May 30 – July 30, 2017
A Selection from the Istanbul Modern Collection

Istanbul Modern presents a selection of works by Fahrelnissa Zeid, a pioneer of modern art and one of the first exponents of abstract art in Turkey, in its Pop-Up exhibition area. Drawn from the museum’s extensive collection of her oeuvre, the selection focuses on her most prolific years between the 1940s, when she was first introduced to the art scene in Turkey, and the 1970s, when she moved to Amman, Jordan.

Fahrelnissa Zeid’s artistic journey, which began in Istanbul and expanded outwards through exhibitions on various continents, has gained fresh momentum in the global art world. Zeid’s paintings were recently exhibited at the Istanbul and Sharjah Biennials, in the “Post War: Art between the Pacific and the Atlantic 1945-65” exhibition at Haus der Kunst in Munich, and in the “Colori” exhibition at GAM, Torino. On June 13, a Zeid retrospective will open at the Tate Modern in London, on view through October 8, then move on to the Deutsche Bank KunstHalle in Berlin and the Sursock Museum in Beirut. Having lent eight works by Zeid to the Tate Modern’s retrospective, Istanbul Modern is pleased to support this new surge in international interest by presenting a selection of her many works in its collection. The exhibition features the abstract geometric compositions in which Zeid excelled as well as her expressionist paintings, which combine references to Byzantine, Islamic, and Western art with her unique color palette.