Artist

İbrahim Çallı

Born in the Çal district of Denizli, İbrahim Çallı came to Istanbul at a young age and started his working life as a scrivener. He worked as a court clerk from 1905 to 1911. He entered the Academy of Fine Arts in 1906 with the help of Şeker Ahmed Paşa, where he was a student of Salvatore Valeri and Joseph Warnia-Zarzecki. In 1909, he was among the founding members of the Society of Ottoman Painters. After graduating with a first-class degree in 1910, he came first in the scholarship examination to study in Europe, and was sent to Paris. There, he attended Fernand Cormon’s studio at the École des Beaux-Arts. In 1914 he returned to Istanbul, and worked as Prince Abdülmecid Efendi’s painting tutor until becoming an instructor at the Academy of Fine Arts later that same year. He took part in the Galatasaray Exhibitions. In 1915, during the First World War, he and Nazmi Ziya were selected as painters for the delegation of authors and journalists assembled to document the Gallipoli front. He also took part in the Şişli Studio, which was established in 1917 to produce war paintings. The resulting works were exhibited in Vienna in 1918. He worked as a studio instructor at the Istanbul State Academy of Fine Arts until his retirement in 1947.  The “1914 Generation” of Turkish painters is also known as the “Çallı Generation.”