"ŞAKIR ECZACIBAŞI: SOME SELECTED MOMENTS". ISTANBUL, MODERN´S EXHIBITION

 November 25, 2020 – March 31, 2021

Istanbul Modern’s “Şakir Eczacıbaşı: Selected Moments” exhibition presents works by Şakir Eczacıbaşı (1929-2010), who took up photography in the 1960s. The exhibition contains more than 300 photographs, several of which are from the Istanbul Modern Photography Collection.

Defining art as “an effort to reproduce the world with a specific personal interpretation”, Şakir Eczacıbaşı not only pursued photography, he also served in various prominent roles in culture and arts, founded the Turkish Cinema Association, and for many years was the chairman of the Board of Directors of the Istanbul Foundation for Culture and Arts. One of the prominent figures of his time in Turkey’s culture and art world, Şakir Eczacıbaşı tried to convey "the relationship of his subjects with their surroundings, other people, vehicles and paths” in his photographs.

"Selected Moments" brings together impressionist photographs from the artist's early years during the 1960s, when he pursued “the stimulating and emotional effect of colors", and starting from the 1980s, photographs that question the formalism of the medium in order to project the movement, uncertainty and changes of daily life. The exhibition reveals the artist's desire – like many others in his generation – to search for a form of "universal communication".

Exhibition curator Bülent Erkmen describes the artist and the exhibition as follows:

“Şakir Eczacıbaşı approached the things he wanted to do, his pursuits and interests, life, and photography with appetite and enthusiasm. He photographed every moment and everything he looked at. Şakir Eczacıbaşı's world of photography was as rich as his voice, and to illustrate it, 50, 100, or 150 photographs aren't enough. This exhibition presents more than 300 photographs, and with this comprehensive selection, aims to convey the diversity and colorfulness of moments in Eczacıbaşı's view of life, the images that add extraordinary emotion to ordinary moments, and the versatile passion behind his unsteady, fidgeting camera.”

Curator: Bülent Erkmen

https://www.istanbulmodern.org/en/exhibitions/current-exhibitions/sakir-eczacibasi-selected-moments_2574.html