Painter (B. 1906, Istanbul – D. 9th May 1974, Ankara).
He was the father of painter Oya Katoğlu. His art education started in Sanayi-i
Nefise Mektebi (Istanbul State Fine Arts Academy) in the İbrahim Çallı workshop
in 1923. Before he graduated, he went to Paris in 1930 to do studies on
painting. Upon his return to Turkey, first he joined the Association of
Independent Painters and Sculptors and then to D-Group in 1934. After 1932, he lived
in Ankara. In 1939 he worked in Kayseri within a project called "Yurt
Gezileri" (T.N. Country Trips) of the Cumhuriyet Halk Party (CHP). He
taught painting classes in various schools throughout his career and worked in
the position of decorator in Ankara Devlet Tiyatrosu (T.N. Ankara State
Theatre).
Due to his studies on folk and
culture at Public Houses in the 1930s, he started to do studies on folkloric
topics. Mostly villagers and nomads were subjected in his paintings. Free from
geometric forms, he did paintings in plastic till the end of his life. He became
one of the first artists who adopted a national approach in brevity and form by
representing local features in his pictures such as Orta Oyunu (1935), Yörük Köyü (1957) and
Yaylada Yörükler (1962) which are
exhibited in İstanbul Devlet Resim ve Heykel Müzesi (Istanbul State Painting
and Sculpture Museum) and he maintained it throughout
his life. He won the second-runner up award in Devlet Resim ve Heykel Sergisi
(T.N. State Painting and Sculpture Exhibitions) in 1939 and 1957, and he won
first-runner up award in 1958.
