»The Woman of Firsts«: Retrospective of Semiha Berksoy

One of her works was last seen at this year's Venice Biennale: The Turkish opera singer and painter Semiha Berksoy (1910-2004) was represented several times at international biennials. 26 paintings were on show at the 51st Venice Biennale (2005), and she also took part in the 5th Istanbul Biennale (1997) and Manifesta 2 (1998) in Luxembourg. Now, the Hamburger Bahnhof in Berlin is presenting her first retrospective in Germany: the exhibition Semiha Berksoy comprises over 80 paintings and drawings, which are accompanied by archive material such as documents and rare film and sound recordings and placed in their temporal context. The exhibition thus conveys an impression of Berksoy's cultural influence in Europe and particularly in Turkey.

In her more than 60 years of artistic activity, central themes crystallized in her painterly work: the close relationship with her mother, the painter Fatma Saime, who died of the Spanish flu when Berksoy was eight years old, significant opera roles she played and important biographical events. She described painting as being as important to her life as eating, but her work was a very personal matter for her. Berksoy did not show her paintings and drawings in public until 1969. A selection will be on display at Hamburger Bahnhof from December 6, 2024 to May 11, 2025.

Semiha Berksoy was described in her home country as a »diamond among Turkish female vocalists«. In her early 20s, she enjoyed great success at the opera and received a scholarship from the government to study at the Hochschule für Musik in Berlin for three years from 1936. In Berlin, too, she fascinated audiences with her voice. With the outbreak of the Second World War, Berksoy returned to Turkey. The artist, who was also active as a sculptor, actress, costume designer and performance artist, was also nicknamed »Woman of Firsts«: for example, she played the female lead in the first Turkish sound film Istanbul sokaklarinda (1931), she was the first Turkish opera singer and soloist at the Ankara State Opera, the first Turkish soprano on the stage of a European opera (in Berlin) and she was the first female opera artist in the public sector to be awarded the Atatürk Opera Prize.