Figure and space relationship in the westernization process of Turkish painting

This study examines how the figure and space relationship was approached in Turkish Painting in the period between the last quarter of the 19th century of Ottoman Empire that marked the Westernization process and the 1950s of Turkish Republic that represents the start of a new era in a theoretical framework. This research only focuses on the painters and artwork in Turkish Painting that tackled the figure and space relationship. The study shows how changes followed by modernism and contemporary thought influenced this relationship in the art of painting. Foreign artists invited to palaces by Ottoman Sultans, minorities and soldier painters who went to Europe made a significant contribution to this change. Turkish art of painting evolved along with the process of Westernization and art movements in Europe. It can be said that this is a rapid and uninternalized development since processes like Renaissance and Baroque was not experienced in Turkish art. Despite the figure and model problem, the late construction of art academies and incompetent or foreign scholars, a progress was seen on the transformation from miniature to general rules of western paintings. Besides this progress, a more realistic expression of space and objects started to appear in Turkish painting. The appearance of humans and objects in an expressive or abstract set up, followed by the understanding of a photographic reality of people and objects along with the new synthesis of impressionism and romanticism was considered as an important development in the art of painting. Keywords: Turkish Painting, Space in Painting, Figure in Painting, Turkish Painting, Figure and Space Relationship.