Celal Esat Arseven

Celal Esat Arseven — Biography

Celal Esat Arseven was among the first to introduce art history, architectural history and urbanism as subjects in Turkey. A painter, writer, man of theatre and cinema and member of parliament, he lived a many-sided life; his best-known work is the five-volume Sanat Ansiklopedisi. He was a pioneer in getting the idea of a "Turkish art" accepted, and developed it systematically in his books.

After military schooling he left the army to give himself to art. In 1908 he published the humour magazine Kalem with Salah Cimcoz, and two years later wrote the play Selim-i Salis with him; it was later staged at the State Theatres. During the First World War he was part of a group of friends in Germany that founded Transorient Film, writing and directing; a modern adaptation of Goethe's Faust, Die Tote Wacht, was filmed in Munich, and a 1918 Alemdar Mustafa Paşa is also credited to him. In the Republic he taught architectural history and urbanism at the Fine Arts Academy from 1921 to 1941, directed Darülbedayi for a time, and advised on Ankara's development plan beside Hermann Jansen in 1925-1927. His published works include Türk Sanatı, Şehircilik and Türk Sanatı Tarihi.

He chaired the Kadıköy People's House in 1933-1937 and was elected deputy for Istanbul in 1942 and for Giresun in 1946. He received the State Culture Award in October 1971 and died in Istanbul on 13 November 1971, aged 96. His birth year is given as 1875 or 1876 in different sources.