D ​grubu'nu​ ​avangard​ ​kavramı​ ​ve​ ​modernist sanat​ ​akımları​ ​üzerinden​ ​Türkiye'nin​ ​ulus​ ​inşası bağlamında​ ​yeniden​ ​düşünmek​ ​(1933-1951​)

This present study examines the unique position of Group D, from its founding in 1933 until its dissolution in 1951, within the revolutionary environment of the early Republican period in connection to the avant-garde and the twentieth century modernist art movements that were influential in Turkish context. The early years of the Turkish Republic, distinguished by the single-party regime of the Republican People's Party (RPP), revealed a particular milieu where the cultural politics of the regime and its support for the arts had far reaching consequences on the modernist premise of Group D within the nation-building project of Turkey. This thesis firstly investigates the voyage of the avant-garde to understand its anarchist and revolutionary, yet alternating nature in an attempt to set the ground for the avant-garde movements under analysis. Then, the thesis explores the 'revolutionary consciousness' of the Republican period and the artistic milieu in which Group D emerged to raise questions of new art, national art, and state-supported exhibitions and events. Finally, the last chapter examines the artistry of Group D against the influential modernist art movements in the Republican period with a focus on Cubism to reveal the group's unique intellectual stance and artistic production. Hence, the phases which Group D went through from the early 1930s until the late 1940s are investigated to reveal how the once rebellious disposition of the so-called avant-garde Group D was altered over time due to its enhanced connection to the Academy of Fine Arts and the cultural politics of the RPP under the rising nationalist agenda of the period.