Nazmi Ziya G?ran

(b Istanbul, 1881; d Istanbul, 1937). Turkish painter. After studying for a career in government, he turned to painting and entered the Fine Arts Academy in Istanbul, where he studied under Joseph Warnia-Zarzecki (b 1850) and Salvator Val?ri (1857-1946). His interest in Impressionism and painting en plein air, however, especially after 1905 when he observed Paul Signac working in Istanbul, led to quarrels with Warnia-Zarzecki and Val?ri, and with Osman Hamdi, the Director of the Academy. As a result his graduation diploma was refused in 1907, and he did not graduate until 1908. G?ran then went to Paris and studied at the Acad?mie Julian, and under Marcel Bachet and Fernand Cormon. In 1913 he visited Germany and Austria. Upon his return to Istanbul he took up government employment and joined the ?alli Group, led by the painter Ibrahim ?alli. He was later assigned a teaching post at the Fine Arts Academy and became its director. Influenced by Impressionism, he strove in his paintings to capture the reflection of light on objects and painted some scenes many times to explore the changes of light. He was also a follower of Kemal Atat?rk's cultural reforms, and one of the finest portraits of the leader, Mustafa Kemal Atat?rk in Military Uniform (Istanbul, Mimar Sinan U., Mus. Ptg & Sculp.), was painted by him in the mid-1920s. G?ran's later landscapes included Landscape from the Bosporus (1933; Istanbul, Mimar Sinan U., Mus. Ptg & Sculp.).

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