Artist

Abidin Dino

Abidin Dino was born in Istanbul, and his family moved to Geneva the very same year, settling in Paris in 1920. In 1925 they returned to Istanbul. He attended Robert College for two years before dropping out, focusing his energy on painting and caricature. He continued his artistic career without any formal training, and his caricatures and articles were published in various magazines and newspapers. In 1933 he was among the founding members of the d Group. In 1934, Dino travelled to Leningrad, invited by Soviet director Sergei Yutkevich, and worked in the Lenfilm studios. He moved to Paris in 1937 and formed relationships with Tristan Tzara, Pablo Picasso, Gertrude Stein, Jean Cocteau, and André Malraux. He also designed the set and costumes for the opera Faustus Lights the Lights, for which Stein had written a libretto. In 1938 he returned to Turkey, where he was a founding member of the New Group. In 1939, he was commissioned to organise the Turkish pavilions for the New York World’s Fair. In 1940, he was exiled to Adana for political reasons. Kel (Bald), the play he wrote in 1944, was banned. Dino moved to Paris once again, in 1952. In 1966 he shot the documentary Goal! about the London FIFA World Cup. He was among 80 contemporary artists, along with Joan Miró and Pablo Picasso, who prepared an exhibition dedicated to Louis Aragon, titled Homage to Parisian Peasant. In 1968, he exhibited his ceramic panels at the Henriette Gomez Gallery. After settling in Paris, his first exhibition in Turkey opened in 1969, at the Gallery Bir. He was elected honorary president of UNAP (French Association of Plastic Arts) in 1979. In addition to his work as a painter, Dino was a prolific illustrator, caricaturist, ceramicist, sculptor, and filmmaker; and published numerous articles on art and politics.