Nusret Çolpan
Encyclopedia
Nusret Çolpan was a Turkish
painter, architect and miniaturist, renowned for his paintings in Ottoman miniature
style depicting cities around the world, particularly Istanbul
. He painted over 300 miniatures in his 30 year career.
. He worked as a waiter
for four years after primary school, and worked on a newsstand for two years after secondary school. While he was working on the newsstand, his microscopically detailed drawings of mosques on wooden spoons began to amaze people around him in Bandirma. He met with Professor Suheyl Unver through his uncle Ali Oztaylan.
He started and graduated from high school in Zincirlikuyu Meslek Lisesi. He was not planning further education but on the advice of Suheyl Unver and Azade Akar he started to study at Yildiz Technical University
, Department of Architecture. He was working on Ottoman illumination
during the university years but he was daring for more and decided to work on miniatures. He worked for years in a small atelier with his closest friend Semih Irtes in Fatih
.
, Istanbul
, Bukhara
, Medina
, Konya
, and opened-joined many exhibitions until the year 1999. In that year he also painted 8 miniatures for the 700th anniversary of the foundation of the Ottoman Empire
.
, he started to work on very large sizes (over 20 meters) in collaboration with Iznik Foundation
, producing many paintings on tiles. In Turkey they are currently exposed in Beykoz
Ferry Harbour, Kadir Has University
, Ministry of Religious Affairs
, Turkish Airlines
. Abroad they can be seen at El Zabeel Park in Dubai
, Canada
, Thailand
and Greece
. His name spread around the world in those years. He was working on canvas and planning new projects in his last years. He was also teaching his art in Cerrahpasa and Yildiz.
Çolpan died because of heart disease on May 31, 2008 in Istanbul. The Newspapers and TV Channels described his loss with words as "miniature has lost its smiling face".
, who lived during the period of Suleiman the Magnificent
. Cities are the main subjects of most of Çolpan's Paintings, but he also painted events like Noah's Ark
, 8 miniatures for 700th anniversary of the Ottoman Empire, the Battle of Preveza
, the Fall of Constantinople
, Mevlana and Sema
ceremonies: besides, he painted also on occasion of documentaries with his students. Çolpan used spiral forms in many miniatures. The harmony of spirals in clouds and general forms created his unique style. He avoided repainting old miniatures and managed to paint present time in the main concepts of miniature. He implemented miniatures on tiles first time. He continued on the way of his teacher Suheyl Unver and after centuries of neglect reapproched people with the art of miniature.
Enormous Award of Türk Kültürüne Hizmet Vakfı
Mevlana Success Award
Turkey Ministry of Foreign Affairs
Türkiye Yazarlar Birliği Traditional Arts Success Award
Press Museum
Atatürk Library
Municipality of Istanbul
Bandırma Art Center
Caferağa Medresesi
Cemal Reşit Rey Exhibition Hall
Tuğra Art Gallery
Ali Müfit Gürtuna Art Center
Kadir Has University
Taksim Art Gallery
Bursa Teyyare Culture Center
Turkish people
Turkish people, also known as the "Turks" , are an ethnic group primarily living in Turkey and in the former lands of the Ottoman Empire where Turkish minorities had been established in Bulgaria, Cyprus, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Georgia, Greece, Kosovo, Macedonia, and Romania...
painter, architect and miniaturist, renowned for his paintings in Ottoman miniature
Ottoman miniature
Ottoman Miniature or Turkish miniature was an art form in the Ottoman Empire, which can be linked to the Persian miniature tradition, as well as strong Chinese artistic influences. It was a part of the Ottoman Book Arts together with illumination , calligraphy , marbling paper and bookbinding...
style depicting cities around the world, particularly Istanbul
Istanbul
Istanbul , historically known as Byzantium and Constantinople , is the largest city of Turkey. Istanbul metropolitan province had 13.26 million people living in it as of December, 2010, which is 18% of Turkey's population and the 3rd largest metropolitan area in Europe after London and...
. He painted over 300 miniatures in his 30 year career.
Lost Years in Bandirma
Çolpan's talent for painting was recognized before he moved to IstanbulIstanbul
Istanbul , historically known as Byzantium and Constantinople , is the largest city of Turkey. Istanbul metropolitan province had 13.26 million people living in it as of December, 2010, which is 18% of Turkey's population and the 3rd largest metropolitan area in Europe after London and...
. He worked as a waiter
Waiter
Waiting staff, wait staff, or waitstaff are those who work at a restaurant or a bar attending customers — supplying them with food and drink as requested. Traditionally, a male waiting tables is called a "waiter" and a female a "waitress" with the gender-neutral version being a "server"...
for four years after primary school, and worked on a newsstand for two years after secondary school. While he was working on the newsstand, his microscopically detailed drawings of mosques on wooden spoons began to amaze people around him in Bandirma. He met with Professor Suheyl Unver through his uncle Ali Oztaylan.
Life in Istanbul
Yildiz Technical University
Yildiz Technical University is a technical university dedicated to engineering sciences and is one of the most prominent educational institutions in Istanbul, Turkey. The central campus lies within the Beşiktaş district.-History:Yildiz Technical University has a distinguished history which began...
, Department of Architecture. He was working on Ottoman illumination
Ottoman illumination
Turkish or Ottoman illumination covers non-figurative painted or drawn decorative art in books or on sheets in muraqqa or albums, as opposed to the figurative images of the Ottoman miniature. In Turkish it is called “tezhip”, an Arabic word which means “ornamenting with gold”...
during the university years but he was daring for more and decided to work on miniatures. He worked for years in a small atelier with his closest friend Semih Irtes in Fatih
Fatih
Fatih is a municipality and district in Istanbul, Turkey that encompasses most of the peninsula coinciding with historic Constantinople. In 2009, the district of Eminönü, formerly a separate municipality located at the tip of the peninsula, was merged into Fatih...
.
Working Hard
He Travelled around Europe for several months and as he returned to Turkey he married with Husniye Çolpan in 1979. In the same year he opened a small interior decoration atelier, also in Fatih. He was painting and running his atelier in the same time. An interview made in this atelier with Nusret Çolpan was published on Wall Street Journal in 1980. At the same time, his paintings started to be known and appreciated. He painted over 250 watercolor miniatures, mostly of cities, such as New YorkNew York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
, Istanbul
Istanbul
Istanbul , historically known as Byzantium and Constantinople , is the largest city of Turkey. Istanbul metropolitan province had 13.26 million people living in it as of December, 2010, which is 18% of Turkey's population and the 3rd largest metropolitan area in Europe after London and...
, Bukhara
Bukhara
Bukhara , from the Soghdian βuxārak , is the capital of the Bukhara Province of Uzbekistan. The nation's fifth-largest city, it has a population of 263,400 . The region around Bukhara has been inhabited for at least five millennia, and the city has existed for half that time...
, Medina
Medina
Medina , or ; also transliterated as Madinah, or madinat al-nabi "the city of the prophet") is a city in the Hejaz region of western Saudi Arabia, and serves as the capital of the Al Madinah Province. It is the second holiest city in Islam, and the burial place of the Islamic Prophet Muhammad, and...
, Konya
Konya
Konya is a city in the Central Anatolia Region of Turkey. The metropolitan area in the entire Konya Province had a population of 1,036,027 as of 2010, making the city seventh most populous in Turkey.-Etymology:...
, and opened-joined many exhibitions until the year 1999. In that year he also painted 8 miniatures for the 700th anniversary of the foundation of the Ottoman Empire
Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman EmpireIt was usually referred to as the "Ottoman Empire", the "Turkish Empire", the "Ottoman Caliphate" or more commonly "Turkey" by its contemporaries...
.
Golden Years
In 1999, on the occasion of the opening of Istanbul MetroIstanbul Metro
The Istanbul Metro, or the M2, is a mass-transit underground railway network that serves the city of Istanbul, Turkey. Founded in 2000, it now includes 13 stations. The system currently consists of a single north-south line...
, he started to work on very large sizes (over 20 meters) in collaboration with Iznik Foundation
Iznik pottery
İznik pottery, named after the town in western Anatolia where it was made, is highly decorated ceramics that was produced between the late 15th and 17th centuries....
, producing many paintings on tiles. In Turkey they are currently exposed in Beykoz
Beykoz
Beykoz is a district in the suburbs of Istanbul, Turkey at the northern end of the Bosphorus on the Anatolian side. Beykoz includes everything from the streams of Küçüksu and Göksu up to the opening of the Bosphorus into the Black Sea, and the villages in the hinterland as far as the river of Riva...
Ferry Harbour, Kadir Has University
Kadir Has University
Kadir Has University ' or as mostly preferred by its students ', was founded in 1997, in Istanbul. A private university, it has seven faculties, Engineering, Sciences and Humanities, Economics and Administrative Sciences, Communication, Law and Fine Arts, as well as its several vocational schools,...
, Ministry of Religious Affairs
Diyanet Isleri Baskanligi
In Turkey, the Presidency of Religious Affairs is an official institution established in 1924 after the abolition of the caliphate. Founded by the Grand National Assembly of Turkey as a successor to Sheikh ul-Islam, it represents the highest Islamic religious authority in the country...
, Turkish Airlines
Turkish Airlines
Turkish Airlines is the national flag carrier airline of Turkey, headquartered in the Turkish Airlines General Management Building on the grounds of Atatürk Airport in Yeşilköy, Bakirköy district, Istanbul...
. Abroad they can be seen at El Zabeel Park in Dubai
Dubai
Dubai is a city and emirate in the United Arab Emirates . The emirate is located south of the Persian Gulf on the Arabian Peninsula and has the largest population with the second-largest land territory by area of all the emirates, after Abu Dhabi...
, Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
, Thailand
Thailand
Thailand , officially the Kingdom of Thailand , formerly known as Siam , is a country located at the centre of the Indochina peninsula and Southeast Asia. It is bordered to the north by Burma and Laos, to the east by Laos and Cambodia, to the south by the Gulf of Thailand and Malaysia, and to the...
and Greece
Greece
Greece , officially the Hellenic Republic , and historically Hellas or the Republic of Greece in English, is a country in southeastern Europe....
. His name spread around the world in those years. He was working on canvas and planning new projects in his last years. He was also teaching his art in Cerrahpasa and Yildiz.
Çolpan died because of heart disease on May 31, 2008 in Istanbul. The Newspapers and TV Channels described his loss with words as "miniature has lost its smiling face".
Art
Çolpan has been inspired by City Illustrator Matrakci NasuhMatrakçi Nasuh
Nasuh bin Karagöz bin Abdullah el-Bosnavî , commonly known as Matrakçı Nasuh for his competence in the game called Matrak was a 16th century Ottoman mathematician, teacher, historian, geographer, cartographer, swordmaster, and miniaturist of...
, who lived during the period of Suleiman the Magnificent
Suleiman the Magnificent
Suleiman I was the tenth and longest-reigning Sultan of the Ottoman Empire, from 1520 to his death in 1566. He is known in the West as Suleiman the Magnificent and in the East, as "The Lawgiver" , for his complete reconstruction of the Ottoman legal system...
. Cities are the main subjects of most of Çolpan's Paintings, but he also painted events like Noah's Ark
Noah's Ark
Noah's Ark is a vessel appearing in the Book of Genesis and the Quran . These narratives describe the construction of the ark by Noah at God's command to save himself, his family, and the world's animals from the worldwide deluge of the Great Flood.In the narrative of the ark, God sees the...
, 8 miniatures for 700th anniversary of the Ottoman Empire, the Battle of Preveza
Battle of Preveza
The naval Battle of Preveza took place on 28 September 1538 near Preveza in northwestern Greece between an Ottoman fleet and that of a Christian alliance assembled by Pope Paul III.-Background:...
, the Fall of Constantinople
Fall of Constantinople
The Fall of Constantinople was the capture of the capital of the Byzantine Empire, which occurred after a siege by the Ottoman Empire, under the command of Ottoman Sultan Mehmed II, against the defending army commanded by Byzantine Emperor Constantine XI...
, Mevlana and Sema
Sema
Sama is a Sufi ceremony performed as dhikr. Sama means "listening", while dhikr means "remembrance". These rituals often includes singing, playing instruments, dancing, recitation of poetry and prayers, wearing symbolic attire, and other rituals...
ceremonies: besides, he painted also on occasion of documentaries with his students. Çolpan used spiral forms in many miniatures. The harmony of spirals in clouds and general forms created his unique style. He avoided repainting old miniatures and managed to paint present time in the main concepts of miniature. He implemented miniatures on tiles first time. He continued on the way of his teacher Suheyl Unver and after centuries of neglect reapproched people with the art of miniature.
Awards
Enormous Award of Turkey Ministry of CultureEnormous Award of Türk Kültürüne Hizmet Vakfı
Mevlana Success Award
Turkey Ministry of Foreign Affairs
Türkiye Yazarlar Birliği Traditional Arts Success Award
Exhibitions
Topkapı PalaceTopkapi Palace
The Topkapı Palace is a large palace in Istanbul, Turkey, that was the primary residence of the Ottoman Sultans for approximately 400 years of their 624-year reign....
Press Museum
Atatürk Library
Municipality of Istanbul
Bandırma Art Center
Caferağa Medresesi
Cemal Reşit Rey Exhibition Hall
Tuğra Art Gallery
Ali Müfit Gürtuna Art Center
Kadir Has University
Taksim Art Gallery
Bursa Teyyare Culture Center