Ebru: Turkish Marbling

[Colwyn]

I think I might retire my avatar and create a new one. Before I do that I thought I might say something about the present one.

 
It is an example of the traditional art of ebru or Turkish marbling. For this specially prepared pigments are floated on top of a tray of water (with various additives) and then worked into ornate patterns with a stylus. Then a sheet of paper is floated on the painted water and, in just a few seconds, the paper absorbs the pigment and the design is fixed permanently. If you have a chance to see this being done I recommend it as fascinating. Typically the designs involve either wave or globular formations. You may well have seen these artworks in old, leather-bound books in second bookshops or school libraries. You may have some examples yourself. They used to be popular for book endpapers – an artwork twice the size of a page with half being glued to the inside of the cover and the other half being a “free” first or last page. However, they can also be artworks in their own right to hang on your wall. Mine is one of these latter type.


MARBLING ARTWORK


 
DETAIL OF THE DESIGN


 
I bought the artwork from the artist at an exhibition of her marbling work when I was in Turkey two years ago. She had recently begun to adopt the art of Arabic calligraphy which had been a key feature of Ottoman ebru and this was the only example that was up for sale. The artist, via a translator, told me that inscription meant “It will end”. I thought this a rather curious title but it reminded me of a very ancient proverb which I confirmed when I got back to the UK. It has a story attached to it.


Once upon a time, a King of Persia instructed his court philosopher/sage to create a saying that would be equally appropriate in moments of the highest elation, joy and triumph and also in the moments of deepest despair, misery and defeat. When the wise man returned he had such a proverb. It was “And this, too, shall pass”. And that is what my marbling says.

[Colwyn]

P.S. The artist's name is Arzu Taşkıran.

[Colwyn]

I know that some folk think that back-to-back posting is "Not good form, old boy ... or old girl". Three in a row is probably a heinous, if virtual, offence. But what happened this lunchtime compels me commit it. It was outrageously coincidental.


If I hadn't been sheltering from the heavy Turkish rain yesterday, hoping it would finish to allow us a dry outing for the evening meal, I wouldn't have posted about Turkish marbling and wouldn't have been reminded it is called "ebru". If it hadn't occurred to me that I had left out the name of the artists, and so I looked it up this morning, I wouldn't have seen the photograph of the artist. And if I hadn't done those to things what happened lunchtime wouldn't have happened.


I went to a bar that I often use at lunchtime. The usual barman-manager wasn't there but a friend of his got up from her seat in front of the bar and came to serve me. I thought she was vaguely familiar and asked her if she was an artist. She didn't speak English and had no idea what I was talking about. She may have been worried by my inquisition - Strange foreign man makes advances towards Turkish woman! I floundered and then dredged up "Ebru?", "Evet!" "Taşkıran?", "Evet!!!". She didn't speak English. Her friends didn't speak English. No-one in the bar spoke English apart from me. Therefore it took a little while, with the help of some tablet technology, for us to get to the point of understanding that I had bought a work of Ebru from her two years ago. Then, via IT, the three of us - me, she and her partner - found our way to CBF, this thread, and showed her which ebru work it was. Joy and delight, much hand waving all round, other chums called in to see, smiles everywhere.

This is last day of our Turkish holiday and it was nice event to mark it.