Artists
Artists in the Collection
38 artists · Page 5 / 5
Şeref Akdik
Landscape, portrait and figure painting uniting academic draughtsmanship with an impressionist concern for colour
Şeref Akdik (1899, Istanbul – 1972, Istanbul) was the son of Kâmil Akdik, chief calligrapher of the Ottoman court; he learned calligraphy from his father and, entering the Academy of Fine Arts (Sanayi-i Nefise) in 1915, trained in the studios of İbrahim Çallı, Ömer Adil and Warnia-Zarzecki. Having won the state examination for study in Europe he went to Paris, worked with Paul-Albert Laurens at the Académie Julian and returned home in 1928; in 1929 he was among the founders of the Association of Independent Painters and Sculptors. He taught drawing and painting for many years and, from 1951 until his retirement in 1964, ran a studio at the İstanbul State Academy of Fine Arts. He won first prize at the 1945 State Painting and Sculpture Exhibition, and a retrospective of his work was held at the Istanbul City Gallery in 1957. Known for landscapes and portraits of firm draughtsmanship faithful to impressionist principles, he is represented in the collections of the Istanbul and Ankara Museums of Painting and Sculpture and Istanbul Modern.
- ·Founding member of the Association of Independent Painters and Sculptors (1929)
- ·First prize at the 1945 State Painting and Sculpture Exhibition; retrospective at the Istanbul City Gallery, 1957
- ·Works in the collections of the Istanbul and Ankara Museums of Painting and Sculpture and Istanbul Modern
Şükrü Aslan
A figurative idiom that weaves its subjects from coiled layers recalling flowing hair and skeins of thread
Born in Gaziantep in 1986, Şükrü Aslan graduated in 2012 from the Sculpture Department of the Art Education programme at Çukurova University. His practice addresses the alienation of the individual through a social-realist lens: weaving his figures from coiled textures reminiscent of accumulations of wire and thread, he renders visible the intricate inner world of the individual. Exhibiting in cities across Turkey since 2010, Aslan was among the artists selected for the 39th Akbank Contemporary Artists Prize Exhibition in 2021.
- ·39th Akbank Contemporary Artists Prize Exhibition (Akbank Sanat, Istanbul, 2021)
Züleyha İnan
Oil painting; views of Istanbul and detailed figurative interior scenes
Züleyha İnan is a painter who lives and works in Ankara, where she founded Galeri Demirel; she shares a studio with the painter Aslı Sayan and her daughter, the painter Beliz Samlı. Among the artists of Lacivert Art Gallery in Istanbul, İnan has taken part in the ArtAnkara International Contemporary Art Fair. Her practice in oils ranges from views of Istanbul to figurative interiors; in the work in our collection she depicts a café interior in a naïve idiom worked with a love of detail.
- ·Founder of Galeri Demirel in Ankara; artist of Lacivert Art Gallery
- ·Participant in the ArtAnkara International Contemporary Art Fair
Classical Masters
The historic wing of our collection: master painters of the 18th and 19th centuries, their works supported by documents and certificates.
Jean Pierre Drouin
Drouin's manner is distinguished by a fine, tightly stippled line, precisely rendered flesh tones, and delicate highlights heightened in white gouache.
Jean-Pierre Drouin (Besançon 1782 – Besançon 1861) was a French painter celebrated for his portrait miniatures and watercolours. Trained at the school of the Académie in Paris under the sculptor Dejoux, he then studied miniature painting with Jean-Baptiste Jacques Augustin, the foremost miniaturist of the age, establishing himself as a miniature painter at the Palais Royal in Paris from 1816. His work is represented in the Musée des Beaux-Arts de Besançon and the Palais des Beaux-Arts de Lille, and he is recorded in E. Bénézit's dictionary of artists.
- ·Represented in the Musée des Beaux-Arts de Besançon (independently confirmed; the artist's widow donated works to the museum in 1872)
- ·Represented in the Palais des Beaux-Arts, Lille
- ·Listed in E. Bénézit's dictionary of artists (Vol. 3, p. 679 — per certificate)
Mıgırdiç Civanyan
Atmospheric landscapes in the romantic-realist manner of the Aivazovsky tradition, centred on the shimmer of light upon water and land
Mıgırdiç Civanyan (1848, Beşiktaş, Istanbul – 1906, Istanbul) was an Istanbul painter of Armenian descent, celebrated for his moonlit views of the Bosphorus in the Ottoman capital. Born the son of Ohannes Givan, court violinist in the reign of Sultan Abdülmecid, he pursued his artistic training in Italy between 1876 and 1879 and, under the influence of the great marine painter Ivan Aivazovsky, developed a distinctive landscape idiom devoted to the sea and the light of night. Alongside the views of Istanbul and the Bosphorus painted in his Pera studio, he also worked on the mural decorations of the Beylerbeyi and Çırağan palaces.
- ·His works have sold at Sotheby's London auctions
- ·Worked on the mural decorations of the Beylerbeyi and Çırağan palaces
- ·Recorded in the E. Bénézit dictionary (Vol. 5, p. 56) and in Garo Kürkman's reference work on Armenian painters
Simon Agopyan
An academic realism tempered by an Orientalist sensibility, bringing a mastery of multi-figure composition to Istanbul's street characters and the peoples of Anatolia
Simon Agopyan (1857–1921) was an Ottoman-Armenian painter, born in the Samatya quarter of Istanbul, who devoted his life to portraying the people of his city. Trained under the painter Telemak Ekserciyan, he graduated from the Imperial School of Fine Arts (Sanayi-i Nefise Mektebi) in 1888, taking first prize with his graduation piece. He left a wide-ranging body of work that stretches from portraits of sultans and victory scenes of the Ottoman army to Istanbul's everyday figures — its porters and simit sellers; his war paintings are held today in the collection of the Harbiye Military Museum. For generations he taught painting at the Armenian schools of Üsküdar and Taksim; he died in Istanbul in 1921.
- ·Graduated first in his class from the Imperial School of Fine Arts (Sanayi-i Nefise Mektebi) in 1888
- ·His war paintings are held in the collection of the Harbiye Military Museum






