Istanbul Museum Stroll: At the Pera

ISTANBUL—Many of the artists whose works are being shown at the Pera Museum these days might say they owed a debt of gratitude to the 75-year-old cubist painter Muhanna Durra of Jordan.

Like many of the 44 artists in the current Pera exhibition “Between Desert and Sea: A Selection from the Jordan National Gallery of Fine Arts,” which I wrote about this week for the IHT’s Middle East pages, Mr. Durra had gone to Europe as a young man, in his case to Rome, to study art. After all, there were no formal art schools in Jordan. It wasn’t until decades later, in 1970, that Mr. Durra himself would found the first, the Jordan Institute of Fine Arts.

One of his former students, Nawal Abdullah, whose work is in the Pera show, talked about how he encouraged them to expand their artistic horizons. ”He would always recommend, for your exposure, to see the museums, to get to see other cultures, because you need to be free as an artist,” she said. “You cannot have a closed mind or a closed outlook.”

I met Mr. Durra at the Pera, where he spoke a bit about his painting “Russian Memories.”

Q.

We’re just looking at your work.

A.

I hope you’re not offended.

Q.

No, what does it say?

A.

I don’t know because I don’t want to mix a visual with literature. I can easily tell a story and then you’ll be more taken with the story of the painting. It’s not the story; it’s the visual impact which comes for me. It’s the energy that is important.

Q.

And you’ve used some fabric?

A.

Yes, I did this when I was living in Russia.

Q.

Ah. It reminds me of a tablecloth.

A.

Yes.

Q.

Maybe you spent many hours at the table with your Russian friends?

A.

Believe me, I worked on a lot of tablecloths. It’s not that anything came out really to be stunning but however I tried tablecloths because you know, these squares from the common tablecloth, they have a particular pattern. But if you think of them, the drinkers and the light, and how the light comes on the red and casts another shadow. The movement, this is a … I don’t talk about my work.

Q.

You just did.

A.

I’m really the last to know what I did. You may be a fresh eye, from outside, you can say more.

via Istanbul Museum Stroll: At the Pera – NYTimes.com.