Avni Arbaṣ - Portrait of a Girl - Avni Arbaş a famous Turkish impressionist - Sold

Avni Arbaş was born in Turkey in 1919 and is a famous and highly regarded Impressionist. He was a student of the military painter Mehmet Ali Bey, who was then studying at Galatasaray High School, as well as of contemporary painters Cihat Burak and Selim Turan. He worked in the studios of İbrahim Safi and Naci Kalmukoğlu, both professors at the Academy. In 1937, he left Galatasaray High School and entered the State Academy of Fine Arts (now Mimar Sinan Art University). During his last nine years at the Academy, Arbaş worked in the studios of İbrahim Çallı and Leopold Levy and participated in state painting and sculpture exhibitions. After graduating in 1946, he traveled to Siirt to participate in the "National Tours" organized by Hasan Ali Yücel, then Minister of Education.

With a scholarship from the French government, the artist traveled to Paris and exhibited at the Maya Gallery in Turkey in 1951. In 1954, he exhibited again in Paris, with works inspired by Mahmut Makal's book "Our Village." After the death of his wife Zerrin, whom he had married in 1943, he married Henriette Lapouge in 1958. In 1966, he illustrated the third volume of Henri Montherlant's "The Turkish School of Paris" with fifteen lithographs.

Along with Fikret Mualla, Hakkı Anlı, Abidin Dino, Selim Turan, Remzi Raşa, Nejat Devrim, Mübin Orhon and Albert Bitran, he is one of the painters of the Turkish School of Paris.

In 1977, he returned to Turkey, but ran into trouble when he learned that he had lost his citizenship due to failure to complete his military service. After some struggle, he regained his citizenship. During this time, the artist primarily painted portraits of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk and also created works with themes of Istanbul and the Bosphorus. He also created charcoal portraits of Nazim Hikmet, who occasionally traveled to Paris and died of cancer in 2003.