Arif Bedii Kaptan - Turkish Painting Association

Who is Arif Bedii Kaptan? (1906 -1979)

Who is Arif Bedii Kaptan, who made emotional landscapes in front of nature by being influenced by impressionism because he loved nature very much? Why did he later decide on abstract painting, following figurative paths? Here is Arif Kaptan’s life story;
His full name is Arif Bedii Kaptan. He was born in Istanbul in 1906. After graduating from Heybeliada Naval School, painter Arif Kaptan worked as a military engineer until 1930, but he left the military service and devoted himself entirely to the art of painting.
Arif Bedii Kaptan, who started his first art studies with his teachers at the Naval Academy, started taking private lessons from Nazmi Ziya Güran after graduating in 1924 due to his passion for painting and was influenced by Güran’s Impressionist technique.

He attended the Academy of Fine Arts as a guest student for a while. He studied with Ali Avni Çelebi and understood his constructive understanding of painting. The painter opened his first exhibition in 1935 at the State Academy of Fine Arts, and his second exhibition in Ankara under the name “Bursa Landscapes”.

Arif Bedii Kaptan participated in the Fine Arts Union exhibitions and organized personal exhibitions. He participated in the d Group and its exhibitions in 1939. He received awards at the 1st and 17th State Painting and Sculpture Exhibitions. He published essays and criticisms in newspapers and magazines. He wrote two books on Claude Monet and Delacroix.

Arif Bedii Kaptan, who worked at the Lhote workshop in Paris with his own means between 1947 and 1949, began to process nature impressions in a geometric abstraction.

Kaptan, who was in Paris again between 1957 and 1962, turned towards abstraction and was among the first lyrical-abstractionist painters. In the 1960s, he painted his paintings on crumpled papers.

The artist, who loves nature very much, was initially influenced by impressionism and created emotional landscapes in front of nature. Later, he went through figurative paths and decided on abstract painting. He is considered among the first lyrical abstractionist painters with some of his works. After 1955, he produces abstract works with a geometric approach that gives importance to color harmony. It is very successful in its landscapes. He generally expresses nature in the form of limited color spots by experimenting with a lyrical, colorist and abstract approach.
Arif Bedii Kaptan, who was awarded the third prize in the 1939 State Painting and Sculpture Exhibition and the second prize in the 1955 exhibition, was interested in literature as well as painting, and attracted attention with the essays and criticisms he wrote in the magazines and newspapers of the period. Today, the artist's paintings are in the collections of the Ankara State Painting and Sculpture Museum and the National Library. Additionally, his works are in many private collections.