İbrahim Çallı (13 July 1882 – 22 May 1960), popularly known as Çallı İbrahim, was a Turkish painter and educator. He was a founding members of the Society of Ottoman Painters. He trained many young painters as a professor at

Mimar Sinan Fine Arts University Mimar Sinan Fine Arts University (, or MSGSÜ) is a public art university in Istanbul, Turkey. The university's campus is located in the Fındıklı, Beyoğlu. The university was established in 1882 under the leadership of Osman Hamdi Bey. Hi ...

(formerly Academy of Fine Arts, Istanbul) and they were called the ''1914 Generation'' of artists, is also known as the ''Çallı Generation''.

Biography

İbrahim Çallı was born on 13 July 1882 in

Çal Çal () is a municipality and district of Denizli Province, Turkey. Its area is 860 km2, and its population is 17,889 (2022). Çal district area occupies a central position in the northern part of its province and neighbors the district of Pa ...

Denizli Denizli is a city in Aegean Region, Aegean Turkey, and seat of the province of Denizli Province, Denizli. The city forms the urban part of the districts Merkezefendi and Pamukkale, Denizli, Pamukkale, with a population of 691 783 in 2024. Denizl ...

. He showed early interest in painting during his primary and secondary education which he finished in his hometown and in

İzmir İzmir is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, third most populous city in Turkey, after Istanbul and Ankara. It is on the Aegean Sea, Aegean coast of Anatolia, and is the capital of İzmir Province. In 2024, the city of İzmir had ...

. In 1899 he went to

Istanbul Istanbul is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, largest city in Turkey, constituting the country's economic, cultural, and historical heart. With Demographics of Istanbul, a population over , it is home to 18% of the Demographics ...

where he worked in several jobs while he continued painting. Meanwhile, he took drawing lessons from an Armenian-origin Ottoman painter Roben Efendi at the Grand Bazaar. With the support of

Şeker Ahmet Paşa Şeker is a Turkish surname. Notable people with the surname include: Given name * Şeker Ahmet Paşa, Turkish painter Surname * Alişan Şeker (born 1986), Turkish footballer * Busem Şeker (born 1998), Turkish-German women's footballer * Reyh ...

he entered the Mimar Sinan Fine Arts University (formerly Academy of Fine Arts, Istanbul) in 1906. At the Academy of Fine Arts, Istanbul he studied under artist

Bedri Rahmi Eyüboğlu Bedri Rahmi Eyüboğlu (1911 – 21 September 1975) was a Turkish people, Turkish Painting, painter, mosaic-maker, muralist, writer and poet. His art work was inspired by Anatolian village scenes and folk literature, and included traditional ha ...

. Graduating the school with the highest degree after four years, Çallı was sent to France with a fellowship from government where he studied under

Fernand Cormon Fernand Cormon (; 24 December 1845 – 20 March 1924) was a French painter born in Paris. He became a pupil of Alexandre Cabanel, Eugène Fromentin, and Jean-François Portaels, and one of the leading historical painters of modern France. Biog ...

. During his years in France he didn't pay much attention to upcoming movements like

cubism Cubism is an early-20th-century avant-garde art movement which began in Paris. It revolutionized painting and the visual arts, and sparked artistic innovations in music, ballet, literature, and architecture. Cubist subjects are analyzed, broke ...

, he embraced a free style close to

impressionism Impressionism was a 19th-century art movement characterized by visible brush strokes, open Composition (visual arts), composition, emphasis on accurate depiction of light in its changing qualities (often accentuating the effects of the passage ...

. With the outbreak of World War I, he returned home and was appointed assistant to Salvatore Valeri at Mimar Sinan Fine Arts University. During the war he produced war-themed paintings in the studio founded by the War Minister

Enver Pasha İsmâil Enver (; ; 23 November 1881 – 4 August 1922), better known as Enver Pasha, was an Ottoman Empire, Ottoman Turkish people, Turkish military officer, revolutionary, and Istanbul trials of 1919–1920, convicted war criminal who was a p ...

with other artists among them Ali Sami Boyar.

Death and legacy

He retired in 1947 and he died of gastrointestinal bleeding on 22 May 1960 in Istanbul. In 2014, his painting "Avluda Oturanlar" (English: "People Sitting in Courtyard") dated from 1913, sold for a record price at auction.

References

People from Çal 1882 births 1960 deaths 20th-century Turkish painters Turkish male painters Painters from Istanbul Painters from the Ottoman Empire Turkish art educators {{Turkey-painter-stub