ISTANBUL
Turkish painter Burhan Dogancay passed away in Istanbul on Wednesday.
Dogancay, who died at the age of 84 at American Hospital, will be laid to rest on January 19 in Bodrum town of western Mugla province.
Funeral prayers for Dogancay will be made at Istanbul's Tesvikiye Mosque on January 18.
Born in 1929, Dogancay obtained his artistic training from his father Adil Dogancay, and Arif Kaptan, both well-known Turkish painters. In 1950, he received a law degree from the University of Ankara, Turkey. While enrolled at the University of Paris in 1953 from where he obtained a doctorate degree in economics, he attended art courses at the Académie de la Grande Chaumière from 1950 until 1955. During this period he continued to paint regularly and to show his works in several group exhibitions. Soon after his return to Turkey, he participated in many exhibitions, including joint exhibitions with his father at the Ankara Art Lovers Club.
Dogancay was fascinated by urban walls and chose them as his subject. He saw them as the barometer of the society and a testament to the passage of time, reflecting social, political and economic changes, frequently withstanding the assault of the elements and the markings left by people.
In the mid-seventies, Dogancay embarked on what he saw then as his secondary project: photographing urban walls all over the globe. Over time, this project gained importance as well as content and after four decades now encompasses over 100 countries.
Being exclusively dedicated to the work of Burhan Dogancay, and to a minor extent also to the art of his father Adil, the "Dogancay Museum" provides a retrospective survey of the artist's various creative phases from his student days up until the present. With about 100 works on display, "Dogancay Museum" in Istanbul's Beyoglu district is Turkey's first contemporary art museum.
Dogancay's works are in the collection of many museums around the world including New York's MoMA, Metropolitan Museum of Art, The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum as well as National Gallery of Art in Washington, MUMOK in Vienna, Musée National d'Art Moderne in Paris, Istanbul Modern in Istanbul, The Israel Museum in Jerusalem and The State Russian Museum in St. Petersburg.
