Director: Nikolai Leshenko, Reza Tahmasib
Cast: Rashid Behbudov, Leila Bedirbeili, Lutfali Abdullayev
Azerbaijan; 95’, 1945, color
Azerbaijani with Turkish subtitles
The operetta “The Cloth Peddler/Arşın Mal Alan” a world-famous musical comedy from Azerbaijan was composed by legendary Azerbaijani composer Üzeyir Hacıbeyli. This comic and romantic operetta, which was ahead of its time and rich in national characteristics and realism, is about pure love, women’s rights, fight against outdated traditions, and aspiration for modern way of life free of damaging customs. Young Asgar wants to get married. He is a rich, successful businessman and has everything he could wish for except for one thing – a wife. Tradition does not allow him to choose his own bride. Marriages are customarily arranged and, in fact, it’s impossible for young men to even catch a glimpse of potential brides as they are secluded in their homes and never come out unveiled or unaccompanied. So Asker wanders from house to house as a poor peddler selling fabric. Eventually, he meets Gülçehre, the beautiful daughter of Sultan bey, a wealthy merchant. Asgar decides Gülçehre is the one he wants to marry. She, too, falls in love with him, although she knows him only as a peddler.
Each memory tells an intimate story; each collection presents us with the reality of containing an intimate story as well. The collection is akin to a whole in which many memories and stories of the artist, the viewer, and the collector are brought together. At the heart of a collection is memory, nurtured from the past and projecting into the future.
John Frederick Lewis is considered one of the most important British Orientalist artists of the Victorian era. Pera Museum exhibited several of Lewis’ paintings as part of the Lure of the East exhibition in 2008 organized in collaboration with Tate Britain.
Following the opening of his studio, “El Chark Societe Photographic,” on Beyoğlu’s Postacılar Caddesi in 1857, the Levantine-descent Pascal Sébah moves to yet another studio next to the Russian Embassy in 1860 with a Frenchman named A. Laroche, who, apart from having worked in Paris previously, is also quite familiar with photographic techniques.
Tuesday - Saturday 10:00 - 19:00
Friday 10:00 - 22:00
Sunday 12:00 - 18:00
The museum is closed on Mondays.
On Wednesdays, the students can
visit the museum free of admission.
Full ticket: 300 TL
Discounted: 150 TL
Groups: 200 TL (minimum 10 people)
