* OTTM 2940a or b / HSAR 4357a or b / MMES 2940a or b / NELC 2940a or b, Motifs, Patterns, and Painting Techniques in Traditional Turkish Arts  Ozgen Felek

This painting class focuses on classical motifs and patterns in traditional Turkish arts in an Ottoman context.  While learning motifs and patterns, students will learn not only the manuscript culture, but also non-manuscript items produced in the Ottoman Empire. Students will practice drawing and painting stylized flowers (such as “panch” and “khatayi”), animals, and abstract patterns used in Turkish manuscript paintings, miniatures, calligraphy, rugs, kilims, stonework, tiles and ceramics, pottery, metal and leather work, and architecture. Materials used in traditional Turkish arts will be studied in detail as well. Students also create their own compositions incorporating traditional Turkish artistic principles. In addition to developing painting skills through individualized attention and support in class, a scheduled visit to the Beinecke Library enhances applied learning by encouraging students to examine artistic aspects in Turkish manuscripts.  HU
HTBA

* OTTM 2960a / HIST 2677a / NELC 2960a, The Ottomans: Society, Politics, and the Arts  Ozgen Felek

This interdisciplinary course offers a cultural and social history survey of the Ottoman Empire (1299–1923), one of the longest-lasting empires in Islamic history. Beginning with the dynasty that founded and sustained the state for over 600 years, it traces key developments from the thirteenth to the twentieth century, then turns to legal and religious structures. Students also explore education systems, languages, literature, artistic and craft traditions, culinary culture, and ceremonial life—building a broad understanding of an empire that spanned the Balkans, the Middle East, and North Africa. Through the analysis of Ottoman miniature paintings, this course also explores the various objects and materials used during the Ottoman Empire. These artworks provide a visual record of military campaigns, celebrations, and everyday life in both palace and general society. By carefully examining these miniatures, students gain a deeper understanding of the Ottoman world.  HU
T 4pm-5:55pm

[ OTTM 3100, Introduction To Ottoman Turkish I ]

[ OTTM 3200, Introduction to Ottoman Turkish II ]

* OTTM 3950b / NELC 3950b, Manuscript Illumination in Islamic and Western Traditions  Ozgen Felek

This course introduces students to the processes of manuscript production across Western and Islamic traditions in the pre-modern world. It offers a mixture of lectures, reading-based discussions, and practical sessions that provide students with the opportunity to work through the steps of illuminating a manuscript. During lectures, digital facsimiles of specific manuscripts are shown, and students analyze them during the discussion. Students learn drawing and painting stylized floral motifs, animals, and abstract patterns used in Islamic and Western manuscript paintings from a comparative perspective. Materials used in traditional book arts are studied in detail as well. Students create pigments and learn design techniques. As a practice-based course, it explores the development and transmission of artisanal knowledge in the premodern and early modern periods. In placing Islamic (Arabic, Ottoman, and Persian) and Western illumination traditions (mainly French, Flemish, and English late medieval) in conversation, this course seeks to provide students with a comparative and interdisciplinary understanding of how tacit knowledge developed in different traditions. In addition to developing painting skills through individualized attention and support in class, a scheduled visit to the Beinecke Library enhances applied learning by encouraging students to examine artistic aspects of book arts in Western and Islamic manuscripts.  HU
Th 4pm-5:55pm