Artist

Hasan Vecih Bereketoğlu

Hasan Vecih Bereketoğlu, the son of the mullah of Egypt, Military Judge Bereketzade Cemal Bey and İsmet Hanım of Rhodes, was born in Cairo.  He began his education there, then continued it in Rhodes. In 1911, he entered the Faculty of Law at the Dârülfünûn (Istanbul University). Graduating in 1915, he then took his first painting lessons from Halil Paşa between 1916-1920. He opened his first exhibition in Rhodes in 1922. In 1923 he went to Paris, attending the studios at the Académie Julian. In 1924 he returned to Istanbul. He took violin lessons from Karl Berger. He took part in the Society of Turkish Painters and the Association of Fine Arts, both of which succeeded the Society of Ottoman Painters. He showed his works in the Istanbul and Ankara exhibitions and published articles and reviews in magazines such as Dergâh, Yeni Mecmua, Hayat, and La Turquie Kemaliste. He also contributed to the preparation of Sami Yetik’s book,  Our Painters. When the first community centre was opened in Istanbul in 1932, he assumed the position of Head of the Fine Arts Department.  He succeeded Celâl Esad Arseven as director of the Kadıköy Community Centre. In 1943 he settled in Ankara, where he spent seven years serving as director of the Presidential Office. For many years, he was a jury member for the State Painting and Sculpture Exhibitions.