Frumet Tektaş

Who is Frumet Tektaş? (1912-1961)

Ayşe Frumet Tektaş is one of the first female painters in the history of the Ottoman Empire and the Republic. Ms. Frumet, the daughter of diplomat Suat Davaz, went abroad to study art and lived in cities such as Rome and Paris until 1938. Frumet Tektaş, who married Afif Tektaş when she returned home, became the person who opened the first Philharmonic association in Turkey.
Painting Studies
Frumet Tektaş, one of the first female painters in the history of the Ottoman Empire and the Republic, was born in 1912. She is the daughter of Ambassador Suat Davaz.
Tektaş, who started receiving training on music and painting from an early age, received his first painting education in Rome due to his father’s job. After his education at the French academy called Villa Medici in Rome, he continued his studies at a British academy in Via Margutta. It is known that Frumet Tektaş, who was interested in music as well as his interest in painting, worked on an opera while he was in Rome.
During the years when Frumet Tektaş lived in Rome, Mihri Müşfik Hanım, one of the pioneers of contemporary painting in Turkey, was also there.
During these years, Tektaş, who was influenced by Mihri Müşfik Hanım’s understanding of painting, moved to Paris with his family when Suat Davaz was appointed to the Paris Embassy in 1932. The painter, who did not interrupt his painting education in Paris, worked in the Grande Chaumiere and André Lhote workshops during the five years he was in Paris.
The painter, who focuses mostly on portraits, also has a few still life works. Then, she returned to Turkey in 1938 and married Afif Tektaş.
In 1945, the Istanbul Philharmonic Association was established with the initiatives of leading intellectuals and music lovers in the city. With the establishment of the association, as a result of the work pioneered by Afif Tektaş, Nadir Nadi and Cemal Reşit Rey, the Philharmonic Association expanded to include other notables of the city.
Frumet Tektaş, who organized various organizations in this association with her husband, opened her first exhibition here in 1946 and also gave painting lessons at the Philharmonic Association. On February 4, 1961, the painter passed away at the age of 49.