Agop Arad

Who is Agop Arad? (1913-1990)

He was born in Eskişehir in 1913. He completed his secondary education at Gedikpaşa Saint Assomption College. He enrolled at the Istanbul Academy of Fine Arts (now Mimar Sinan Fine Arts University) and worked there in the workshops of Nazmi Ziya Güran, İbrahim Çallı and later Leopold Levy.

He continued his painting studies in Paris. Here he attended Frochit Academy. He was not influenced by the cubist tendencies of his teacher Jean Metzinger; He preferred to reflect what he saw on the canvas as it was.

On March 24, 1940, Istanbul Journalists Association participated in the “New Group” exhibition opened in Beyoğlu Club. This group of painters, who accepted that the portrait of dock workers and the lives of these workers would be the subject of painting, became known as Harbor Painters. Agop Arad accepted the group’s social realist art view and became known especially for his paintings that revealed the daily life of Istanbul. In the meantime, he continued his journalism career. He continued his painting studies in parallel and presented his works in various exhibitions. He exhibited his works in approximately 45 personal exhibitions. In these works, Arad reflects sections of the lives of poor people with bright colors.