Author(s): Zeliha AKÇAOLU
ükriye Dikmen is a Turkish woman painter who had the privilege of belonging to several, different generations of contemporary Turkish painting; the purely abstract painting is still a great success all over the country. She was born in Istanbul in 1907. A friend of the family, Feyhaman Duran, was the one to introduce her to the Art. Then Dikmen continued her education in Fine Arts Academy’s high school in Istanbul in 1940. Her teachers there were, successively, Zeki Kocamemi, Nurullah Berk, and Cemal Tollu. Having graduated from the Academy, she went to Paris, where she took a three year course from Fernand Leger. Her teachers over the years to follow were Gustave Singier and Roger Chastel. At the same time she continued her education in Paris Ecole du Louvre Art History department, and successfully graduated in 1953. The very same year she held her first solo exhibition in Gallery Jeanne Castel in Paris. It was also the first time Dikmen’s works were evaluated by foreign critics; her works were considered very sincere, simple and monumental. Having returned to Turkey, she held exhibitions first in Istanbul, and then in Ankara. Turkish critics, Dikmen’s compatriots, praised her works too, noting specially her very own understanding of nature. Other important points touched upon favorably in their reviews, were the depth of her painting, the choice of color, and the simplicity of manner. Living in Paris, the world capital of arts, was not easy for Dikmen, especially after World War II. She was exposed to the general atmosphere and the influence of the artists who lived and worked next to her, and thus, preserving her own unique manner was predictably hard. However, for over half of the century ükriye Dikmen managed to retain her very special way of painting.
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