The exhibition opened to visitors at the Rahmi M. Koç Museum includes oil paintings of 26 sea vessels masterfully painted by Soyöz, from the Black Sea, the world’s first public relations ferry, to Gülcemal, the first ferry to the USA with the Turkish Flag.
Rahmi M. Koç Museum, Turkey’s first and only industrial museum, hosts the new exhibition titled “Blue Where the Black Ends” by Haslet Soyöz, a master cartoonist and painter who has nearly half a century in her artistic career. The exhibition opened to visitors on October 26; There are 26 oil paintings in which Soyöz masterfully reflects the subtleties of painting on canvas, from cruise ships to traditional fishing boats, from modern transatlantics to cargo ships.
Soyöz sheds light on maritime history by bringing together ships that served in Turkish territorial waters after being built in major European shipyards such as England, Netherlands, France, Germany and Norway. The exhibition also includes an oil painting of the operating Liman 2 tugboat, which can be seen in the Rahmi M. Koç Museum.
Black Sea, Yalova, Gemlik, Gülcemal…
Regarding the exhibition, which includes the sea vessels he painted between 2020 and 2022, Soyöz said, “In addition to my identity as a cartoonist, I have been painting for about 25 years. I like to depict the sea mostly in my paintings because I have been very interested in the sea since my childhood. 20 years have passed since my first exhibition at the Rahmi M. Koç Museum. As with my previous exhibitions, I went through a months-long research process for my sixth exhibition titled ‘The Blue Where the Land Ends’, which met with the museum’s valued visitors. “I invite all art lovers to discover blue where land ends,” he said.
Some of the paintings in the exhibition, which can be seen until December, are as follows:
Black Sea: The world’s first public relations ferry, the Black Sea, set sail in June 1926 by the order of Ataturk himself. During his journey that lasted 86 days, he visited St. S/S Karadeniz went to St. Petersburg and visited 12 ports in 16 European countries. Painted in a white color that was not used in its period, the Black Sea carried souvenir objects such as Anatolian tobacco products, Kütahya tile works, Hacı Bekir Turkish delight and candies, amber rosaries, mouthpieces, various jewelry, as well as jewelery arts, hand-wovens, Turkish carpets and fabrics and antique items.
Black Sea
The world’s first public relations ferry, the Black Sea, set sail in June 1926 by the order of Ataturk himself. During his journey that lasted 86 days, he visited St. S/S Karadeniz went to St. Petersburg and visited 12 ports in 16 European countries. Painted in a white color that was not used in its period, the Black Sea carried souvenir objects such as Anatolian tobacco products, Kütahya tile works, Hacı Bekir Turkish delight and candies, amber rosaries, mouthpieces, various jewelry, as well as jewelery arts, hand-wovens, Turkish carpets and fabrics and antique items.
Number 15
The tugboat, which was built as a sheet metal boat in the Netherlands in 1929, was 12 meters long. Number 15, used to dock and guide ships in Turkish territorial waters, served for many years like other tugboats.
Ulev
Suvat and Ülev, which were ordered to Germany by Atatürk to provide sea transportation to Yalova, served Istanbul for many years. Ships built in 1938 Kadıköy He also worked on the and Adalar line. The ships, which retained their city ferry characteristics with a capacity of 1603 people, were among the last examples of hatchet-bass ships.
Gulcemal
The first name of the floating palace built in Ireland in 1874 was Germanic. When she was purchased by the Ottoman Naval Society in 1910 and arrived off the coast of Dolmabahçe, she was named after Sultan Mehmed Reşad’s mother, Gülcemal Hatun, who died when she was a child. Sometimes he hosted Kuva-yi Milliye heroes and sometimes German soldiers. Transatlantic Gülcemal became the first ferry to sail to the USA on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean with the Turkish Flag in 1920. The photo of Atatürk with pillows embroidered with the symbol of the Maritime Routes, the double anchor, was taken on June 5, 1926, in Gülcemal.
Gemlik
It was one of the most beautiful ships of its time when it came to our seas after being built in the Netherlands in 1952. In the Turkish seas, the serviceman had a double propeller (propeller) connected to the diesel engine of this ship. M/V Gemlik, which was in our seas with its white color until 1988, was scrapped as a result of a fire that broke out while it was under maintenance at the İstinye Shipyard.
Pony
Breslau (MIDİLLİ), one of the two ships that brought the Ottoman Empire into the First World War, was laid down for the Imperial German Navy in 1910. While serving in the Mediterranean with the heavy cruiser Goeben (YAVUZ), they escaped from British warships and took refuge in the Ottoman Empire. The light battle cruiser Midilli, with a length of 138 meters, sank after hitting a mine off the coast of Imroz on January 20, 1918, at the very beginning of the World War.
