The Travelers
(detail) |
After
a sleepless night, I thought that I might try to find out precisely
why I hadn't been accepted at the fine arts institute. What
did I have to lose? Professor Nesat
Gunal, a member of the jury,
agreed to speak with me a week later. He remembered "The
Travelers" and invited me to his home in the chic Etiler
district of Istanbul. After hours of discussion,
I succeeded in convincing him that the painting was the fruit
of my thoughts and artistic sensitivity not the result of coincidence,
a lucky shot which he thought was probably the case considering
my age. He was won over, but
the jury's decision was irreversible! He, however,
offered to allow me to participate in his studio courses with
live models and permitted access to the academy library which
stopped short of allowing me to take books home. He did
n't want the responsibility of acting as guarantor |
|
|
Lodgings, the academy
cafeteria and scholarships remained out of reach |
I had to leave
my brother's house on foot at six in the morning in order to
arrive on time for classes at the academy at nine-thirty. I
had to cross the whole city to get to FINDIKLI. Every time
I passed the main entrance of the academy, I felt like crying.
The injustice of denying me entry as a fully recognized student
made me feel poor in my soul. In time, this long wald became
a part of my studies. On the way to school, I filled my notebooks
with sketches and ideas and at the academy, I worked from the
models in the studio and in the library I studied Anatomy,
perspective and the big masters. I also
became interested in the Vienna school of "fantastic
realism". I carefully studied Hausner, Fuchs, Lemden,
Brauer and Hutter. The following year, my status still unchanged,
I began the sculpture studio. My interest in anatomy earned
me the title "Mr. Anatomy" with the librarians
who saw me plowing through every available volume on the subject.
The advantage of my situation was, notably, that I had no reason
to fear bad grades and therefore could do just about whatever
I liked; an impossibility for the regular students of the academy,
who paid dearly, from this point of view, for all the advantages
they enjoyed in terms of comfortable housing and regular meals.
My defeat condemned me to the path of solitude and self-reliance
and things were better this way in the end. |
|
|