History of the ICTA
1959 Ankara - 1964 Venice - 1967 Cambridge, United
Kingdom - 1971 Aix-en-Provence - 1975 Budapest - 1979 Munich -
1983 Warsaw - 1987 Cairo - 1991 Istanbul - 1995 Geneva - 1999
Utrecht - 2003 Amman - 2007 Budapest
Established at the initiative of the late Professor Suut Kemal Yetkin of Ankara University, the International Congress of Turkish Art held its first meeting in 1959, in the Turkish capital. It was attended by researchers from eight countries. In the time that has elapsed since then, the Congress, assembling in a different location every four years, has exhibited not only continuity, but also signs of change. Besides a noticeable increase in the number of participants and subsequently the placing of an upper limit on the number of papers to be delivered, there has also been a substantial broadening with regard to periods and subject-areas addressed. With 178 papers, the 9th ICTA, held in Istanbul in 1991, counts as the largest Congress to date. During the closing meeting of the 9th ICTA, the organisers summed up the Congress's work over the previous 32 years, and made a series of decisions concerning its future. One result of this was an acknowledgement that the number of topics investigated had increased significantly. For example, the conservation of Turkish art objects, issues of art theory, and Turkish art before the Islamic era all received mention as new areas of inquiry. It was at this time that the decision was made to organise future meetings thematically, and also to widen the period for research to include the Republican Period in Turkey. This change manifested itself very conspicuously in the different subject-areas. For instance, while there was only one paper on 19th-century Turkish architecture at the 1975 gathering, there were 19 on this subject when the Congress met in Utrecht in 1999.
When the Congress assembled in Geneva in 1995, fewer papers were given than in Istanbul, and in two parallel sections rather than four. The broadening of the time period for study was indicated by the high number of papers (21) that discussed the 19th and 20th centuries. These contributions discussed architecture and painting first and foremost. Especially worthy of note was the attention devoted to Seljuk art: of the 86 papers given at Geneva, 14 were addressed to this.
Nineteen ninety-nine was the 700th anniversary of the foundation of the Ottoman Empire. This determined the theme of the Congress assembling that year in Utrecht. There, only papers dealing with the Ottoman and post-Ottoman periods could be given, discussing the art of those territories that were once part of the Empire. The great interest in Ottoman art among researchers was shown by the fact that 100 papers were delivered at this gathering. Rising to the challenge of the age, the papers given at the 9th ICTA were placed on the Internet, as the 1998 volume of the Electronic Journal of Oriental Studies.
When we look at the past meetings of the Congress, one sign of the continuity mentioned above is that the proportion of papers on architecture has remained stable at around 50 per cent, and another that there has been ongoing interest on the part of researchers in miniature painting and book art. Papers devoted to other branches of Turkish art (ceramics, textiles, metalwork, wood carving) have featured in varying proportions over the years. However, continuity has revealed itself in negative ways also, e.g. in the relative neglect of metalwork and wood carving.
The 2007 gathering will be the first time that the Congress has
returned to the scene of one of its earlier meetings, since the
5th ICTA took place at the Hungarian National Museum in 1975.
This last occasion witnessed the giving of 83 papers, 37 of which
discussed Turkish art in the 16th and 17th centuries. The 1975
event was organised by the late Dr. Géza Fehér, a leading researcher
of Ottoman-Turkish art in Hungary. Now, more than three decades
later, the 13th ICTA is setting as its principal goals the investigation
of the mutual influences of Turkish and European art on one another
and the calling of attention to Turkish-related art collections
in European museums.