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Issue 59, June 2019

Behind Closed Doors

£12.00 / $15.27 / €14.04
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From the oldest temple on earth to the madly modern hats of Merve Bayındır, Cornucopia 59 time-travels in style. We take you from late-Roman Rough Cilicia to the Eastern Black Sea, where falconry flourishes; discover the secrets of the Black Eunuchs’ quarters in Topkapı Palace, and revel in the glorious swansong of Iznik art in deepest Yorkshire.

Along the way, we meet people from all walks of life. The pianist İdil Biret, a child prodigy in the 60s and still formidable at 71, talks to Christian Tyler. David Barchard pays tribute to a pioneering balloonist, the late Kaili Kidner. Yıldız Moran, Turkey’s first great woman photographer, leaves Jamie Leptien amazed. And how Ara Güler woke up in Aphrodisias – Thomas Roueché tells the story.

In our cover story, Briony Llewllyn tells how the quintessential 19th-century Orientalist JF Lewis loved to paint himself – and his wife – into his pictures.

Great escapes see Henry Maguire turn the clock back to a teenage road trip across Sixties Anatolia and Raf Jah climbing aboard the Eastern Express. Robert Ousterhout sees Byzantine Anatolia through the eyes of the early travellers.

Plus: Shepherd’s delight – the wonders of white cheese; the many faces of the eccentric bohemian painter Mihri Rasim; ‘HALI’, the carpet buff’s bible, on its 40th birthday; İnci Eviner turning art inside out; Belkıs Balpınar’s cosmic kilims; the £5.3m portrait of Süleyman the Magnificent, and other stars of the saleroom.

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Highlights

  • Shepherd’s Delight

    Berrin Torolsan on the wonders of white cheese

  • Charmer Chameleon

    Described by his friend the novelist William Makepeace Thackeray as ‘a languid Lotus-eater’, the Victorian Orientalist JF Lewis travelled to Turkey and Egypt and recreated what he saw of Ottoman life in loving, exotic detail – often painting himself and his wife into his pictures clad in elaborate local dress. Briony Llewellyn looks back over a life of many colours


  • The Oldest Temple on Earth?

    Six millennia before Stonehenge, the dawn of the agrarian revolution came to the now arid Anatolian steppe – and with it came Göbekli Tepe, perhaps the first place of worship built by man. With its T-shaped columns and menacing animal carvings, it is an unacknowledged wonder of the ancient world. But who built it? And what went on here? By Barnaby Rogerson


  • Thoroughly Modern Mihri

    Fascinated by the many faces of Mihri Rasim, Jamie Leptien asks how and why this unique artist has been ignored for so long


  • Secret Chambers of the Black Eunuchs

    As the Topkapi prepares to open up parts of the palace long kept hidden, we recall the time Cornucopia was granted rare access to what remains the most secret section of all – the quarters of the Black Agas. These powerful African eunuchs guarded the Harem and controlled the finances of the hugely wealthy Queen Mother. Text by Berrin Torolsan. Photographs by Fritz von der Schulenburg

  • Eye of the Beholder

    Yildiz Moran abandoned photography for lexicography at the age of 30. But her decade behind the lens left an astonishing body of work, celebrated this year at Istanbul Modern. By Jamie Leptien



  • Adventures in the Wild, Wild East

    Robert Ousterhout spies the wonders of Anatolia through the eyes of early Western travellers

  • A room of his own

    ‘How my grandfather took Iznik to Yorkshire’ by Christopher Simon Sykes


  • The road to ruins

    Francis Russell drives the highways and byways of Rough Cilicia


Inside the issue

Art and Architecture

  1. Charmer Chameleon How JF Lewis loved to paint himself into the picture, by Briony Llewellyn (1952-2023). [extract available online]
  2. The Oldest Temple on Earth? Barnaby Rogerson marvels at the mysteries of Göbekli Tepe, by Barnaby Rogerson. [extract available online]
  3. Secret Chambers of the Black Eunuchs Berrin Torolsan peers into the Topkapı Harem’s forbidden halls, by Berrin Torolsan. Photographs by Fritz von der Schulenburg [extract available online]
  4. Eye of the Beholder The visionary photographs of Yıldız Moran [extract available online]

People

  1. Notes on a life in music Christian Tyler meets the formidable pianist İdil Biret Photographs by Monica Fritz
  2. Heads up The marvellously mad hats of Merve Bayındır, by Nilgin Yusuf. Photographs by Monica Fritz
  3. The infinite skies David Barchard’s tribute to the late Kaili Kidner, pioneering balloonist, by David Barchard (1947–2020).

Connoisseur

  1. Thoroughly Modern Mihri [extract available online]

Books

  1. A room of his own ‘How my grandfather took Iznik to Yorkshire’ by Christopher Simon Sykes [extract available online]
  2. Adventures in the Wild, Wild East Robert Ousterhout spies the wonders of Anatolia through the eyes of early Western travellers, by Robert Ousterhout (1950–2023). [available online]
  3. REVIEWS Ottoman Baroque; Turkey’s beautiful game; a long view of the economy; a long, hard road for refugees. By Tim Stanley, David Barchard and Roger Norman
  4. Ottoman Baroque, Reviewed by Tim Stanley. [available online]
  5. Uneven Centuries, Reviewed by David Barchard (1947–2020). [available online]
  6. The Road Before Me Weeps, Reviewed by Roger Norman (1948–2022). [available online]

Travel

  1. She’ll be coming round the mountain Raf Jah boards the Eastern Express, by Raf Jah. Photographs by Raf Jah
  2. Lords of the wings Gernant Magnin on the gentle art of falconry in Turkey’s Eastern Black Sea Mountains
  3. The road to ruins Francis Russell drives the highways and byways of Rough Cilicia, by Francis Russell. [extract available online]
  4. A great escape Henry Maguire’s diary of a teenage road trip across Sixties Anatolia

Cookery

  1. Shepherd’s Delight Berrin Torolsan on the wonders of white cheese, by Berrin Torolsan. Photographs by Berrin Torolsan [extract available online]

Regulars

  1. PRIVATE VIEW, by Andrew Finkel
  2. LETTER FROM CENTRAL ASIA A tale of one city, by Caroline Eden
  3. LETTER FROM ANATOLIA You’re welcome to the digital world, by Roger Norman
  4. EATING OUT Wrapped in mystery. Andrew Finkel’s search for the perfect kokoreç
  5. SOUND BITES John Shakespeare Dyson’s round-up of Istanbul’s musical year [extract available online]
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