Cemal Tollu Click for Artist Information

Cemal Tollu

CEMAL TOLLU (1899 - 1968)

He was born in Istanbul in 1899. Tollu's interest in the art of painting started at an early age and he entered Sanayi-i Nefise when he finished secondary school. However, when the school was closed during the occupation years of Istanbul, he had to take a break from his education. He did his military duty in Konya. When he returned to Istanbul, he continued his education from where he left off. He was appointed as an art teacher to Elazığ Teacher Training School and Erzincan Military High School. He went to Germany and worked at the Hofmann Workshop in Munich. He reinforced his art education in France alongside André Lhote, F. Léger and M. Grommaire. He worked with the sculptor Despiau for a while. He opened his first exhibition in Elazığ, participated in Galatasaray exhibitions. He worked at the Hittite Museum in Ankara. During the reform movements in the Academy, he was recruited by Léopold Lévy. He first became an assistant and then a workshop instructor. Later, he was appointed as the chief of the Painting Department. Besides his painting works, he also carried an active function as an art writer. He wrote art articles in Yeni Sabah newspaper. He later published the mythology lectures he taught at the Academy as a book. He was among the founding members of Group D in 1933. In 1946, he participated in "Contemporary Turkish Art" exhibitions held in Paris and London. A detailed exhibition was held in the halls of the Academy shortly before his death. He died in Istanbul in 1968. Although Cemal Tollu worked with Çallı at the Academy, he focused on volumetric and architectonic forms in his compositions, which he developed under the influence of cubist painters such as Lhote and Léger, with whom he studied later. It was largely inspired by the blunt forms in Anatolian Hittite art. It has an important place among the painters of the 1930s generation in terms of its fusion of foreign influences and local cultural values.