Zerrin Bölükbaşı (1919–2010) was a Turkish sculptor, one of the first Turkish female sculptors, and the first woman sculptor to work on abstract sculptures.

Life

Early life

Zerrin Bölükbaşı was born as Zerrin Ark to İhsan and Nevzat Hanım in Bakırköy, İstanbul, then in the Ottoman Empire in 1919. Her mother Nevzat was an educated woman, who graduated from the German school and her father İhsan Ark worked in real estate business. In 1926, she entered the Bakırköy Primary School, and after she finished the school, the family moved to

Kadıköy Kadıköy (), known in classical antiquity and during the Roman and Byzantine eras as Chalcedon ( gr, Χαλκηδών), is a large, populous, and cosmopolitan district in the Asian side of Istanbul, Turkey, on the northern shore of the Sea o ...

in Istanbul. There, she continued her schooling in Kadıköy American High School.

At the Academy

Celal Esat Arseven, who was in a close relation to her recommended her to attend the State Fine Arts Academy, and she officially registered there in 1938 to the Sculpture department. From 1937 to 1941 she worked at the academy sculpture department in the studio of

Rudolf Belling Rudolf Belling (26 August 1886 – 9 June 1972) was a German sculptor. His work was part of the sculpture event in the art competition at the 1932 Summer Olympics. Artistic theories At the very beginning of the 20th century Rudolf Bel ...

. She was a student in the sculpture Department at the same time as Sadi Çalık, İlhan Koman,

Hüseyin Gezer Hüseyin Gezer (1920 – 27 December 2013), was a Turkish sculptor. He was born at Kıravga village of Mut district in Mersin Province in a village 1920. He attended elementary school in Mut, middle school in Silifke and graduated from Necati ...

, Yavuz Görey and Rahmi Artemis. Together with Belling, they are some of the most important figures in establishing modern Turkish sculpture. Starting in 1941, she taught

Art History Art history is the study of aesthetic objects and visual expression in historical and stylistic context. Traditionally, the discipline of art history emphasized painting, drawing, sculpture, architecture, ceramics and decorative arts; yet today ...

at the academy two consecutive academic years. She graduated from the first part of the academy, and did n0t do the second part because of this. Although she graduated, she continued to work in the painting and sculpture classes at the academy and continued her work.

Marriage

In 1944, she married Nazif Bölükbaşı, the son of poet and writer

Rıza Tevfik Bölükbaşı Rıza Tevfik Bey (Rıza Tevfik Bölükbaşı after the Turkish Surname Law of 1934; 1869 – 31 December 1949) was an Ottoman and later Turkish philosopher, poet, politician of liberal signature and a community leader (for some members among the ...

. Bölükbaşı was the executive assistant of the Governor of Istanbul. In 1948, they had a son, Ahmet. Bölükbaşıs job required him to travel often and because of this, Zerrin often had opportunities to travel as well.

Beyoğlu City Gallery

Likely starting around 1954, she took on the management of the Beyoğlu City Gallery for nine years. She held her first personal exhibition at this gallery in 1956.

Works

In 1958, her sculpture, "Dansöz", won the second place award in an international competition attended by 27 nations in Paris, France. In 1963, her sculpture, "Arab Head" won a fourth place award in

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and List of cities in Germany by population, largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's List of cities in the European Union by population within ci ...

, Germany. In 1969, she won the second place award of the State Painting and Sculpture Exhibition in

Ankara Ankara ( , ; ), historically known as Ancyra and Angora, is the capital of Turkey. Located in the central part of Anatolia, the city has a population of 5.1 million in its urban center and over 5.7 million in Ankara Province, maki ...

Exhibitions

Some of her exhibitions include: *1956 Beyoğlu City Gallery,

İstanbul ) , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = 34000 to 34990 , area_code = +90 212 (European side) +90 216 (Asian side) , registration_plate = 34 , blank_name_sec2 = GeoTLD , blank_in ...

*1961 2nd Contemporary International Sculpture exhibition,

Musée Rodin The Musée Rodin ( en, Rodin Museum) in Paris, France, is a museum that was opened in 1919, primarily dedicated to the works of the French sculptor Auguste Rodin. It has two sites: the Hôtel Biron and surrounding grounds in central Paris, as ...

, Paris *1986 Ankara Tanbay Art Gallery *1990 Destek Art Gallery,

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bolukbasi, Zerrin 1919 births Academy of Fine Arts in Istanbul alumni Turkish women sculptors Academic staff of Mimar Sinan Fine Arts University 2010 deaths