456 Cultural Life
 
Cultural Life 457  
 
   
 
 
  
  
 
Atatürk / Avni Arbaş
 
the 1950s, traditional sources such as miniatures, calligraphy, rugs, carpets and mosaics were combined with contemporary interpretations. Whereas Mehmet Pesen and Nedim Günsür were inclined towards traditions, Orhan Peker, Leyla Gamsız and Turan Erol imparted the expressive value of abstract colour and tint to their paintings. The art of painting passed through a significant period of progress in the 1980s and the 1990s. New trends appeared on the canvasses, fantastic realism being foremost, and artists such as Fikret Mualla, Avni Arbaş, Komet, Burhan Uygur, Ergin İnan, Erol Akyavaş, Burhan Doğançay and Utku  Varlık  achieved international
 
  acclaim. Artists such as Gökhan Anlağan, Hüsamettin Koçan, Mehmet Gün, Mahir Güven, Alp Taner Ulukılıç, İsmet Doğan, Canan Tolon, Murat Morova, İnci Eviner, Gülsün Karamustafa, Hale Tenger, Mehmet Uygun, Altan Çelem, Hakan Akçura, Mehmet Güleryüz, Selda Asal and Serhat Kiraz brought a new dimension to Turkish painting through their conceptual applications. These pioneering and experimental works have been supported by the “New Tendencies” exhibitions within the scope of the İstanbul Art Festival which was first held in 1977. After the 1980s and at present, conceptual art works have also spread besides traditional painting on canvas. Murat Morova, Zahit Büyükişleyen, İsmet Doğan, Serhat Kiraz, Zafer Gençaydın, Şenol Yokozlu, Bedri Baykam, Tomur Atagök, Habip Aydoğdu, Vural Yurdakul, Mustafa Ata and Güngör Taner are also among the famed painters.  

Hüsamettin Koçan, Burhan Doğançay and Munip Özben for their longstanding contributions to Turkish painting, the 2005-2006 awards of the Arts Society in the field of painting and Nevzat Koral was honored in the field of miniature paints.

     
  
  In 2007, the seventh Şefik Bursalı Painting Contest which has been organized every year since 2001 in the memory of late painter Şefik Bursalı, will again be held.  
     
 

Works included in a project envisaging canvass paintings of 81 provinces called “Turkey Being Painted”, which was launched in 2005 and completed in 2006 with the objective of popularizing the art of painting among ordinary citizens, were exhibited in the Honor Hall of the Turkish Grand Assembly on November 28, 2006. The show was also displayed in İstanbul, İzmir, Erzurum, Manisa, Çanakkale and Aydın, and is set to visit other cities as well.

 
     
  In honor of the 150th anniversary of the foundation of the Turkish State Railways, a project called “Stations Being Painted” which includes 73 railway stations was launched in January 2006 under a protocol between the Ministries of Culture and Tourism and of Transportation. In this context, catalog studies works by 72 artists is still going on, and they are planned to be exhibited in important train stations in Turkey starting from Ankara in May 2007.  
     
  Sculpture: The Osgan Efendi Atelier besides Nijat Sirel and Mahir Tomruk are Turkey’s first trained sculptors. The art of sculpture continued in two separate genres in the Republic era. Canonica’s Freedom Monument in İstanbul-Taksim, Hanak and Thorak’s Güven Park Monument in Ankara, Krippel’s Atatürk Monument in İstanbul-Sarayburnu and the Goodday Monument in Ankara-Ulus, reflect the characteristics of this period.  
     
  Turkish sculptors were also involved in the building of monuments. Eventually Ali Hadi Bara won the first and Zühtü Müridoğlu the second prizes in the “Erzurum Monument” contest in which foreign artists also took part. The “Manisa Monument” contest was won by Nijat Sirel. Artists such as Hakkı Atamulu, Yavuz Görey, Kamil Sonad, İlhan Koman, Hüseyin Gezer and Turgut Pura sculptured monuments. The first examples of sculptured monuments reminiscent of social developments were produced by Ratip Aşir Acudoğlu. The Menemen Monument and the Erzincan Earthquake Monument were produced by this artist, who had studied the art of sculpture for 11 years in Germany and France.