'Neither Bowing From You Nor Standing From Me' exhibition meets art lovers

The exhibition titled 'Neither Bowing From You Nor Standing From Me', featuring works by calligrapher and bookbinder Prof. Emin Barın, will be open to art lovers at Artİstanbul Feshane until April 29.

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'Neither Bowing From You Nor Standing From Me' exhibition meets art lovers

Organized by IMM Culture and IMM Heritage, with the contribution of Zafer Yıldırım and prepared with a selection from the Z. Yıldırım Family Collection and the Barın Han family archive, the 'Neither Bowing From You Nor Standing From Me' exhibition presents works produced by Emin Barın through his unique approach that transcends tradition and meets modernity.

Curated by Ali Kayaalp, the exhibition consists of approximately 230 works that reflect Barın's mastery in Turkish graphic arts, as well as his knowledge of calligraphy and bookbinding restoration.

WHO IS EMIN BARIN?

Emin Barın was born in 1913 in Bolu into a family belonging to the scholarly class. He attended primary and secondary school in Bolu, and between 1928 and 1932, he studied at the Higher Teachers' School in Istanbul; he also worked as a teacher for a short time. Between 1934 and 1936, he studied at the Painting and Crafts Department of the Gazi Education Institute in Ankara and won the European scholarship exam opened by the Ministry of National Education's Publications Directorate.

Before going to Europe, he briefly took calligraphy lessons from Kamil Akdik and bookbinding lessons from Necmeddin Okyay at the State Academy of Fine Arts, while also working at the Fine Arts Printing House affiliated with the Ministry of National Education. In 1937, he went to Germany, where he studied bookbinding and calligraphy, first in Weimar and then in Leipzig. He remained in Turkey between 1939 and 1941. He could not return to Germany due to the outbreak of World War II.

He completed his unfinished education in Leipzig between 1941 and 1943. After returning to Turkey, he opened a major calligraphy and bookbinding exhibition at the Academy of Fine Arts, which attracted significant attention, and was immediately appointed as a faculty member to the Decorative Arts Department of the Academy.

In 1949, he founded the Barın Bookbinding and Calligraphy Workshop in Cağaloğlu; in 1955, he opened the Calligraphy and Bookbinding Workshop under the Decorative Arts Department of the Academy.

Quickly becoming one of Turkey's most respected names in the field of Latin-script calligraphy, Barın began writing the inscriptions for many state monument and epitaph projects starting in the mid-1940s. These range from the ten inscriptions he prepared for the route stretching from Eyüp Sultan to the Galata Tower for the 500th anniversary of the Conquest of Istanbul, to various inscriptions he wrote for Anıtkabir, the final resting place of Atatürk. Just as in the field of calligraphy, he was also one of the most competent names of his era in bookbinding.

Barın, who received many awards for the books he bound, saw his achievements extend from preparing the bindings of precious gift books for foreign state officials to restoring books damaged in the flood at the Calouste Gulbenkian Museum in Lisbon.

Starting in the 1960s, Barın's work in the field of calligraphy led him to embark on unprecedented formal experiments in the art of calligraphy. With his work from this period, Barın also became a pioneer of a new form that brought calligraphy closer to abstract painting.

Continuing his work until his passing in 1987, Barın has secured a unique place in Turkey's visual history, not only as a master bookbinder who mastered the traditional art of bookbinding but also as an artist who practiced the art of writing in both Latin and Arabic scripts in an extremely original manner.

News Source: 12punto