DOHA: Qatar Museums Authority (QMA) will highlight the importance of European-Ottoman relations through the Qatar Orientalist Museum’s exhibition titled “The Art of Travel: Bartholomäus Schachman (1559-1614)” to open on November 15 at Al Riwaq exhibition space next to the Museum of Islamic Art (MIA).
Held under the patronage of H E Sheikha Al Mayassa bint Hamad Al Thani, Qatar Museums Authority (QMA) Chairperson, the Art of Travel exhibition will run until February 11 next year.
Curated by Dr Olga Nefedova, Collections Director of the Orientalist Museum; the exhibition will introduce visitors to the story of a journey to the Ottoman Empire done by Bartholomäus Schachman (1559-1614), mayor of Danzig (Gdansk), traveller and explorer, art patron and collector, benefactor and connoisseur, who travelled through Europe, Middle East and North Africa between 1588 and 1589.
After his travel he commissioned an album, dated 1590, consisting of 105 full-page watercolour and pencil drawings on paper documenting what he saw during his travels, depicting the costumes and people of the Ottoman Empire, together with scenes of everyday life, festivals and ceremonies.
The exhibition, shaped and formed around the album, will provide visitors with a fascinating and vivid view back in time to 16th century Danzig and Istanbul, and the life of Bartholomäus Schachman.
A similar joint exhibition by QMA’s Qatar Orientalist Museum and the National Museums of Danzig opened in Gdansk, Poland from July 16 to October 15 and witnessed huge turn out from a wide spectrum of community members.
An education programme will complement the exhibition including an international conference on December 9 during which distinguished scholars from art history, cultural studies, literature, architectural history, and Ottoman history, as well as museum professionals from Poland, Austria, and Qatar, will explore the subject of 16th century orientalism in art and history.
Among the speakers are: Olga Nefedova (Orientalist Museum, Doha), Sara Al Mana (Orientalist Museum, Doha), Tadeusz Majda (Professor Ordinarius, Warsaw University), Harold Lacom (writer and translator, Vienna) and Magdalena Mielnik (National Museum, Gdansk).
A number of creative and interactive workshops for families and schools are also scheduled to be held throughout the exhibition allowing visitors to create illustrations and dresses inspired by the orientalist paintings and Ottoman costumes.
A bilingual illustrated book by Olga Nefedova, with additional texts by Anna Frackowska, Sara Al Mana and Hyejung Yum published by Skira will accompany the exhibition. The Peninsula
