Turkish Delights

by Philippa Scott

Liotard's fine portraits of Westerners in Turkish dress, Carpaccio's turbaned figures, and the coveted "Turkey" carpets that appear in paintings by Lotto and Holbein bear witness to a deep Western fascination with all things Ottoman. It is this cultural influence, spanning five hundred yearsfrom the fall of Constantinople through to the twentieth centurythat unites the wealth of paintings, drawings, photography, and decorative objects in this sumptuously illustrated book. The result is a visual feast of Turkish delights, from the exotic allure of the harem and Turkish baths to Ottoman-inspired Western interiors and pavilions; from paintings of Europeans in Turkish costume to carpets, silks, tulips, turbans, Iznik tiles, coffee, tobacco, and croissants. The delightfully informative text explains how Turkey, the gateway to the East, became a fountain of inspiration for so many artistic and cultural fieldspainting, ceramics, textiles, interiors, fashionin the West. Today the many fruits of this cultural meeting, enticingly displayed in this book, will engage a fresh audience with the decorative possibilities of the ravishing colors, motifs, and furnishings of traditional Turkey. 150 color photographs.

Genres: Art

120 pages, Hardcover

First published May 1, 2001

Reviews

[Evin Ashley · Rating 3 out of 5]

Currently coffee table book, and easy one to up the 2018 Goodreads goal. This book is a visual delight; quite charming and full of fun facts.

[Amy Block · Rating 2 out of 5]

2 stars. The photos were the only thing that kept this from being a 1 star book in my opinion, but even some of the photos left something to be desired. The images of some of the pottery and other detail shots were stunning, but many of the shots of rooms or buildings were too dark and difficult to see. In almost every case, the captions to photos were unhelpful, either because they were woefully brief, or because it wasn't even clear which picture on a page they were referring to.
The text of the book could use a thorough editing session - not because there were grammatical or spelling errors, but because the writing was poorly organized and missed huge opportunities to provide desperately needed context to whatever subject was at hand. The author constantly used terms referring to various historical periods/architectural styles/reigns of power that the reader of such a broad, all-encompassing book on Turkey could not possibly be expected to understand. Of course there's not space in a coffee table book such as this to go into lengthy discussions of political history, but even a few sentences at the beginning of each new topic to bring the reader up to speed could have completely changed the readerly experience.
All in all, I don't feel like I walked away from this book with a good sense of Turkey's geography, culture, or history. Even if I was just reading this to prepare for a trip, I would feel like I had to turn elsewhere for a good background before visiting.

[Kay · Rating 4 out of 5]

A friend gave me this gorgeous, coffee-table book, big on lavish photographs that underscore the themes set out in the text. The main theme is the influence of Turkey on Western art and design -- and it's considerable. When East meets West, as this book abundantly illustrates, the result are often stunning. Painting, architecture, fashion, and garden design are just a few of the areas that were influenced by Turkey.

[LuAnn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fun book on Turkish culture and its influence on the West. Lots of great illustrations.