Necdet Kalay Click for Artist Information

Necdet Kalay

Necdet Kalay (1932 - 1986)

Necdet Kalay was born in Istanbul in 1932. After completing his primary and secondary education in Istanbul, he started his art education by taking lessons from sculptor Faruk Morel and painter Şeref Akdik. Between 1954 and 1957, he attended classes as a guest student at the Istanbul State Academy of Fine Arts, now known as Mimar Sinan University Faculty of Fine Arts.

In 1958, one of his paintings was accepted to the Fine Arts Union Exhibition held in Ankara and thus his artistic life began. He opened his first solo exhibition in Istanbul in 1960. From 1969 onwards, he stopped doing other jobs and started to earn his living entirely by painting. He sold many paintings in this period when the interest of collectors in Turkey shifted towards local painters. He participated in many exhibitions in Turkey and abroad. In the 1970s, he decided to continue his painting studies abroad. In his paintings with a predominantly decorative aspect, Kalay depicted Anatolian landscapes with broad brush strokes. The impressionist artist preferred to use mostly gray tones and pastel colors. Necdet Kalay passed away in 1986 in Istanbul.