Malik Aksel'in Resim ve Yazılarında Türk Halk Kültürü

Abstract

Malik Vicdani Aksel (1901-1987) was a multifaceted figure in Turkish cultural and artistic life, encompassing painters, educators, writers, and collectors. Having witnessed the final years of the Ottoman Empire and the early decades of the Republic of Türkiye, Aksel documented numerous elements of folk culture through his writings, paintings, and collecting activities. Regarded as one of the pioneering figures in studies focusing on the visual dimension of folk culture in Türkiye, Aksel drew attention with his works on folk painting, religious imagery, calligraphic pictures, as well as his writings on Istanbul and his paintings that took folklore as their central theme. However, studies on Malik Aksel have largely focused on art history and fine arts, and he has not been the subject of a comprehensive and independent examination within the discipline of folklore. This study aims to reveal Malik Aksel’s place within folklore and to evaluate his contributions to Turkish folk culture from a folkloric perspective. The primary material for this research consists of Malik Aksel’s books, articles published in various newspapers and magazines, his paintings, and his collecting activities. This study utilized document analysis, a qualitative research method, and the data obtained were evaluated using content analysis. The research examined Aksel’s views on folk art; his definition, sources, creators, aesthetic characteristics, and functions of folk art were discussed. Furthermore, activities aimed at collecting, preserving, and transmitting folk art to future generations were evaluated, and the importance of these efforts for folk culture was highlighted. Another axis of the study, within the context of Istanbul folklore, examined data related to folk architecture, traditional professions, entertainment life, ceremonies, folk theater, and daily life found in Aksel’s works. Thus, it was demonstrated that Malik Aksel was not only a painter and writer, but also an important folklore researcher who recorded, interpreted, and contributed to the preservation of national culture through oral, written, and visual dimensions of folk culture.