Thierry Grillet, the exhibition's curator, presents a selection of twenty monumental photographs taken from the work of Turkish photographer Ahmet Ertuğ. These photos invite visitors to explore masterpieces of French and Italian architecture: from theatres and libraries to spiritual places and seats of power. An eclectic "Grand Tour" that resonates with the beauty of the place in which it takes place.
Born in 1949 in Turkey, graduate of the Architectural Association School of Architecture in London in 1974, Ahmet Ertuğ is a photographer, architect, and art publisher. With experience as an architect in both England and Turkey, he was awarded a grant from the Japan Foundation for Research on Traditional Japanese Architecture in 1980. For an entire year, he travelled through Japan photographing zen gardens, temples, and ritual festivals. This work led him to dedicate himself entirely to photography. He developed a particular interest in sacred architecture, inspired by his discovery of the country's major cultural sites.
During the 1970s, upon returning to Turkey, Ertuğ recognised the imperative to preserve the memory of the great abandoned sites. He embarked on a vast photographic campaign focused on the Byzantine, Ottoman, and Islamic heritage across Turkey and Iran. He was then selected by the Turkish Ministry of Culture to lead the conservation efforts of Istanbul's historic districts. Ertuğ's photographic work depicting Istanbul's monuments is presented all over the world, under UNESCO's patronage. Later, he founded an art publishing house Ertuğ and Kocabıyık where he published nearly thirty works dedicated to architectural marvels of the past – European theatres and operas, historical libraries, Byzantine, Ottoman, Hellenistic, or Roman heritage. For over thirty years, he has been documenting the most emblematic architectures from all over the world, from the baroque libraries of Austrian monasteries to the Italian palaces of the Renaissance. Ertuğ large-format prints have gained acclaim among collectors and museum curators alike. The artist also captured significant landmarks in France, including the Sainte-Chapelle and the Pantheon in Paris.
His photographs reveal the importance of perspective in the architectural works he documents, illustrating the three principles established by the theorist Vitruvius: sustainability, utility, and beauty.
These words of Ahmet Ertuğ sum up his vision of a bygone world: "I follow in the footsteps of the architect who built what I see. Then, I wonder where this man, from separated from me by centuries, would have stood to contemplate his work. Only then do I find my own perspective. The whole soul of the place is thus resurrected in my first image.”
Through his eyes, he succeeds in making us feel the sacred history that lies behind every monument of our global cultural and artistic heritage.
We feel the genius of architects throughout the ages, and their desire to pass on knowledge with the means of their time. In this sense, he is both a witness and a messenger of history, showing us that the sacred has been and always will be part of humanity. Ertuğ travels the world, leaving a precious trace for posterity through his journey through stone and light.
Cover image: Retmen/Sipa Press
Eloïse, Ebru FESLİ
