PAINTING IN TURKEY

Press, Volume CI, Issue 29871, 11 July 1962, Page 2

PAINTING IN TURKEY

City Man Recounts Experiences

English-speaking tourists in Turkey usually chose their meal art a restaurant by going into the kitchen and pointing out their choice of foods cooking in the huge vats, Mr Cranleigh Barton, a Christchurch artist, told members of the Christchurch League for the Hard of Hearing yesterday. He got over the problem by preparing a sketch of what he wanted, and showing it to the chef with appropriate actions. Mr Borton has brought back several sketches he made in Turkey. Most were done at "breakneck" speed, and caiptured aspects of the varied and colourful life there—market scenes, roadside stalls, mosques, and scenery. “The life and colour of the country are extremely interesting, but most people now wear rather unshapely European clothes,” Mr Barton said. Men no longer wore the traditional fez, and few veiled women were to be seen.

Mr Barton said he had had to make his own opportunities to paint as Turkey would not be considered by many artists to provide great material. The country had nort progressed in modern art, but was rich in art treasures notably pottery and jewellery preserved from early days. Mr Barton was on a coach tour from London to Madras, which included France, Germany, Austria, Turkey. Persia, and Pakistan.