Gelisim News

“Our Women Painters -1” exhibition meets with art lovers on March 8

Istanbul Gelisim University brings art lovers together with Painter Lect. Murat Karaova's "Women Painters 1" exhibition on the International Women's Day (8 March). The exhibition features women painters who lived in the first years of Republican period and have left their mark on the art of painting and made a name.

On the International Women's Day (March 8), Istanbul Gelisim University (IGU) puts its seal on another meaningful exhibition, too. Within the scope of “Our Women Painters -1” exhibition; Painter Lect. Murat Karaova from Istanbul Gelisim Vocational School (IGMYO) featured Semiha Berksoy, Mihri Müşfik, Şükriye Dikmen, Neşe Erdok, Eren Eyüboğlu, Fahrelnissa Zeid, Güzin Duran and Hale Asaf in his works. The exhibition featuring Turkish women painter who lived in the first years of the Republic and achieved success despite difficulties, meets with art lovers on March 8.

“The fact that they achieved success despite the impossibilities makes them even more valuable.”

Painter Lect. Murat Karaova who participated in many national and international solo and group exhibitions with his works and made figurative works by taking social issues as themes said, “Our Women Painters-1 series covers some of our important female artists who had a significant place and effort in Turkish art history and lived in the first years of the Republic. The fact that our pioneering and valuable female artists achieved success despite the impossibilities makes them even more valuable. I think that the exhibition is important for these artists to continue their existence also today.”

Artists featured in “Our Women Painters -1” exhibition

In this meaningful exhibition, which will meet with visitors on March 8, International Women's Day, Karaova has included 8 women artists. The women painters, who have been featured in the works of Karaova and have left their mark on the art of painting and made a name:

Semiha Berksoy: Berksoy, known as "the woman of firsts", is the first Turkish opera singer, a primadonna, the first Turkish soprano to appear on the opera stage in Europe and a painter.

Mihri Müşfik: She is one of our first Turkish women painters. Müşfik left Istanbul in the early 1900s and went to Rome and then Paris to continue her education; and as a portrait artist, she painted names such as Atatürk, F. D. Roosevelt, Edison, Edwin Markham, D'anunzio.

Şükriye Dikmen: Before graduating from the art history department of the Ecole du Louvre in Paris in 1953, Dikmen worked with Fernand Léger for 3 years and with Sergier and Roger Chastel for 2 years, she opened her first personal exhibition in 1953, and in the following year, her first personal exhibition in Turkey was opened to visitors.

Neşe Erdok: Known as painter, academician, professor of fine arts, Erdok’s paintings took place in various museums and private collections in Turkey and abroad, including Mimar Sinan Fine Arts University, Istanbul State Painting and Sculpture Museum, Istanbul Modern Art Museum, Norton Simon Museum. Erdok participated in more than 100 group exhibitions with her works.

Eren Eyüboğlu: She deepened her painting education at the Andre Lhote workshop in Paris. Shee opened her first exhibition in Paris in 1933. She took part in the Edinburgh Festival in 1957 and the Hamburg Turkish Women Painters Exhibition in 1958 with her works. She opened her first personal exhibition in Istanbul in 1941. Besides painting, she had also interested in ceramics. Many of her works are included in many official and private collections, besides collections of Painting and Sculpture Museum, and the National Library.

Fahrelnissa Zeid: Fahrünnisa was an artist who exhibited her works in every corner of the world. She had exhibitions in Istanbul on different dates. After two exhibitions in which her works were exhibited in 1944 and 1946, an exhibition in the Academy of Fine Arts in 1964 and the exhibition in the Hittite Museum in Ankara in the same year attracted great attention. There are paintings bearing her signature in the known museums of the world. Fahrünnisa Zeyd was influenced by every painting movement and styles in her works, and created unique works with the knowledge she gained in her art.

Güzin Duran: Being the protector of calligraphy and Istanbul cults in her works, Duran mainly focused on landscapes and still lifes, she also made portraits and nudes. She also created a porcelain collection, by also making calligraphy and ornaments. There are more than two hundred watercolor paintings of Duran in the Topkapı Museum Painting Collection.

Hale Asaf: She is one of our first Turkish women painters. Taken painting lessons at the Istanbul Fine Arts Academy, Asaf went to Paris (1927) after graduating from the Academy and enjoyed the works of painters such as Matisse and Raoul Dufy. When she returned to Turkey, she worked as an art teacher in Bursa and organized her first exhibition in Ankara Ethnography Museum in 1929.