The Characters of Yusuf Franko : An Ottoman Bureaucrat’s Caricatures
du 26 janvier au 1er juin 2017
ANAMED
Koç University Research Center for Anatolian Civilizations
İstiklal Caddesi No: 181 Merkez Han 34433 Beyoğlu P.O.B. 260 İstanbul, Turkey
anamed_info@ku.edu.tr
L’album de caricatures de Yusuf Franko Kusa Bey, un bureaucrate ottoman de la fin du 19e siècle au ministère des affaires étrangères, gouverneur général, homme du monde mais aussi fin caricaturiste, est exposée pour la première fois.
“The Characters of Yusuf Franko: An Ottoman Bureaucrat’s Caricatures” displays for the first time the caricatures that Yusuf Franko compiled in an album between 1884–1896, that interact with the European caricature tradition. Through the exhibited caricatures, the visitors meet satirically charged portraits of wealthy capitalists, members of high society, Ottoman soldiers, Levantines, artists and diplomats of the late 19th century. The caricatures offer the spectators the opportunity to observe the colorful social networks, especially those of the Beyoğlu/Pera quarter, which Yusuf Franko himself belonged to, and the global locales of Istanbul. By following the characters in their caricatures and the places they belong, the exhibition emphasizes how the Galata–Beyoğlu axis became a financial and diplomatic center as well as a frequent destination of international culture and arts. The exhibition, which mainly tries to evaluate the works of Yusuf Franko from the perspective of space and social networks, also touches on the significant places of the period such as the Naum Theater and it also serves as a reminder of those locales, which no longer exist and hence which have not found their way onto the album.
