Gürdal Duyar

Gürdal Duyar (20 August 1935 – 18 April 2004) was a Turkish sculptor who is known for his monuments to Atatürk and his busts of famous people. His art is characterized as having a modern expressionist style that is balanced with abstraction. He is considered one of the pioneers of modern figurative sculpture in Turkey. Duyar was also a painter and is noted for his sketches, but his best-known works are the public sculptures placed in Istanbul's parks and public squares.

Duyar was a student of Rudolf Belling and Ali Hadi Bara at the State Academy of Fine Arts in Istanbul. After graduating, he spent some time abroad. At the start of his career as a freelance artist, Duyar worked on sculpture, especially busts, in Belgium, France and Switzerland. He later returned to Turkey, where he became known for his Atatürk monuments, including his Uşak Atatürk Monument (1965). He made several more Atatürk monuments in Turkey and held the first exhibition of his work in 1968.

Late in his career, many of Duyar's sculptures were damaged, removed or lost; these include the controversial 1974 removal of '' Güzel İstanbul''. Duyar was a member of the joined the Turkish High Sculptors Society and was commissioned for several works; these include the '' Borazan İsmail Monument'' (1972), '' Kayseri Atatürk Monument'' (1974) and ''Âşık Seyrani Monument'' (1976). Duyar exhibited his sculptures and paintings, both individually and alongside other artists. His later major sculptures are ''Şairler Sofası'' (1998), '' Abdi İpekçi Peace Monument'' (2000) and ''Necati Cumalı'' (2002), and many of his 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; he was 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 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. After finishing middle school in 1951, he took high-school-level classes at the sculpture faculty of the State Academy of Fine Arts, which was possible due to a special government regulation. At the academy, which in now Mimar Sinan Fine Arts University, he was a student of German sculptor Rudolf Belling. In 1952, Duyar 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 Duyar was 17, one of his sculptures was exhibited in the Painting and Sculpture Museum at Dolmabahçe Palace and at 19, he 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, sculpting 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 works was erected on Paris' Place de la Concorde. One of his early major busts was a -tall bust of Atatürk that was commissioned by the Düzce.

Career breakthrough (1963–1973)

Duyar returned to Istanbul around 1963. At that time, a campaign by the newspaper ''Milliyet'' was raising money to erect monuments to Atatürk in some provinces of Turkey. Duyar was the youngest participant in the competition to select the sculptors of these monuments. He was one of eight winners and was allocated to Uşak