Art Education in Cyprus

Abstract

Since prehistoric times, there's been an ongoing debate over how art education should be taught and Northern part of Cyprus is one of many countries involved. In Europe from the modernisation process into today's postmodern approach, The art education at universities has shifted from classical into ideational, resulting in increasing dominance of conceptual art. Until British Rule, Cyprus art education had been destitute of any form of art education. Following the British Rule, painting lessons were added to the curriculum. Considering the necessity for essential infrastructure in order to maintain proper and effective art education, the inadequate classes and sketchy curricula adopted until 1990's resulted in less people dealing with art. In 1990, for the first time ever, a majority of Anadolu Güzel Sanatlar Lisesi graduates continued their education in Fine Art Universities in Turkey. Academic art education hasn’t completely broken off from the classical approach possibly because of the classical education of the academic staff. Given such a short time span, one could say that Northern part of Cyprus has progressed considerably. However, due to isolations, and the clash of classical and modern western education, when compared to European countries, the current Northern Cyprus education system remains rather ‘arabesque’.