Artist

Fikret Muallâ

Born in Istanbul, Fikret Muallâ was the son of Mehmet Ekrem Bey, a director at the Ottoman Public Debt Administration. After studying at the Saint Joseph French School for a while, he continued his education at the Imperial School (the Galatasaray High School), where Şevket Dağ was his painting teacher. In 1920, he was sent to Switzerland to study engineering. He went to Germany in 1921, and enrolled in the Posters and Graphic Design Department of the Munich Academy of Fine Arts. In 1922 he entered the Berlin Akademie der Künste (Academy of Fine Arts), and studied under Arthur Kampf. He returned to Turkey after completing his education in 1926. In 1927, he began working as a painting teacher at the Galatasaray High School. In 1928 he resigned from this post, and returned to Germany. He went to France between 1928-1930. Returning to Turkey in 1930, he was appointed as a painting teacher in Ayvalık. He illustrated Nazım Hikmet’s books titled Varan 3 (1930) and Why did Banerji Kill Himself? (1932). In 1932, his book on the German playwright Friedrich Schiller was published. His first exhibition opened at Kapps Bookstore in Beyoğlu in 1934. In addition to painting, he prepared costumes for operettas staged in Istanbul, such as Lüküs Hayat, Deli Dolu, and Saz Caz. He published illustrations in Yeni Adam magazine. In 1938, his short stories titled Üsera Headquarters and Fairy Tale were published in Ses magazine. In 1939, he painted Istanbul landscapes depicting Eyüp, Çamlıca, Moda, and Üsküdar for the Turkish Pavilion at the New York World’s Fair. The same year, he went to Paris, and enrolled in Othon Friesz’s studio at the Académie de la Grande Chaumière. From 1928 onwards, he had been hospitalised from time to time, receiving psychological treatment. His two major exhibitions, opened while he was still in hospital in 1954, were followed by others he opened and took part in both in and around Paris until 1964. He lived in France for the rest of his life.