Burhan Dogançay
Encyclopedia
Biography
Burhan Dogançay obtained his artistic training from his father Adil DoğançayAdil Dogançay
Adil Doğançay, the father of Burhan Dogançay, was born in Istanbul in 1900. He was an officer in the Turkish army and also a well-known painter. His works are predominantly impressionistic land- and seascapes as well as still lifes in oil on canvas...
, and Arif Kaptan, both well-known Turkish painters. In his youth, Dogançay played on the Turkish Gençlerbirliği soccer team. In 1950, he received a law degree from the University of Ankara, Turkey. While enrolled at the University of Paris
University of Paris
The University of Paris was a university located in Paris, France and one of the earliest to be established in Europe. It was founded in the mid 12th century, and officially recognized as a university probably between 1160 and 1250...
in 1953 from where he obtained a doctorate degree in economics, he attended from 1950 until 1955 art courses at the Académie de la Grande Chaumière
Académie de la Grande Chaumière
The Académie de la Grande Chaumière is an art school in the VIe arrondissement of Paris, France. The school was founded in 1902 by the Swiss Martha Stettler , who refused to teach the strict academic rules of painting of the École des Beaux-Arts. It opened the way to the "Art Indépendant"...
. During this period he continued to paint regularly and to show his works in several group exhibitions. Soon after his return to Turkey, he participated in many exhibitions, including joint exhibitions with his father at the Ankara Art Lovers Club. Following a brief career with the government (diplomatic service) which brought him to New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
City in 1962, Dogançay decided in 1964 to devote himself entirely to art
Art
Art is the product or process of deliberately arranging items in a way that influences and affects one or more of the senses, emotions, and intellect....
and make New York his permanent home. Today, Dogançay lives and works in Istanbul, New York City and Turgutreis
Turgutreis
Turgutreis is a town in Turkey about a 60 minute drive from Bodrum International Airport. It is the second largest town on the Bodrum peninsula. The district, which comes under the City of Muğla and Bodrum Town, is in an area of 55,000 Hectare...
, Turkey
Turkey
Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...
.
Art
Ab initio, Dogançay was fascinated by urban wallsWall
A wall is a usually solid structure that defines and sometimes protects an area. Most commonly, a wall delineates a building and supports its superstructure, separates space in buildings into rooms, or protects or delineates a space in the open air...
and chose them as his subject. He saw them as the barometer of our society and a testament to the passage of time, reflecting social, political and economic changes, frequently withstanding the assault of the elements and the markings left by people.
In the mid-seventies, Dogançay embarked on what he saw then as his secondary project: photograph
Photograph
A photograph is an image created by light falling on a light-sensitive surface, usually photographic film or an electronic imager such as a CCD or a CMOS chip. Most photographs are created using a camera, which uses a lens to focus the scene's visible wavelengths of light into a reproduction of...
ing urban walls all over the globe
Globe
A globe is a three-dimensional scale model of Earth or other spheroid celestial body such as a planet, star, or moon...
. Over time, this project gained importance as well as content and after four decades now encompasses over 100 countries. These photographs are an archive of our time and the seeds for his paintings, which in and by themselves are also documentary of the era in which we live. With posters and objects gathered from walls forming the main ingredient for his work, it is only logical that Dogançay’s preferred medium has been predominantly ‘collage
Collage
A collage is a work of formal art, primarily in the visual arts, made from an assemblage of different forms, thus creating a new whole....
’ and to some extent ‘fumage
Fumage
Fumage is a surrealist painting technique invented by Wolfgang Paalen in which impressions are made by the smoke of a candle or kerosene lamp on a piece of paper or canvas.It was later employed by Salvador Dalí, who called it "sfumato"....
’. Dogançay re-creates walls in different series.
In the 70s and 80s he gained notoriety with his interpretation of urban walls in his signature ribbons series, which in contrast to his collaged billboard
Billboard
Billboard is a weekly American magazine devoted to the music industry, and is one of the oldest trade magazines in the world. It maintains several internationally recognized music charts that track the most popular songs and albums in various categories on a weekly basis...
works such as the Cones Series
Cones Series
The Cones Series is a series of 87 abstract paintings by Turkish artist Burhan Doğançay, executed between 1986 and 1995 and featuring cones.In almost all of the paintings in the series the collage and fumage techniques are applied.-External links:*...
, Doors Series or Walls of Alexander consist of clean paper strips and their calligraphy|calligraphically-shaped shadow
Shadow
A shadow is an area where direct light from a light source cannot reach due to obstruction by an object. It occupies all of the space behind an opaque object with light in front of it. The cross section of a shadow is a two-dimensional silhouette, or reverse projection of the object blocking the...
s. This series later gave rise to aluminum composite material shadow sculptures and Aubusson Tapestries
Aubusson, Creuse
Aubusson is a commune in the Creuse department in the Limousin region in central France.-Geography:...
.
In November 2009, one of Dogançay's paintings, Mavi Senfoni (Blue Symphony), was sold to Murat Ülker for US$1,700,000 in an auction in Istanbul, Turkey. This collage relates to an impressive cycle of works within the Dogançay oeuvre, called Cones series, that evolved as a deliberative of his iconic Breakthrough and Ribbon series and as an exhilarant exploration of the urban space. The previous owner of the painting had bought it in 1995 for US$50,000 at an exhibition. Together with its two sister works, Magnificent Era (collection of Istanbul Modern
Istanbul Modern
The Istanbul Modern Art Museum, aka Istanbul Museum of Modern Art, is a museum of contemporary art in the Beyoğlu district of Istanbul, Turkey, inaugurated on December 11, 2004, prominently featuring the work of Turkish artists...
) and Mimar Sinan (private collection), Symphony in Blue is one of the largest and most expressive works in which Dogançay enters into a dialogue with the history of Turkey
Turkey
Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...
. It was executed in 1987 for the first International Istanbul Biennial
Istanbul Biennial
The International Istanbul Biennial is a contemporary art exhibition, held every two years in Istanbul, Turkey, since 1987. The biennial is organised by the İstanbul Foundation for Culture and Arts. The Biennial aims to create a meeting point in İstanbul in the field of visual arts between artists...
.
Dogancay Museum
Being exclusively dedicated to the work of Burhan Dogançay, and to a minor extent also to the art of his father, Adil, the Doğançay MuseumDogançay Museum
The Doğançay Museum, Turkey’s first modern art museum, officially opened its doors to the public in 2004. It is housed in a historic 150-year-old five-story building located in the heart of bustling Beyoğlu district of Istanbul...
provides a retrospective survey of the artist’s various creative phases from his student days up until the present. With about 100 works on display, Doğançay Museum in Istanbul's Beyoğlu
Beyoglu
Beyoğlu is a district located on the European side of İstanbul, Turkey, separated from the old city by the Golden Horn...
is Turkey's first contemporary art museum.
Doğançay's works is in the collection of many museums around the world including New York's MoMA
Moma
Moma may refer to:* Moma , an owlet moth genus* Moma Airport, a Russian public airport* Moma District, Nampula, Mozambique* Moma River, a right tributary of the Indigirka River* Google Moma, the Google corporate intranet...
, Metropolitan Museum of Art
Metropolitan Museum of Art
The Metropolitan Museum of Art is a renowned art museum in New York City. Its permanent collection contains more than two million works, divided into nineteen curatorial departments. The main building, located on the eastern edge of Central Park along Manhattan's Museum Mile, is one of the...
, The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum as well as National Gallery of Art in Washington
National Gallery of Art
The National Gallery of Art and its Sculpture Garden is a national art museum, located on the National Mall between 3rd and 9th Streets at Constitution Avenue NW, in Washington, DC...
, MUMOK
MUMOK
MUMOK is the abbreviation of "MUseum MOderner Kunst" Foundation Ludwig Vienna. It is located in the Museumsquartier in Vienna, Austria....
in Vienna, Musée National d'Art Moderne
Musée National d'Art Moderne
The Musée National d'Art Moderne is the national museum for modern art of France. It is located in Paris and is housed in the Centre Pompidou in the 4th arrondissement of the city. Created in 1947, it was then housed in the Palais de Tokyo and moved to its current location in 1977...
in Paris, Istanbul Modern
Istanbul Modern
The Istanbul Modern Art Museum, aka Istanbul Museum of Modern Art, is a museum of contemporary art in the Beyoğlu district of Istanbul, Turkey, inaugurated on December 11, 2004, prominently featuring the work of Turkish artists...
in Istanbul, The Israel Museum
Israel Museum
The Israel Museum, Jerusalem was founded in 1965 as Israel's national museum. It is situated on a hill in the Givat Ram neighborhood of Jerusalem, near the Bible Lands Museum, the Knesset, the Israeli Supreme Court, and the Hebrew University of Jerusalem....
in Jerusalem and The State Russian Museum in St. Petersburg.
Awards
- 2005 - Contribution to the Arts Award given by the International Contemporary Art Exposition, İstanbul
- 2005 - Art Honor Award given by the Art Forum Plastic Arts Fair, Ankara
- 2004 - Honorary doctorate from Hacettepe University, Ankara
- 2004 - Painter of the Year Award given by Sanat Kurumu, Ankara
- 1995 - National Medal for the Arts for Lifetime Achievement & Cultural Contribution given by the President of the Republic of Turkey
- 1992 - Medal of Appreciation given by the Ministry of Culture of Russia
- 1984 - Enka Arts & Science Award, İstanbul
- 1969 - Tamarind Lithography Workshop Fellowship, Los Angeles
- 1964 - Certificate of Appreciation by the City of New York