Art exhibitions in Munich and Istanbul (1909-18): Cultural events as part of German imperialist policies

Abstract

The X. and XI. International Art Exhibitions in Munich (1909, 1913), the exhibition of Masterpieces of Muhammadan Art in Munich (1910), and the Munich Exhibition of Art and Crafts in Constantinople (1918) are significant events in late Ottoman and German artistic environments. In the current scholarly literature on the subject, the exhibitions in Munich have been studied as products of the “modernization movement” in the Ottoman Empire whereas the German exhibition in Istanbul has remained entirely unexamined. The aim of this article is to analyze these exhibitions closely in the context of German imperialist policies in the Ottoman Empire that were devised during the reign of Kaiser Wilhelm II (r. 1888-1918). This article argues that these exhibitions constituted an important part of German foreign cultural policy in relation to the Ottoman Empire and served as important channels to increase the economic and political hegemony of the German state in the region. Copyright © 2020 Ottoman and Turkish Studies Association.