Avis de soutenance - doctorat - Eloïse FESLI

Art Nouveau in Istanbul (1890–1930): Between East and West presents the first comprehensive study of the reception, dissemination, and local adaptations of Art Nouveau in the Ottoman capital. Emerging in Western Europe amid industrialization and urban modernization, the style found a distinctive milieu in Istanbul, where European influences encountered enduring artisanal traditions. Far from a mere imitation, Yeni Sanat (“Art Nouveau” in modern Turkish), referred to in the Ottoman press as Tarz-ı Cedid (“new style” in Ottoman Turkish), emerges as a language of acculturation that is both international and locally rooted, revealing a distinctly Istanbulite modernity. The study draws on an extensive corpus and adopts a broadened approach to the diffusion of the style, encompassing contexts ranging from the Orient Express station, an important hub for the circulation of forms and knowledge, through antiquarian networks and the Ottoman press (Servet-i Fünûn, Şehbal), to the decorative and graphic arts. It also relies on the analysis of buildings selected for their typological diversity and representativeness, including commercial hans, apartment houses, funerary monuments, imperial residences, and timber dwellings, located both along the Bosphorus and in peripheral districts such as Bakırköy and the Princes' Islands. This panorama encompasses major landmarks as well as more modest examples, illustrating how the style permeated all social and urban strata. At the heart of this dynamic were architects such as Raimondo D'Aronco, Antonio Lasciac, Giulio Mongeri, Konstantinos Kyriakides, Alexandre D. Yenidünya (Neocosmos), Alfredo Psalty, the Caracach brothers, and Mimar Kemaleddin, who acted as key mediators between European academic traditions and local practices. They collaborated closely with a dense network of Greek, Armenian, Jewish, and Turkish artisans whose expertise in ironwork, stained glass, carpentry, and stuccowork helped shape the distinctive character of the style. Through these exchanges, ornament became the privileged locus where technique, material, and modernity converged. The study also underscores two chronological phases identified by Afife Batur: an initial monumental phase (1890–1915), characterized by imperial and aristocratic commissions, and a subsequent domestic phase (1922–1930), during which Art Nouveau permeated vernacular architecture, particularly timber houses. This continuity underscores both the adaptability of the style and its enduring integration into Istanbul's visual culture. By repositioning Yeni Sanat within the global geography of modernity, the dissertation underscores Istanbul's capacity to transform imported European vocabularies into an original idiom attuned to its light, materials, and human diversity. Art Nouveau thus emerges as an art of surfaces and thresholds, a discreet manifesto of situated modernity in which the sinuous line reflects a world in transition. Finally, the study initiates a heritage-oriented reflection. Long neglected, this fragile legacy, comprising wooden façades, stained glass windows, and sinuous ironwork, warrants renewed attention. Its preservation is not merely an aesthetic concern but also a broader act of remembrance of cosmopolitanism and an acknowledgment of local craftsmanship, bearing witness to Istanbul's enduring capacity to foster dialogue between heritage and creation within a shared modernity.