Matt Magazine #7: Rudolf Belling; BAS

Tuesday October 19th, 18:30 – 20:30

BAS invites you to the Istanbul launch of Matt Magazine #7–an artist zine by Guersoy Dogtas–dedicated to Rudolf Belling.

The sculptor Rudolf Belling, who created Triad at the beginning of the twentiethcentury, was one of the most avant-garde artists of his time. Triad itself is and was recognized as the most iconic abstract-expressionist sculpture. Surprisingly, Belling suddenly withdrew from his abstract technique back to the field of figurative sculpture for many decades. This stylistic ambivalence found its extreme echo in 1937 during two big antipodal propaganda-shows: Entartete Kunst (Degenerate Art) and Große Deutsche Kunstausstellung (Great German Art Exhibition). While Belling‘s sculpture Triad was defamed at the exhibition Entartete Kunst his sculpture of the boxer Max Schmelling was celebrated at Großen Deutschen Kunstausstellung as an official expression of the Nazi-Culture. Both exhibitions took place in Munich at the same time and just some hundred meters away from each other.

In 1936, Belling left for Istanbul where he remained in exile for 30years. There he was appointed to develop the educational program for the Sculpture Department at the Academy of Fine Arts. This job could be described as extremely influential and challenging, as the young, secular Republic of Turkey had just disposed of the Sultanate that had lasted for many centuries. The new governmental elite wanted to invent the genre of sculpture as an official propaganda tool representing political power.

The upcoming issue of Matt Magazine–an artist zine by Gürsoy Dogtaş–is dedicated to Rudolf Belling. Contributing artists are: Shannon Ebner, Haris Epaminonda, Sitki Kosemen, Ebru Ozsecen, Judith Raum, Ayla Turan, Miriam Steinhauser.