Artist

Sabri Berkel

Born in Skopje, Sabri Berkel first attended the Skopje Serbian-French School, then the Belgrade Academy of Fine Arts in 1928. From 1929 to 1935, he worked on frescoes and engravings in the studio of Felice Carena at the Florence Academy of Fine Arts. In 1935 he returned to Turkey, and upon the request of Léopold Lévy, he was appointed an assistant in the engraving studio at the Academy of Fine Arts. He worked as a painting teacher at various schools until 1939. In 1947, Berkel was sent to Paris with a scholarship from the Ministry of Education to study “luxury print art.” While there, he also worked in the studio of André Lhote. He participated in the Association of Independent Artists and Sculptors exhibition in 1939, the d Group shows in 1941 and 1945, and the annual State Exhibition of Painting and Sculpture from 1940 onwards. Between 1949 and 1974 he was a studio instructor in the Decorative Arts Department of the Academy of Fine Arts in Istanbul. In 1962 he mounted his first solo exhibitions abroad, in Austria, the Netherlands, and Switzerland. Berkel won first prize in the 1961 State Exhibition of Painting and Sculpture, and was elected a “State Artist” in 1991.