A Great Master of Color: İhsan Cemal Karaburçak

Painter İhsan Cemal Karaburçak (1898-1970) is being commemorated on the 25th anniversary of his death with a comprehensive exhibition held at the Milli Reasürans Art Gallery from November 7 to December 14, 1995. The exhibition features numerous works compiled from Karaburçak's family and various collections.

Karaburçak, who decided to pursue painting in Paris and began studying at the Ecole Universelle, soon dropped out because "the strict teaching rules were incompatible with his contemporary artistic aspirations." He then developed his artistic understanding through his own research, conducted both domestically and internationally. He completed his higher education at the Post and Telegraph School and rose to become Deputy Director General of the PTT (Post Office), continuing his painting journey uninterruptedly since he began his career at the age of 32.

Karaburçak, who opened his first exhibition in Turkey in 1949 at the age of 51 and made a significant impact in the art community, published pamphlets to encourage young people to love painting and wrote various reviews and critiques in newspapers. Educating himself through constant research, reading, observation, and continuous painting, Karaburçak became known among the masters of Turkish painting through his exhibitions both at home and abroad. Karaburçak offered insights into his artistic approach in the brochure for the exhibition, which opened in 1959: “...Painting has now become a personal art. There are as many schools as there are true painters. (...) Everyone must be a man of his time. Those who want to make sculpture, as in ancient Greece, probably no longer reside above ground. (...) The sole function of truth is to pave the way for certain line arrangements that do not limit the independence of colors…”

Karaburçak, who declared, “I am a painter of color,” and who has always been a painter of his own colors, also stated in a 1966 interview with Dost Magazine: “What truly matters in art today is not a fixed, frozen mastery, but a personality that develops without losing itself, a personality that moves forward, originality. (...) Above all, I paint for art and for my own satisfaction, and I believe that painting is a necessity for a true painter, just as breathing is a necessity for everyone. Strangely enough, but I say this based on my personal experience: even the pain of serious illnesses disappears while working…”

Prepared for the exhibition The book İhsan Cemal Karaburçak is the first publication about the artist and was written by Murat Ural.