Gönül Sen-Menzel: The Colors of Anatolia – Exhibition Report in Türkiye Postası

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The 20th exhibition by Gönül Şen, who has been painting in the Federal Republic of Germany since 1981, could be seen in Bergkamen near Dortmund until December 22. The exhibition, whose main theme was “Anatolian Landscapes”, stood out for its luminous colors, with which the artist tries to capture the people of Anatolia in carpets and kilims, and which are reflected in her pictures.

Gönül Şen, born in Diyarbakır in 1949, studied painting in Istanbul and also worked as an art teacher in Turkey from 1972 to 1981. During that time she had the opportunity to study children’s drawings more closely. While her pupils won various prizes at painting competitions at home and abroad, Gönül Şen found her own painting style by combining the children’s world of color with the colors of Anatolia into a synthesis.

Şen’s latest exhibition was well received as a fine, independent example of combining luminous colors with Anatolian landscapes. The fact that the artist does not content herself with merely “local interpretations” and avoids populism also contributed significantly to the success of the exhibition.

Caption: One of the pictures from Gönül Şen’s exhibition

On the same page: “Migrant Art or Migrants in Art?”

… An İsmail Çoban, an Aydın Karahasan, a Gönül Şen are successful to the extent that they manage, in their art, to combine the national and the universal into a synthesis. …

The report appeared in the weekly newspaper Türkiye Postası on January 11, 1985, p. 11 (“Sanat/Kültür” section). The second image shows the whole page with the essay “Göçmen sanatı mı, sanatta göçmenler mi?”, from which the passage about Gönül Şen is quoted. Translated from Turkish for senmenzel.com.