participated in various academic meetings such as talks, panels, seminars, conferences, and symposia at various universities. He worked as a consultant, administrator and juror in his field of specialty. He published three books, ‘Türkiye’de Sahte Resim ve Ekspertizm’ (2001) [Fake Painting and Expertism in Turkey], ‘Naci Kalmukoğlu’ (2007) ve ‘Işığı Arayan Adam, Batılılaşma Sürecinde Türk Resim Sanatı Tarihi 1700-1950’ [The Man Looking for Light, The History of Turkish Painting in the Process of Westernization] (2012). Dostal has served as a consultant to the Zeytinli Municipality since 2009. He also serves as a writer/researcher on the topics art of painting and the market and the editor for the category of “exhibitions-auctions” www.bugunbugece.com.