Turhan Selçuk is an extraordinary adventure of the century.
Primarily, he’s a master of pure lines. All the masters of various forms of art, let it be in drawing, painting, language, films and other arts, are the ones who bring forth great personality through their work. Great artists achive this greatness with their personality they reflect and display in their art. In other words, their personalities are their most signficant qualities. These great personalities are all unique. Let me elaborate what is meant by uniqueness. For example, before Picasso, no other Picasso existed. Naturally, there were his masters. He names them one by one, however his art has no intricate connection with any one of them. Van Gogh, Cêzanne, Matisse, Braque are all unique as well; they also had masters like Picasso did but somehow remained to be themselves. Same holds true for literature. Despite both being contemporaries, Tolstoy is completely different from Dostoievski. So as Matisse and Abidin. Although they were close friends Abidin Dino and Picasso have absolutely different lines and colors. If you mix hundred pieces of work by both artists and and hang them on a wall, anyone, even the ones with almost no knowledge of or sensibility to art, can easily differenciate them.
Turhan Selçuk is one of these great personalities. Each and every one of his works embodies a human and a humane element. Yet, his illustrated lines show various characteristics. In some of his work, his lines tend to be more poetic. In some, Turhan Selçuk smiles satirically, almost vaguely and you find yourself joining him. This is what great art is about. Great art engulfs you, almost without your awareness and makes you smile or touches the core of your heart.
YAŞAR KEMAL, Güldiken, 1994
Turhan Selçuk is the greatest master of style of our present day: An international master of lines...
He doesn’t resemble anyone before his time. Yet, there are quite many artists after his time who reflect his style.
This is what personality in art is.
In Turhan’s caricatures and comic-strips, the text is a continuation to the illustrated lines. The lines complete the text, not the other way round.
Like the Turkish prima donna soprano Leyla Gencer and the pianist Idil Biret who have achieved great success on the world stage, Turhan Selçuk is a Turkish ambassador of art; his drawings bring international fame to the Turkish wit and and humor.
Following the schools of Cem, Ramiz and Cemal Nadir, the new era of the Turkish caricature and strip-cartoons is, without a doubt, going to be the school of Turhan Selçuk.
YUSUF ZİYA ORTAÇ, Turhan 62, 1962
