Gürdal Duyar

)
, family = Neşe Aybey (sister)
, spouse =
, awards =
, organization = Turkish High Sculptors Society
, education = Rudolf Belling, Ali Hadi Bara
, alma_mater = State Academy of Fine Arts
, website =
, known_for = Sculpture, painting, sketching
, works =
, signature = GurdalDuyarSignatureAsAppearsOnTheAbdiIpekciPeaceMonumentPlinth.svg
, resting_place = Zincirlikuyu Cemetery

Gürdal Duyar (20 August 1935 – 18 April 2004) was a Turkish sculptor, known especially for his monuments to Atatürk and busts of famous people. His art is characterized by a modern expressionist style balanced with abstraction. He is considered one of the pioneers of modern figurative sculpture in Turkey. Although Duyar was also a painter and was noted for his sketching, his best known works are the public sculptures that can be found in the different parks and squares of Istanbul.

Duyar was a student of Rudolf Belling and Ali Hadi Bara at the State Academy of Fine Arts in Istanbul, before spending some time abroad after graduating. He worked on sculpture, especially on busts, in Belgium, France and Switzerland in the beginning of his career as a freelance artist. Following his return to Turkey, he became known as a sculptor of Atatürk monuments after garnering significant attention for his ''Uşak Atatürk Monument'' (1965). In the period that followed he made several more Atatürk monuments around Turkey, and also held the first exhibition of his work (1968).

Later in his career, many sculptures Duyar made were damaged, removed or lost; most notably, the controversial 1974 removal of '' Güzel İstanbul''. He joined the Turkish High Sculptors Society and over the years was commissioned for various works, such as the '' Borazan İsmail Monument'' (1972), '' Kayseri Atatürk Monument'' (1974) and ''Âşık Seyrani Monument'' (1976). Duyar held exhibitions of his sculptures and paintings, both individual and alongside other artists. His later major sculptures are ''Şairler Sofası'' (1998), '' Abdi İpekçi Peace Monument'' (2000) and ''Necati Cumalı'' (2002). Among his other public sculptures are the many busts that can be found in Sanatçılar Park. Duyar died in 2004 in Istanbul at age 69.

Early life and work

Gürdal Duyar was born on 20 August 1935 in Istanbul as the youngest child of Fikri Duyar and Nezahat Duyar, ''née'' Erişkin. His older siblings were Erdal Duyar (1927-1975) and Neşe Aybey (1930-2015). His sister Neşe, the middle child of the three siblings, became a well known miniature artist who graduated from, and later taught at, the State Academy of Fine Arts.

Duyar attended the İstanbul Haydarpaşa School in Istanbul. After finishing middle school in 1951, he began his education in the arts by taking high school-level classes at the sculpture faculty of the State Academy of Fine Arts, which was possible at the time due to a special regulation of the government. At the academy, which today goes by the name Mimar Sinan Fine Arts University, he was a student of German sculptor Rudolf Belling.
In 1952 he entered the high sculpture division of the academy and studied in the atelier of Ali Hadi Bara. At the academy he also learned from Zühtü Müridoğlu, and İlhan Koman. When he was 17, one of his sculptures was exhibited in the Painting and Sculpture Museum at the Dolmabahçe Palace and at 19, Duyar had a work exhibited in the State Painting and Sculpture Museum.
He graduated from the academy in 1959 and became a freelance artist.

After finishing his studies at the academy, Duyar worked in Belgium, France and Switzerland for some time, making a number of busts and studying architecture.
During this time abroad he developed his stonework skills while working with the sculptor León Perrin, a close friend of Le Corbisier. One of his early major busts was a tall bust of Atatürk that was commissioned for by the Düzce municipality in 1962. Two of his early plaster busts: Portrait of Bilge (Turkish: ''Bilge’nin portresi'') and Head of a Woman (Turkish: ''Kadın Başı'') were also exhibited at the İstanbul State Art and Sculpture Museum.

Career breakthrough (1963–1973)

Duyar returned to Istanbul around 1963. Around the same time, there was a campaign by the ''Milliyet'' newspaper to raise money to erect Atatürk monuments in certain provinces. Duyar was the youngest participant to sign up for the sculpture competition to select the sculptors that would make these monuments. He was among the 8 winners and became the sculptor allocated to the province of Uşak. Duyar's design was an tall sculpture depicting a caped Ataturk with his left hand raised and right hand in motion.

Duyar's Atatürk monument was different from typical Atatürk monuments of the time, which were of a more established academic style. The sculpture was erected on 10 November 1965 in the same park that also contains Duyar's Monument to the Unknown Soldier (1964).
The Uşak Atatürk Monument was Duyar's first major breakthrough on the road to gaining recognition as an established sculptor. Throughout the next decade he was commissioned to create many similar monuments around Turkey, becoming well known as a sculptor of Atatürk sculptures.

His first personal exhibition was at the Taksim Art Gallery in 1968, followed by a second personal exhibition in 1970. He also participated in group exhibitions from time to time, including those organised by the Turkish High Sculptors Society, of which he was a member.
File:Monument to the Unknown Soldier, Gürdal Duyar (1964).jpg, ''Monument to the Unknown Soldier'' (1964).
File:Burhaniye Ataturk Monument.jpg, The Burhaniye Atatürk Monument (1967) before it was removed.
File:MTA_Ataturk_Monument_by_Gürdal_Duyar.png, The Ataturk and Mining Monument (1971) in the garden of the MTA in Ankara.
File:Istanderun_Ataturk_Monument.png, The İskenderun Ataturk Monument (1972).

Mid-career (1973–1987)

As the Turkish Republic neared the age of 50, celebrations for the semicentennial were planned. Duyar, by this time an established sculptor and well known in his native Istanbul, was chosen as one of a handful of sculptors to make works for the occasion. Duyar proposed a sculpture, which he named '' Güzel İstanbul,'' that personified Istanbul through the depiction of a nude woman, leaning back with her head tilted. Her arms would be bound by a chain, representing the defensive chain constructed by the Byzantines to close off the Golden Horn from the Ottoman fleet. She would be in the motion of breaking that chain, an act with the dual meaning of representing the Ottoman takeover of Istanbul from Byzantine rule, as well as the emancipation of women. The proposal was accepted by the organizing committee and Duyar proceeded to made the sculpture, which was erected in 1974 in a public square in Karaköy.

However, the sculpture became the subject of heated debate due to its nudity, leading to its removal after only nine days at the behest of members of the more conservative counterpart of the coalition government in power at the time. According to Seyhun Topuz, this affair almost brought an end to the coalition. ''Güzel İstanbul'' was eventually moved to a new place in the Yıldız Park where it is placed with its back towards the park and its face towards a wall in a damaged state. The Association of Turkish Sculptors organized a nude-centric protest exhibition in reaction to the removal of ''Güzel İstanbul''.

Around 1972, Duyar made a monument for the town of Burhaniye in memorial of Borazan İsmail, the Çanakkale and Independence War fighter, who had died recently. A sculpture named the ( Mounted Atatürk Monument) was erected on Kayseri's Republic Square in 1974. It was covered in a tarp for years and was later moved to the ''Kültürpark''. In 1976, Duyar was commissioned by the Kayseri municipality to place a modernized Atatürk sculpture next to the old Atatürk sculpture of the city. The sculpture, which depicted the War of Independence and incorporated a depiction of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk wearing a kalpak, was erected in Kayseri Square. Despite being appreciated at the time of its completion, it was eventually found damaged, split in two, and was left in that state. The same year, the mayor of Develi, Mehmet Özdemir, commissioned Duyar to make a sculpture of the Develi-born Turkish folk poet Âşık Seyrani. This sculpture was erected 30 April 1976 in a park in front of the Çarşı Mosque and would go on to become a symbol of the Develi district.

Throughout the 1970s, a number of sculptures by Duyar were moved or hidden. Following the removals of ''Güzel İstanbul'' and the War of Independence Monument in Kayseri, several other works of his would be lost or removed, such as the sculpture of Tamburi Cemil Bey in Emirgan Park which was removed at the behest of a manager and the sculpture of Borazan İsmail in Burhaniye which was removed at the behest of the mayor. Some of his earlier Atatürk monuments were also removed, such as his 1967 Burhaniye monument.

Duyar also continued to sculpt busts, such as one of theater actress Bedia Muvahhit. She had had portraits painted before, but had always rejected offers to be depicted in sculpture. However, she accepted an offer by Duyar in 1980. She posed at Duyar's workshop in three-hour-long sessions. She would also later be gifted a sculpture that Duyar was commissioned to make. Duyar also sculpted a bust of short story writer Sait Faik Abasıyanık, which now stands in front of Abasıyanıks former house in Burgazada, currently a museum. Duyar's other busts include one of Franz Schubert that decorates the concert hall of the White Villa at the Emirgan Park, which has been displayed since 1983, and a bust of İdil Biret.

In 1984, Duyar was commissioned by Kemal Özkan, a renowned circumcision doctor, to make a sculpture for in the garden of a building in Levent, which was inaugurated on 18 September that year. In 1985, Duyar held an exhibition, displaying almost 30 years of his work including 6 drawings, 16 busts, 30 figures and 60 previously unseen oil paintings. Over the next few years, he also held several other exhibitions and participated in group exhibitions.

Later career (1987–2004)

In the late 1980s, Duyar discovered Emel Say, who was not yet an established artist. She had finished a painting of Maui by her mother Zehra Say, a famous painter who had been unable to finish the work due to Alzheimers. When Duyar saw the painting during an exhibition at ''Çiçek Bar'', he asked who had altered the painting. Say replied that she had only touched it up a little, but Duyar replied that "it seems that you have been a painter all along". Duyar had a significant influence on Say's career, and her and Duyar's works were exhibited together during the inaugural exhibition of the Asmalımescit Art Gallery in 1995.

In 1995, Duyar's bronze sculptural relief of the poet Gunnar Ekelöf was placed in the garden of the Swedish Research Institute in the grounds of the Swedish Consulate General in Istanbul. Duyar had initially not wanted to make the sculpture, but after visiting an atelier by invitation by the architect Erkan Güngören, he started work. The sculpture had originally been located in the ''Çiçek Bar'' and only later was moved to the Swedish Consulate General. In 1997, on the occasion of the 111th Anniversary of the ''Fevziye Mektepleri'', an Atatürk monument by Duyar was inaugurated in the Nişantaşı Campus of the ''Özel Işık Lisesi'' school.

In 1998 Duyar sculpted ''Şairler Sofası'' for the Hall of Poets park within Vişnezade, which was opened that year. The sculpture depicts the poets Behçet Necatigil, Sabahattin Kudret Aksal, Cahit Sıtkı Tarancı, Oktay Rıfat, Orhan Veli, Neyzen Tevfik and Nigâr Hanım together.

In 2000 he was commissioned by Şişli municipality to create a monument to the editor-in-chief of ''Milliyet,'' Abdi İpekçi, to be erected in the place where the journalist was killed 20 years earlier. Duyar's tall Abdi İpekçi Peace Monument consists of a 70-centimeter granite base supporting a bronze sculpture. It depicts two students, a boy and a girl, holding a bust of İpekçi, and above it, a dove on the top of an arch symbolizing peace. The monument was erected on 1 February 2000 by the municipality in Nişantaşı on what is now called the Abdi İpekçi Avenue.

In 2001, the Beşiktaş municipality commissioned Duyar for a sculpture to memorialize Necati Cumalı, shortly after the writer and poet's death. The sculpture, which was sponsored by the Türkiye İş Bankası, was to be placed in the ''Şairler Sofası'' park. Duyar created a bronze sculpture of Cumalı which was inaugurated in a ceremony in 2002 on the 81st anniversary of Cumalıs birth. Cumalı's wife Berrin expressed her appreciation of the sculpture, stating that Cumalı was "born again today." The Akatlar İstanbul Artists Park was opened on 13 June 2003, incorporating many of Duyar's sculptures, including busts of artists such as Kemal Sunal, Barış Manço, Sadri Alışık, Bedia Muvahhit and Kuzgun Acar.
File:Şair heykelleri 2 (cropped 2).jpg, Duyar's ''Şairler Sofası'' (1998) in 2022
File:Abdi İpekçi Anıtı (2).JPG, The Abdi İpekçi Peace Monument (2000) in 2006
File:Necati Cumali by Gurdal Duyar.jpg, Duyar's sculpture of Necati Cumalı (2002) in 2017
File:Barış Manço bust (cropped).jpg, Duyar's bust of Barış Manço in 2019.
On 18 April 2004, after a month of treatment at the American Hospital, Duyar passed away due to lung cancer. The sculptors association organized a memorial ceremony for him at the Vişnezade poets park in Beşiktaş. Afterwards, his funeral was held at Zincirlikuyu Cemetery.

Style and position in sculpture history

Duyar is one of the primary examples of the Turkish school of sculpture was formed under the influence of Zühtü Müridoğlu and Ali Hadi Bara which saw the rise of abstractionism and the use of non-classical tools and methods for sculpture. He and his classmates, including Kuzgun Acar, Ali Teoman Germaner, Füsun Onur and Tamer Başoğlu, increased the dynamism of sculpture in Turkey and expanded its role in the art world. They are known as the pioneers of abstract sculpture in Turkey.

Duyar was well-known for his monumental sculptures of Atatürk, busts and other types of sculpted portraits. He embraced innovation and sought to let the natural flow of his materials lead the way. His monuments were considered contemporary in style, in contrast with the traditional monumental forms that were more widespread in the existing sculpture of Turkey. Duyar was talented in figurative sculpture, and his fundamentally strong artistic ability, apparent in his drawing skills, was honed in his busts. It was said by one critic, Nebil Özgentürk, that Duyar "thinks with his hands and portrays his thoughts in with clay". According to fellow scultpor Hüseyin Gezer, Duyar was especially successful with busts. The character of the person who was the subject would be convincingly and expressively realized, while at the same time the busts would remain within the fluid boundaries of fine art. Duyar's ability to capture the character of his subjects and the balance in his compositions was noted by critics, with some describing his work as expressionist. For figurative sculpture and busts, Duyar was lauded as one Turkey's top artists.

Drawing

Duyar's drawings have been treated secondarily to his sculpture, but his talent in the field was noted during his lifetime. Duyar would sketch a lot, often late at night, and leave the sketch behind. For instance, at Refik restaurant, frequented by poet Özdemir Asaf, Duyar sketched Asaf and left the drawing behind. The work was later used as the cover of Asafs book ''Ça.'' The cover of the book ''Şiirin Lüzumu Yok!'' by M. Yılmaz Öner and the cover of the 1984 Yalçın Küçük book were also sketches by Duyar.

Legacy

Duyar's legacy is strongest in Istanbul; many of his sculptures continue to stand in different parts of the city, and discourse continues around those of his works that were removed or damaged. The removal of the ''Güzel İstanbul'' sculpture remains controversial.

Duyar influenced a generation of pioneering Turkish sculptors. Duyar and his contemporaries introduced abstract and modernist concepts to the classical Turkish sculptural tradition. Duyar's influence was especially strong in monumental sculpture.

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Duyar, Gürdal
Gürdal Duyar
1935 births
2004 deaths
20th-century Turkish sculptors
Academy of Fine Arts in Istanbul alumni
Artists from Istanbul
Burials at Zincirlikuyu Cemetery
Deaths from cancer in Turkey
Modern sculptors
Sculptures by Gürdal Duyar
Turkish male painters
Turkish male sculptors