Fikret Mualla - "Au Bar"
The Bar Paintings of Mualla : Bars and Bistros, are one of the most important themes of Fikret Mualla. When he is broke he visits familiar bar and bistros owners and managers and in exchange for a few drinks he gives them paintings, these are places that he frequents, therefore he can reflect the actual environment. He has painted hundreds of bistro paintings, but no bistro painting is a variation of the other. Bars are Fikret Mualla’s first choice to visit when he feels lonely. Fikret has spent each earned penny on alcohol, has never tried drinking at home when it would have been less expensive. The first thing he would do as soon as he has some cash would be to run to the bar, order the most epensive food, drink and buy for others too. This way not only has he socialized but he would escape the problems of his life for a couple of hours. Fikret Mualla defines the difference between the bar counter and the crowd, at the same time, he uses the mutual grounds that interconnect these two realms and brings them to the forfront of the painting. In some examples he shakes the core of the rules of perspective by one look acknowledging the different depths. In some paintings, he spreads the red fov around the place, and at the same time would draw the three dimensional table such as Matisse’s in a single dimension without causing any illusion. The black musicians are actually playing fast music but they are posing in stillness.
Yalın Alpay & Prof Dr.Emre Alkin, “Moualla’nın Sanatı”, Sosyal Yayınları, 2016, Sayfa: 98, 99
Guache on paper
33 x 50 cm
1956, signed
This work is on page 356 of the first volume of the Fikret Mualla Catalogue Raisonnée, prepared by Kerem Topuz and Marc Ottavi.
Estimate: 700.000 TL - 1.100.000 TL
Starting Bid: 14,655
