Revisiting Mihri Hanım (1885-1954): A Woman Painter in the late Ottoman Empire

A BIAA Online Lecture by Gizem Tongo (British Institute at Ankara) and Discussant: Ahmet Ersoy (Boğaziçi University). Perhaps no painter of the late Ottoman Empire left more of a mark on women’s art and art education than Mihri Hanım (1885-1954). Born in Istanbul in 1885, Mihri was one of the most technically accomplished portraitists of her time, producing vivid and richly coloured portraits of individuals both within and beyond her elite circle that suggest her often female sitters’ agency. Having been instrumental in the foundation of the Academy of Fine Arts in Istanbul (1914), she also served as its first woman director and a painting instructor during the First World War and the Armistice Period. This talk, drawing on contemporary material from the period (art reviews, interviews, archival documents, and artworks), focuses on her artistic production and active role in the Istanbul art world during the final decade of the Ottoman Empire and explores the reasons—political or otherwise—behind the previous relative neglect of her work in art-historical discourse and museum practice and her recent reinstatement and high profile in Turkish cultural memory. Find out more on our website: https://biaa.ac.uk/event/online-lecture-revisiting-mihri-hanim-1885-1954-a-woman-painter-in-the-late-ottoman-empire

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