The Millî Reasürans Art Gallery opens its 50th exhibition in 2002 with an exhibition of Orhan Peker. The gallery had opened in 1994 with an exhibition by Orhan Peker. The gallery manager and curator of the exhibition, Amelie Edgü, stated that the new Orhan Peker exhibition was created from over 300 paintings, including works that have never been exhibited before, selected after seven years of research. Additionally, the exhibition will feature photographs of Orhan Peker taken by Ara Güler between 1940 and 1978. A new book has been published in connection with the exhibition, including an essay by Turan Erol, which evaluates Orhan Peker and discusses his place in Turkish painting, as well as writings by Ferit Edgü on three of the artist’s paintings.

Believe in Sincerity First
Orhan Peker, one of the original artists of Turkish painting, was born in 1927 in Trabzon and passed away in 1978 at the age of 51. Even as a middle school student, he wanted to attend the Academy and become a painter, but at his family’s request, he attended school at Sankt-Georg in Istanbul. In 1944, he entered the Academy and studied in Bedri Rahmi’s workshop. His close friend, Turan Erol, says, “When he started the Academy, he was already a painter.” These were the years when Turkish artists, beyond concerns with form, began to search for their own styles and unique expression. New groups were being formed. Even as a student, Orhan Peker founded the "Onlar Grubu" (They Group) with his friends and held exhibitions. After graduating from the Academy in 1951, he worked with director Max Meinecke at the Istanbul City Theatre. His work there took him to various European cities, where he visited museums and saw many works that had fascinated him. In 1954, he held his first solo exhibition in Istanbul, where he attracted attention with his paintings based on daily life and interpreted in a unique way. In 1956, the book *Orhan Peker* was published with a foreword by Adnan Benk.

That same year, he attended Kokoschka’s “Summer Academy” in Vienna. He worked in Paris, Hamburg, and Munich. In 1959, he settled in Ankara and began working at the Ministry of Tourism. In 1963, the Ministry of Tourism sent him to Spain for a year, where he gathered his impressions in a work titled *Spain Notebook*. In 1965, he won the First Prize at the 26th State Painting and Sculpture Exhibition with his painting *White Horses*, and in 1972, he was named "Artist of the Year." He continued to hold solo exhibitions and participate in group exhibitions. In 1969, his poster created with architect Ragıp Uluç for the Expo 70 in Japan won first place, and he traveled to Japan. In 1970, he won the *TRT Painting and Sculpture Competition Award*. In 1971, he held his first international exhibition in Brussels at Galerie sans Frontières. In 1972, he went back to Europe, working in Paris, Brussels, Cologne, and Munich. In 1975, he moved to Istanbul, and later began living in Ayvalık. His exhibition at the Bedri Rahmi Art Gallery in 1978 was his final artistic activity. He passed away on May 29, 1978.

Orhan Peker explained his relationship with painting using the words "sincerity first," and he shared his artistic philosophy: "In the art of painting, I believe in sincerity above all else. The artist can reach society through this path. The artist must work in a way that is true to himself. Constant and sincere work forms the language of the artist. Of course, style is a kind of captivity. Furthermore, today, there are many 'factory' painters churning out patented works. I do not think that much will remain of their fame. I find it natural to change, without deviating from the main ideas."

İlhan Berk notes that in Orhan Peker's paintings, instead of crowds, there are individual people, animals, and objects, and that even the brightest figures in his works carry an underlying loneliness and sadness. He adds, "It seems as if he has come to carve out sorrow and pain. It doesn't strike you at first, but slowly it works on you. In the end, it strikes. The life has hit his eyes. The only thing reflected in those eyes is sorrow. Before looking at them as eyes, we must first look at them as sorrow. When I think about where these eyes have gathered all this loneliness and sorrow, I can't easily place it anywhere."

A Representative of Originality
In his essay published in the book by Millî Reasürans, Turan Erol writes, "In the process of forming contemporary Turkish painting, especially in the stages from the 1950s to the present, Orhan Peker should be regarded as one of the foremost artists to be remembered for his firm stance, enthusiastic, productive, and sensitive personality. He is also one of the leading representatives of the trend in our art world toward originality, which purges imitation and even influence."

Turan Erol goes on to say that Orhan Peker was more of an artist who lived inwardly, striving for intense pictorial expression without falling into literary descriptions in his paintings. He continues, "The subjects he selected from daily life and his environment—calm draft horses, grim black birds, cats, frogs, firemen, wilted flowers—move beyond mere topics and bear witness to the spiritual confusion and crises of modern man. Orhan Peker, by taking ordinary objects and beings as his subjects, conveys emotions, horror, fear, depression, love, or compassion to the viewer through striking blotch compositions, vibrant colors, and paint blobs applied to the canvas with a rough brush, causing emotions to stir within us. The works of this tormented artist, hidden in private collections both in Turkey and abroad, are valuable additions to contemporary Turkish culture, and I believe to world art as well."

The Orhan Peker exhibition can be seen at the Millî Reasürans Art Gallery from February 6 to March 24, 2002.