Fahir Aksoy

Who is Fahir Aksoy? (1916 Istanbul – 2008 Erdek)

Ahmet Fahir Aksoy is considered one of Turkey’s leading masters in the field of naive painting.
He was born in Istanbul in 1916. He was educated at Fevziye High School, Göztepe American College and Edirne High School. The reason why he could not pursue higher education is explained in his life story as follows: “When my father exhausted the money he inherited from his father, he became the district governor of the district and we traveled from one end to the other of Anatolia. “The gradual deterioration of our financial situation did not allow me to pursue higher education.” Explaining, Fahir Aksoy started his working life in Vakit newspaper in 1935.
His first articles were published in Vakit and Edirne Postası newspapers. He managed the art and culture pages of Akşam, Ulus, Son Posta and Vatan newspapers. Later, he worked as a reporter and writer in the fields of reviews, essays, stories, criticism and interviews on art subjects in many newspapers and magazines. In 1947, he published a weekly political newspaper called Hür İdare.
Five lawsuits were filed against him and he was sentenced to eight years in prison, but he was not imprisoned by taking advantage of the general amnesty issued in 1951. He worked as a redactor in the Press and Foreign News Department for a while.
After working in insurance for a while, he worked again at Vatan newspaper in 1960. After that date, in addition to his painting works, he wrote articles on painting in magazines and newspapers. He tried to introduce the art of painting by taking it to the remote provincial cities of Anatolia through exhibitions. He opened exhibitions in Germany and Switzerland. In 1966, he participated in the International Naive Painters Exhibition traditionally held in Bratislava and prepared a documentary film on Matrakçı Nasuh. In 1974, he published a magazine called “Köken” (11 issues, March 1974-January 1975), covering culture and art.