History

Turkish

Turkey

Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...

 painting

Painting

Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a surface . The application of the medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush but other objects can be used. In art, the term painting describes both the act and the result of the action. However, painting is...

, in the western sense, developed actively starting from the mid 19th century.

Mid-19th century to early 20th century

• Osman Hamdi Bey
  Osman Hamdi Bey
  Osman Hamdi Bey was an Ottoman statesman, intellectual, art expert and also a prominent and pioneering Turkish painter. He was also an accomplished archaeologist, and is considered as the pioneer of the museum curator's profession in Turkey...
  
   (1842–1910)
• Şeker Ahmet Paşa
  Seker Ahmet Pasa
  "Şeker" Ahmed Pasha was an Ottoman painter.- Biography :Born in Üsküdar, Istanbul he entered medical school in 1855, then transferred to the military academy. Here, he showed an interest in painting. Sultan Abdülaziz liked his work and sent him to Paris immediately after Süleyman Seyyid to study...
  
   (1841–1907)
• Halil Paşa (1860–1939)
• Hoca Ali Riza
  Hoca Ali Riza
  Hoca Ali Riza was a Turkish painter.Born in Uskudar, Istanbul. Painted many landscapes of Istanbul and especially Uskudar. Attended Kuleli Military High School and then the Military Academy. There he studied under Osman Nuri Pasha, Süleyman Seyyid and Monsieur Gués, and graduated in 1884...
  
   (1864–1939)

The very first painting lessons were scheduled at "Mühendishane-i Berri-i Humayun" (Military School of Engineering) in 1793 mostly for technical purposes. Artists who formed the 19th century art milieu were often from the military schools. Additionally, Christian

Christian

A Christian is a person who adheres to Christianity, an Abrahamic, monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as recorded in the Canonical gospels and the letters of the New Testament...

 and "Levant

Levant

The Levant or ) is the geographic region and culture zone of the "eastern Mediterranean littoral between Anatolia and Egypt" . The Levant includes most of modern Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, Israel, the Palestinian territories, and sometimes parts of Turkey and Iraq, and corresponds roughly to the...

ine" artists as well as foreign painters lived and contributed to the art milieu in Istanbul

Istanbul

Istanbul , historically known as Byzantium and Constantinople , is the largest city of Turkey. Istanbul metropolitan province had 13.26 million people living in it as of December, 2010, which is 18% of Turkey's population and the 3rd largest metropolitan area in Europe after London and...

. Some Turkish artists of military background like Osman Hamdi Bey

Osman Hamdi Bey

Osman Hamdi Bey was an Ottoman statesman, intellectual, art expert and also a prominent and pioneering Turkish painter. He was also an accomplished archaeologist, and is considered as the pioneer of the museum curator's profession in Turkey...

, Şeker Ahmet Paşa

Seker Ahmet Pasa

"Şeker" Ahmed Pasha was an Ottoman painter.- Biography :Born in Üsküdar, Istanbul he entered medical school in 1855, then transferred to the military academy. Here, he showed an interest in painting. Sultan Abdülaziz liked his work and sent him to Paris immediately after Süleyman Seyyid to study...

, Süleyman Seyyid, Halil Paşa were educated in arts abroad. Others, such as Hüseyin Zekai Paşa, Hoca Ali Riza

Hoca Ali Riza

Hoca Ali Riza was a Turkish painter.Born in Uskudar, Istanbul. Painted many landscapes of Istanbul and especially Uskudar. Attended Kuleli Military High School and then the Military Academy. There he studied under Osman Nuri Pasha, Süleyman Seyyid and Monsieur Gués, and graduated in 1884...

, and Ahmet Ziya Akbulut were educated within the country.

"Sanayi-i Nefise Mektebi" (School of Fine Arts) was established with Osman Hamdi's attempts in 1883. A new era was beginning in painting with the return of the artists from the West. Human figure in the western sense was being established in Turkish painting especially with Osman Hamdi Bey. Impressionism

Impressionism

Impressionism was a 19th-century art movement that originated with a group of Paris-based artists whose independent exhibitions brought them to prominence during the 1870s and 1880s...

, among the contemporary trends, appeared later on with Halil Paşa.

The "Ottoman Painters' Society" was formed in 1909. The society started exhibitions in 1916 continuing till 1952 on a regular basis that would be remembered as "Galatasaray Exhibitions".

The "1914 Generation"

• Nazmi Ziya Guran
  Nazmi Ziya Güran
  Nazmi Ziya Güran was a Turkish impressionist painter.-Biography:He was born in the Horhor neighborhood of Istanbul, Ottoman Empire. He graduated in 1901 from the School of Political Science, where he had enrolled due to his father's opposition to his ambition to be an artist...
  
   (1881–1937)

Contemporary trends that emphasize figure start to appear gradually in Turkey with the "1914 Generation". Figure and composition entered the Turkish painting for the first time in the western sense with this generation.
"Inas Sanayi-i Nefise Mektebi" (School of Fine Arts for Girls) was founded for young women in 1914. Mihri Müşfik Hanim, Omer Adil, Feyhaman Duran were the first instructors.

A studio was built with army support in Şişli

Sisli

Şişli is one of 39 districts of Istanbul, Turkey. Located on the European side of the city, it is bordered by Beşiktaş to the east, Sarıyer to the north, Eyüp and Kağıthane to the west, and Beyoğlu to the south...

, a district of Istanbul, with Arseven's attempt in 1917. Lifij's "Progress" and "War Allegory", Çallı's "Cannon Carrier", Mehmet Ruhi's "Stone Breakers" were the first examples of multi figured and large dimensional compositions realised prior to and following this period. Right after the Şişli Studio, the Vienna Exhibition was held in 1918, the first exhibition abroad.

Müstakiller (The Independents)

The young Turkish artists sent to Europe in 1926 came back inspired by contemporary trends such as Fauvism

Fauvism

Fauvism is the style of les Fauves , a short-lived and loose group of early twentieth-century Modern artists whose works emphasized painterly qualities and strong colour over the representational or realistic values retained by Impressionism...

, Cubism

Cubism

Cubism was a 20th century avant-garde art movement, pioneered by Pablo Picasso and Georges Braque, that revolutionized European painting and sculpture, and inspired related movements in music, literature and architecture...

 and even Expressionism

Expressionism

Expressionism was a modernist movement, initially in poetry and painting, originating in Germany at the beginning of the 20th century. Its typical trait is to present the world solely from a subjective perspective, distorting it radically for emotional effect in order to evoke moods or ideas...

, still very influential in Europe, and they took a stand against the "1914 Generation" members. The important goals of this new group were, though not very absolute, pictorial design structure and linear foundation rather than impressionist colorism. The activities of the group under the name of "Independent Painters and Sculptors' Association", expanded with the participation of new artists in 1929. The association's founders were painters

The question of how the new styles that Çelebi and Kocamemi formed, would fit into the realities of the country had been answered by Turgut Zaim (1904–1974). Zaim had given an original meaning to the structure of figure. The style the artist developed opposing to the new and comprehensive content which artists brought, had become a choice western trends.

"The Group D"

While the "Müstakiller" (the Independents) opened the doors of contemporary trends in Turkey, we see a newly founding group which would give a greater support to these efforts and of which their effectiveness lasted until the 1950s: "Group D". These artists introduced some trends that had lasted in the West for thirty, forty years. Group members were:

• Abidin Dino
  Abidin Dino
  Abidin Dino, was a Turkish artist and a well-known painter.-Early years:Dino was born on March 23, 1913 in Istanbul into a family who loved art. He started drawing and painting at a young age influenced by his family. As a child he lived in Geneve, Switzerland and France for several years with...
  
   (1913–1993)

The most significant distinction of "Group D" from the "Independents" was perhaps that they had gathered around a certain aesthetics with solidarity in determination to defend the new trends they wanted to bring in. "Group D" had not been representative of any particular view. They were open to anything new except Impressionism. The star of the Çallı generation faded away gradually after the "Independents" and "Group D" members had started to work at the Academy.

• Bedri Rahmi Eyuboğlu
  Bedri Rahmi Eyüboglu
  Bedri Rahmi Eyüboğlu was a Turkish painter and poet.Bedri Rahmi was born 1911 in Görele on the Black Sea. He was the second child of a family with five. His elder brother, Sabahattin Eyuboglu, is a well-known writer and his younger sister, Mualla Eyüboğlu, was one of the first architects working...
  
   (1911–1975)

Besides all this progress, from the beginning there had also been independent artists. Among these

• Fikret Mualla

can be counted.

Later on

• Adnan Coker
  Adnan Coker
  Adnan Coker is a Turkish abstract artist.He graduated from Academy of Fine Arts Istanbul in 1951 and won European Concourt Prize in 1955. He went on to Paris on a scholarship from theTurkish state...
  
   (born 1927)
• Fahrunissa Zeid (1901–1991)
• Burhan Doğançay
  Burhan Dogançay
  -Biography:Burhan Dogançay obtained his artistic training from his father Adil Doğançay, and Arif Kaptan, both well-known Turkish painters. In his youth, Dogançay played on the Turkish Gençlerbirliği soccer team. In 1950, he received a law degree from the University of Ankara, Turkey...
  
   (born 1929)

took place in this trend.

When we look at the formation that starts in the 1940s and materialized in the 1950s in Turkish painting, rather than particular groups or trends individual styles come forward while the existence of some groups could still be observed.

It can be said that during the 1940s, the notion that first came forward was originality, regionalism and nationalism.

"Yeniler Grubu" (The Newcomers Group) late 1930s

formed by those who had a social realist understanding. After they opening of their "Harbour Paintings Exhibition", they had been remembered as the "Harbour Painters".

• Avni Arbaş
  Avni Arbas
  Avni Arbaş was a Turkish artist.Arbaş was born in Istanbul, Turkey. He is best known for his paintings of scenes from daily life in Turkey, the Turkish War of Independence, the Bosphorus, fishermen, horses and nature. He died of cancer in İzmir in 2003.His granddaughter Derya Arbaş was an actress....
  
   (1919–2003)

"On'lar Grubu" (The Group Ten) 1947

formed by the students of Bedri Rahmi who started working basically by adding folkloric ornaments in their works and added a freshness to the art milieu

"Siyah Kalem Grubu" (The Black Pen Group) 1961

The Siyah Kalem Grubu was centered around Cemal Bingöl's studio.

Other

• Ercument Kalmik
  Ercument Kalmik
  Ercument Kalmık -- Turkish painterGraduated from the Turkish Fine Arts Academy in 1936. He taught at the Technical Teachers School for Girls between 1939 and 1941, and later at Istanbul Technical University's Faculty of Architecture...
  
  
• Nese Erdok
  Nese Erdok
  Nese Erdok is a Turkish painter, born in Istanbul.She is a contemporary-figurative artist, known for painting distorted figures with large hands and feet.-References:...
  
  
• Safa Bute

Turkish painting has continued to flourish since the 1960s, with an increasing rate of development, as evidenced by many new artists in many different styles.

• Bedri Baykam
  Bedri Baykam
  -Life:Baykam's father Dr. Suphi Baykam was a deputy in the Turkish parliament and his mother Mutahhar Baykam an architect-engineer. Baykam claims that he started to paint when he was only two years old, and has had several exhibitions since the age of six in Bern, Geneva, New York, Washington,...
  
  
• Setenay Ozbek
  Setenay Özbek
  Setenay Özbek Is a Turkish writer, artist and documentary maker.-Biography:In 1990, she graduated from Marmara University, Faculty of Fine Arts , and has also embarked on a writing career....
  
  
• Sevil Soyer
  Sevil Soyer
  Sevil Soyer is a Turkish artist. She was born in Turkey and graduated in 1979 from the Mimar Sinan University of Fine Arts.In 1993 Sevil Soyer and Onay Sozer worked together on the manifesto of “Inter-disciplinary-art”. In 1994 Soyer created the “Ah Guzel Istanbul” with 40 Turkish artists...
  
  

Museums and collectors

Institutions and persons with collections of important Turkish paintings:

Museums:

• Ankara Museum of Painting and Sculpture
• Doğançay Museum
  Dogançay Museum
  The Doğançay Museum, Turkey’s first modern art museum, officially opened its doors to the public in 2004. It is housed in a historic 150-year-old five-story building located in the heart of bustling Beyoğlu district of Istanbul...
  
  
• Istanbul Modern
  Istanbul Modern
  The Istanbul Modern Art Museum, aka Istanbul Museum of Modern Art, is a museum of contemporary art in the Beyoğlu district of Istanbul, Turkey, inaugurated on December 11, 2004, prominently featuring the work of Turkish artists...
  
  
• İzmir Museum of Painting and Sculpture
• Military Museum, Istanbul
• National Library, Ankara
• Mimar Sinan University, Istanbul Museum of Painting and Sculpture
• Pera Museum
  Pera Museum
  The Pera Museum , is a private art museum and gallery located in Istanbul, Turkey, which was established in 2005 by the "Suna and İnan Kıraç Foundation". Suna Kıraç is the youngest daughter of the late Turkish tycoon Vehbi Koç, and İnan Kıraç her husband...
  
  
• State Art Galleries in many cities of Turkey
• Turkish General Staff Headquarters, Ankara
• Turkish Grand National Assembly, Ankara

Collectors and galleries:

• Turkiye Is Bankasi, Ankara
• Akbank, Istanbul
• Turkish Republic Ziraat Bankasi, Ankara
• Yapi Kredi Bankasi, Istanbul
• Sabanci Family
• Erol Aksoy
• Mustafa Taviloglu
• Kemal Erhan
• Naci Terzi
• Ahmet Merey
• Nahit Kabakci
• Belkis Aksoy and many more collectioners.
• Collections belonging to galleries especially in cities like Istanbul, Ankara and İzmir.