‘Imaginary World of a Paper Architect’ available online 

Istanbul Research Institute's new online exhibition, titled "Imaginary World of A Paper Architect," celebrates architect Nazimî Yaver Yenal, a unique representative of 20th century Turkish architecture.

Based on his exceptional archive that reflects his nearly 50-year-long career, the exhibition brings light to a typical representative of the republic generation that epitomized idealist principles.

Having spent his adolescence in the final years of the Ottoman Empire, Yenal, who lived between 1904 and 1987, was trained at the Sanayi-i Nefise Mektebi (School of Fine Arts), particularly under the influence of his teacher Giulio Mongeri's notion of eclecticism and graduated valedictorian from the school. 

Shaped by the consecutive competitions he won, his career evolved through the experience he gained in Paris and Berlin, where he was sent on a state scholarship, extended as part of the cultural policies of the early republic years.

He thrived and matured during the years he spent as an instructor at the Academy of Fine Arts, as he grew close to a handful of avant-garde German architects that ended up together in Istanbul through extraordinary political conditions.
Described in his letters as being "much ahead" by Sedad Hakkı Eldem even in his student years, Yenal had talent beyond question and a career in architecture that set off quite successfully at first. Despite all that, virtually none of his designs were actually constructed. His unexecuted designs and the hopes he had created relate a powerful tale along with the disappointments and the reasons behind never being able to bring his creations to fruition.

Eventually falling out of the official architectural discourse and forgotten in time, Yenal created for himself an...

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