Osman Hamdi Bey and the Americans

Based on the intersecting lives of painter, archaeologist and museologist Osman Hamdi Bey and American archaeologist and photographer John Henry Haynes, as well as Prof. Hermann Vollrath Hilprecht, the exhibition, which Opened at Suna and İnan Kıraç Foundation Pera Museum on 15 October 2011, focused on the first excavations American archaeologists conducted in Ottoman lands -Assos and Nippur- and the diplomatic relations between the two countries.

The exhibition was curated by Prof. Renata Holod and Prof. Robert Ousterhout from the University of Pennsylvania and showcases a rich selection of paintings by Osman Hamdi Bey, archaeological photographs and drawings from the 19th century, letters, travel journals, and archaeological artifacts displayed for the first time. This unique selection was on loan from the University of Pennsylvania, Fine Arts Museum Boston, İstanbul Archaeological Museums, İstanbul Museum of Painting and Sculpture, as well as private collections. Apart from his lesser-known paintings, two unknown works of Osman Hamdi Bey discovered at the Penn Museum were also introduced to visitors.