Tankut Öktem (1941, Istanbul – 5 December 2007, İstanbul) was a Turkish sculptor well known especially for his monumental works.

Early years

He was born 1941 in

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 ...

and his childhood was spent moving from one location in Turkey to another following the successive assignments of his parents, who were veterinaries employed by the state. By his teens, he was already recognized as a

child prodigy A child prodigy is, technically, a child under the age of 10 who produces meaningful work in some domain at the level of an adult expert. The term is also applied more broadly to describe young people who are extraordinarily talented in some f ...

in sculpture and painting, and he concentrated on the former discipline after his enrollment in the

ceramics A ceramic is any of the various hard, brittle, heat-resistant, and corrosion-resistant materials made by shaping and then firing an inorganic, nonmetallic material, such as clay, at a high temperature. Common examples are earthenware, porce ...

branch of Istanbul State College of Fine and Applied Arts (). While at the third grade of the school, he received the first prize in a "World Contest for Young Sculptors". He completed his training in

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

at Porzellanfabrik Schönwald in 1962.

Career

After graduating in 1965, he became an assistant the next year in the same institution, where he was educated pursuing a teacher's career. In 1970, he was admitted to the teaching staff. The institution became Faculty of Fine Arts at Marmara University in 1983. Oktem established the Sculpture Department and became professor in 1986. Tankut Öktem became well known in Turkey after the 1970s, especially with monumental works of Atatürk or the

Turkish War of Independence , strength1 = May 1919: 35,000November 1920: 86,000Turkish General Staff, ''Türk İstiklal Harbinde Batı Cephesi'', Edition II, Part 2, Ankara 1999, p. 225August 1922: 271,000Celâl Erikan, Rıdvan Akın: ''Kurtuluş Savaşı tarih ...

as theme, and which are remarkable especially with their high number of figurines. In 1999, he was awarded the title

State Artist State Artist (, also sometimes translated as "National Artist") is an honorary title granted to prominent artists by the government of Turkey for their contributions to the Turkish culture. It was established in 1971 by the President of Turkey ( Ce ...

by the Turkish government. He created a bust of Atatürk in

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Hungary Hungary is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning much of the Pannonian Basin, Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia and ...

and a victory monument in

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in addition to numerous statues and monuments in

Northern Cyprus Northern Cyprus, officially the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC), is a ''de facto'' state that comprises the northeastern portion of the Geography of Cyprus, island of Cyprus. It is List of states with limited recognition, recognis ...

and Turkey. He is also holder of various awards at home and abroad. His workshop at Küçükkumla village in

Gemlik Gemlik is a municipality and district of Bursa Province, Turkey. Its area is 401 km2, and its population is 120,245 (2022). It is located in the east of the Gulf of Gemlik. It is approximately away from Bursa. In antiquity, Gemlik was the l ...

Bursa Province Bursa Province () is a Provinces of Turkey, province and Metropolitan municipalities in Turkey, metropolitan municipality in Turkey along the Sea of Marmara coast in northwestern Anatolia. It borders Balıkesir Province, Balıkesir to the west, K ...

was burnt down in 2006. ,

Death

Tankut Öktem died on 5 December 2007 in a

traffic accident A traffic collision, also known as a motor vehicle collision, or car crash, occurs when a vehicle collides with another vehicle, pedestrian, animal, road debris, or other moving or stationary obstruction, such as a tree, pole or building. Tr ...

Üsküdar Üsküdar () is a municipality and district of Istanbul Province, Turkey. Its area is 35 km2, and its population is 524,452 (2022). It is a large and densely populated district on the Anatolian (Asian) shore of the Bosphorus. It is border ...

, İstanbul, at which also his wife and daughter Pınar were injured. His corpse was transferred to Küçükkumlu, where he was laid to rest in the family grave. He was survived by his wife Semra Öktem and daughters Pınar Öktem Doğan and Oylum Öktem İşözen.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Oktem, Tankut 1941 births Artists from Istanbul Marmara University alumni Turkish male sculptors 20th-century Turkish sculptors Turkish ceramists Academic staff of Marmara University State Artists of Turkey 2007 deaths Road incident deaths in Turkey 20th-century sculptors 20th-century ceramists