Ayhan Türker - Turkish Painting Association - UK- Headquartered in London

Who is Ayhan Türker? (1938-2022)

He was born in 1938 in Çermik district of Diyarbakır, where his father worked as a primary school teacher. He completed his primary school education at Diyarbakır’s Yeni Primary School and his high school education at Diyarbakır Ziya Gökalp High School in 1956. He came to Istanbul with his love of painting, which started in his primary school years and was determined by the close attention and encouragement of Turan Erol, who was his art teacher during his high school years, and with the desire to study painting at the Fine Arts Academy (now Mimar Sinan Fine Arts University). He entered the Academy by passing the painting department entrance exam, with the great appreciation of the Academy faculty members.

During these years, he studied “watercolor” and “oil painting” under Sabri Berkel and Edip Hakkı Köseoğlu. However, in accordance with the wishes of his father, a head teacher who could be considered an intellectual in his circles, he left the Academy after a short time and enrolled in Istanbul University Faculty of Law. For a year, he spent his days painting at this faculty, which he did not like at all. At the end of the year, with his father’s consent, he took the Academy entrance exams for the second time, and this time he got into the interior architecture department and completed his academic education in this department. However, he never stopped his work on painting. In fact, during his student years, he gained financial means that would provide a very comfortable life for a student, thanks to the illustrations, films and other types of posters he made. He graduated as “Master Interior Architect” in 1960.

He started his career as an interior designer in a decoration and furniture store in Nişantaşı. After working here for about 3 years, he opened a decoration office and furniture store in his own name in 1966. In the 70s and 80s, it became one of the few leading companies and important names in Turkey in the field of furniture and decoration.
Türker, who remained in touch with art during the years he worked as an interior designer between 1963 and 1995, continued his painting works in his home workshop. The knowledge and skills acquired in watercolor lessons from Edip Hakkı Köseoğlu and graphics department teacher Namık Bayık also played an important role in Ayhan Türker reaching "virtuosity" in watercolor painting, as Turan Erol puts it.
He opened his first personal exhibition in 1985 at Beyoğlu Vakko Art Gallery. The interest it received was beyond expectations. This interest continued to increase in the following years and made his work more intense and conscious. Following the first exhibition, he held many personal exhibitions and participated in group exhibitions in Istanbul, Ankara and Izmir.
Ayhan Türker continued his work in an impressionist line, in the words of Cezanne, "parallel to nature", using all kinds of materials, without being carried away by current trends and excitement. Türker, one of the most respected artists of today's impressionist style; With his still life and landscape paintings about Istanbul, he transferred Istanbul to the canvas in a fairy-tale style and added a different dimension to this style.
Ayhan Türker, with his understanding of art, his perspective on life, always producing over a period of more than half a century, seeing every difference at the point he looks at, and being able to transfer this to his canvas with a superior talent; According to major art critics, he is the most important representative of the "Çallı" generation today. His interpretation of the Istanbul landscape with true painting nobility, without falling into the corruption of touristic and storytelling understanding, is different from those that are thought to be similar in this field.
Ayhan Türker, one of the most important painters of the 20th and 21st centuries, continued to produce permanent works of documentary nature while transferring the Istanbul picturesque to his canvas. Especially his landscapes on the theme of Emirgan Çınaraltı, Kandilli, Kanlıca, Göksu, Bebek Bay, İstinye Bay, Yeniköy, Bosphorus and especially his still lifes on the theme of "Magnolia" are in very valuable selected collections at home and abroad, in the Presidential Mansion, at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in special collections. It is located in individuals, institutions, ministries, banks and museums.
The artist has produced very remarkable works not only in landscape works, but also in portrait works, especially Atatürk portraits, with watercolor, oil paint and pastel materials.
In 2000, the text was written by Prof. A 246-page book titled "An Istanbul Impressionist, Ayhan Türker" written by Kaya Özsezgin has been published.
Ayhan Türker passed away in Istanbul on January 21, 2022.

Selected Exhibitions
2017 ‘Pictures That Do Not Deceive’ - Türker Art
2015 '50th Year in Art' - Türker Art
2009 "Impressions from the Environment" - Artium Sanatevi
March 2008 collection
2007 Doku Art Gallery
March 2007 collection
2006 Doku Art Gallery
2006 Toprak Art Gallery
2005 Artium Art Gallery
2004 Arti Auction
2003 Artium Art Gallery
2003 Arti Auction
2003 Arti Auction
2001 Gallery Kile