Nejad Melih Devrim (1923 - 1995) Click for Artist Information

Nejad Melih Devrim

NEJAD MELİH DEVRİM (1923 - 1995)

Nejad Melih Devrim was born in Istanbul in 1923. He is the son of the author, İzzet Melih Devrim, and the artist Fahrelnissa Zeid. He studied in Leopold Levy’s atelier of Painting Department of Istanbul State Fine Arts Academy (currently known as Mimar Sinan Fine Arts University). He moved to Paris in 1947 and opened his first personal exhibition at Allard Gallery in Paris the same year. Turkish calligraphic art and Byzantine mosaic art, which he learned from Prof. Witmore, shaped the first era of his artworks. His main sources of influence were oriental art and French poetry. According to J. Lassaigne, Nejad is bringing “innovative and solid solutions to the problems of space and rhythm". G. Boudaille has described Nejad’s paintings in 1960’s as “mirror of its creator, who is active, exciting, non-comforting but kind, complex, diversified, and variable”. Nejad Melih Devrim’s art is an extension of abstract painting and the product of an opinion and sensitivity, gained with personal experience and knowledge. In his paintings, the composition of colors, thick paint and short brush touches are emphasized. Nejad is one of the first unique representatives of Turkish Contemporary Abstractism. He could also be considered as a unique representative of European Abstract Art. He passed away in Poland in 1995. His works are in several museums and private collections in Turkey and Europe.