An exhibition by marbling artist Hikmet Barutçugil, who was elected as the Living Human Treasure by UNESCO, and won the prize of "Best of the Best," unveiled in Budapest.

The marbling and calligraphy exhibition entitled, "Calligraphy and Marbling on the Silk Road," featuring the works by marbling artist Hikmet Barutçugil and Chinese calligrapher Haji Noor Deen Mi Guang Jiang, has been brought to art lovers at Yunus Emre Institute's Budapest branch.

During the exhibition, organized by a different cultural center every year, Hikmet Barutçugil briefed the attendants about the art of marbling while artist Fatma Füsun Barutçugil talked about the art of gilding.

The exhibition, showcasing Hikmet Barutçugil's marbling works and Chinese calligrapher Haji Noor Deen Mi Guang Jiang's calligraphy works will be open to visitors until February 29.

In addition, Yunus Emre Institute's Budapest branch will be holding marbling training courses between February 12 and April 22.

A union of calligraphy and marbling

Barutçugil describes the Chinese calligraphy which requires a long process of training as follows: "It is said that there is a rhythm the master must keep up with in this process. This is in harmony with the basic principles of Islamic arts. It is something written in a state of ecstasy and very rapidly. He looks at the paper for a long time. He sees what will be written on it. There is our marbling prayer. It starts with "In line with its pre-eternal decree..." That is, whatever is in the paper's pre-eternal decree, he sees it all at once and finishes it rapidly. That energy is transferred to the paper and then, reflected from paper to the art lovers who look at it. So, the Chinese calligraphy has been popular for 1,500 without any change. China has emulated itself while being modernized. That didn't happen with us. We thought that modernization means emulating the West in our culture and art. This should not have been like this."

The master artist describes the art of marbling as follows: "In my opinion, marbling is the name of a major branch of art like painting, sculpture, music and architecture. Our goal was to take it out of monotony or uniformity, and give it other dimensions. This is one of those goals and it is the most recent one."

Chinese calligrapher Haji Noor Deen Mi Guang Jiang came to Turkey first in 2008 to learn Arabic calligrapher from Hasan Çelebi. He won the approval of mastery by visiting Turkey 20 times in 10 years.

Inspired by the Silk Road, the Chinese calligrapher describes the story of the exhibition as follows: "As you all know, Silk Road, which is the name of our exhibition, is a 1,500-year-old adventure that starts from Chine and ends in Istanbul. Initially, it was a road for commercial purposes only, but it also witnessed cultural and artistic activities over time. With inspiration from it, we tried to unite Hikmet Barutçugil's marbling with my modest Chinese brush. This resulted in the works of art you see. This exhibition is also a symbol of Turkish-Chinese friendship. Thanks to this exhibition, Barutçugil graciously gave this best marbling works to me."

The works, created by using the very old, traditional Chinese art of affixing paper to the fabric, are brought to the taste of art lovers in Turkey and around the world.