Who is Osman Asaf Bora? (1868-1938)
Osman Asaf, born in Sarajevo in 1868, enrolled in Sanayi-i Nefise Mektebi in his 20s. The artist, who successfully graduated from Sanay-i Nefise, where he was among the first students, is among the founders of the Ottoman Painters Society, the first artist community in our country. He is the responsible director of the Ottoman Painters Society magazine, which is the society’s publication organ. During the war, he served as the Mayor of Bandırma, Balıkesir.
The artist, who worked as an art teacher in many junior high schools and high schools, starting from Numune-i Terakki School during the Republic period, retired from Pertevniyal High School in 1932. Osman Asaf took the surname Bora in accordance with the surname law enacted near his death. He passed away in his house in Kadıköy Kızıltoprak in November 1938.
The source of the subjects in Osman Asaf Bora’s paintings is nature. He paints his landscapes not by looking at them from postcards, but by observing them outdoors. In this respect, it can be said that Osman Asaf participated in the tendency of Hoca Ali Rıza generation to depict historical and rural nature with his unique color richness. The landscapes he painted of Istanbul’s nature constitute Osman Asaf’s most important works. In these paintings, the artist has identified Istanbul districts such as Erenköy, Kızıltoprak, Acıbadem, Dudullu, Kalamış, Fenerbahçe, Maltepe, Kağıthane and Göksu streams, old mansions, tree-lined roads and rocks with a meticulous sense of depiction. Generally, the figure was not given much space in the narrow streets where he painted. Some of his paintings show deserted sea and countryside views.
While nature in rural environments extends in an unlimited space, its elements such as trees, plants and rocks reflect the rich texture of the environment. The historical buildings we see in the studies are religious elements of Islam, such as mosques, tombs, fountains, ruins, bridges, mansions and maiden’s towers, which are architectural structures that the society is familiar with.
In his works, he mainly used yellow tones as well as blue, purple and brown tones. He used light and shadow in his compositions to reveal the three-dimensional structures of objects. In addition, he included mountain, forest, sea and sailboat elements in the background of his paintings, where it was also important to show atmospheric changes.
Apart from his landscape depictions, the artist also has works of still nature and figures, although not many. In these works, the artist's ability to evaluate objects is based on lines and light and dark values.
He preferred the oil painting technique in his early works. Due to health problems, in his later works he worked with gouache and watercolor techniques, which are mixed with water and whose smell is not as intense as oil painting.
The artist's oil painting technique is almost as thin-layered as the watercolor paintings. He also used colors cleanly, without mixing them too much, and included plays of light and shadow. Although each of the techniques he applies has a different value in itself, he shows a different competence with the works he created in the watercolor technique.
In conclusion; The artist, who lived in the war-changing life environment of Istanbul and experienced the socio-cultural changes brought about by the Constitutional Monarchy and the Republic periods; evaluated its activities within these different processes. The artist, who takes the source of his works from the traditional structure of the society, his love for nature and his power of observation, has produced many works. When examining the works, it can be seen that the artist, who works on almost all techniques and types of painting, mostly has landscape works.
