The Life and Work of Artist Abidin Dino

Abidin Dino was a Turkish artist who was a master drawer and painter. The artist saw two world wars, experienced periods in exile, and lived in numerous cities. Rather than dwell on his past though, the artist was keen to live in the present and dream about the future. Read on for a timeline of his life, and you’ll understand why his legacy lives on.

A Timeline of Abidin Dino's Life

1913

On 23rd of March Abidin was born in a mansion in the Nişantaşı neighborhood of Istanbul. He was the fifth child of the Director of Public Accounts, Rasih (Dino) and his wife Saffet, his older brothers were Arif, Ali, Ahmet and his sister was Leyla. In September the family moved to Geneva.

1925

In 1920 the family decided to move to Paris, but five years later the Dino family left France to return to Istanbul via the Greek island Corfu, then under Italian occupation. After first losing his father and then his mother, Dino devoted all his time to drawing, painting and cartoons.

“After my parents died I came to Babıali to make a living [...] I published my first cartoons in Yarın, the opposition newspaper of those days [...] If we collected those early cartoons of mine, we may find interesting things there.” – Dino during an interview with Selçuk Demirel, Milliyet Sanat Dergisi

1931

Dino went around the opium dens together with his brother Arif Dino, drawing, illustrating and writing texts. His illustrations and articles were published in the artist magazine run by Fikret Adil.

He recorded his impressions on contemporary society through his cartoons and illustrations. Nâzım Hikmet’s Sesini Kaybeden Şehir (The City Which Lost Its Voice), was the first book he illustrated that was published by Remzi Publishing House in Istanbul.

1932

A year later Dino participated in the exhibition organized by Verein der bildenden Künstler in Vienna, together with Cemal Nadir and other Turkish cartoonists.

Then in 1933, together with Cemal Tollu, Elif Naci, Nurullah Berk, Zeki Faik İzer and Zühtü Müridoğlu, Dino founded the “d Group”, which he described as 'the first avant-garde painting group in Turkey'. In October the d Group had its first exhibition in the Mimoza hat shop on the ground floor of Narmanlı Center at Beyoğlu, Istanbul.

1934

Dino met the Soviet film director Sergei Yutkevich who was in Istanbul, shooting the documentary Ankara-Heart of Turkey. Yutkevich invited him to Leningrad, the Lenfilm studios, where Dino took part in the making of the movie Miners as decorator and artist.

1938

Dino returned to Istanbul for his military service. Together with a couple of friends he published small magazines and was creative in various branches of art, especially painting. He drew cartoons for newspapers. While living at his sister Leyla’s Kamelya apartment building, he met Güzin who lived nearby and the pair soon grew close.

1939

Dino was selected to be the decorator and art consultant for the two Turkish pavilions to be prepared for the New York Fair. But he could not go as he could not get a passport.

Instead, he contributed to the content and design of Ses, Yeni Ses, Yeni Adam, Servet-i Fünun and Yeni Edebiyat magazines. Together with Avni Arbaş, Nuri İyem, Selim Turan and a few other young artists, Dino founded the Liman Grubu (The Port Group), which opened an exhibition about dock workers six months later.

1940

The artist studied the contradictions and links of the aesthetic and the political, of the abstract and the concrete with his brother Arif, and created large designs inspired by World War II.

When the Ses magazine was prohibited, he participated in the preparation work for the Küllük magazine which was only published only once with his illustrations on the cover and inside.

Dino was exiled to Mecitözü, a small Central Anatolian town for political reasons. After Mecitözü, he was exiled to Adana where he worked at Ferit Celal Güven’s Türk Sözü newspaper. He was then exiled to Adana for similar reasons, where he made small sculptures.

1943

On 23rd of September 1943 he married Güzin Dike, who was an assistant at Istanbul University. They moved to a house in Adana, on the street bearing his grandfather Abidin Pasha’s name.

1952

In April his ceramics were confiscated in Istanbul, some of them would be lost during a long investigation process. Below, Güzin tells her husband of the ordeal:

“Sweetheart, I wrote to you last night, saying that I did not receive any letters from you and I was worried. [...] I have some bad news for you, but probably things will improve. On Tuesday the 22nd, in the morning a police officer from the political section came and took away the ceramics as per a decision of the public prosecutor [...] Yesterday the experts were due to gather at the prosecutor’s office to determine if any of the pieces had a criminal element (it is argued that you drew hammer and sickles on the ceramics!)” – Güzin Dino, İstanbul, 25 April 1952.

Dino was invited to participate in the Venice Biennale as well as the group exhibition at Galleria Dello Zodiaco in Rome and the Art Club exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art. He decided to settle in Paris and continued socializing with the city's art elite.

1953

Güzin also left Turkey and joined Dino in Paris. On Picasso’s request, the artist started to work with himself and Marc Chagall at the Madoura ceramics workshop at Vallauris, thus improving his budget to create more work.

1955

On February 11, Dino opened his first exhibition in Paris at the Klébert Gallery. The theme was Torture and the Atomic Scare. The invitation was in the form of a letter and was in poet Philippe Soupault’s handwriting.

1956

The couple moved to the apartment at 13, Quai St. Michel, Paris, near the river Seine, which had previously been Max Ernst’s studio and where they would live until 1971.

Between 4-20 May he exhibited his Long March and large oil flowers at the La Demeure-Rive Gauche Gallery, Paris. He also participated in the group exhibition at the Matarasso Gallery, Nice. He organized a series of exhibitions, including Lurçat’s woven pictures at several South American countries.

1957

His work Long March was then on show at Cadan Gallery in New York. Many of his large oil paintings as well as more than black-and-whites were sold in Chicago, Dallas and other American cities.

During his success in America, Dino’s brother Arif died, but the artist still wasn't welcome in Turkey and therefore could not go to his funeral.

1958

Dino opened an exhibition together with Avni Arbaş at the Picasso Museum in the Antibes, where he'd been staying during the summer. He also took part in the L’art au Village group exhibition in the Antibes.

1959

A year later, Dino held his Space Paintings exhibition at the Schoeller Gallery, Paris. The show reflected the core of his previous and later exhibitions.

1961

Dino held a personal exhibition at the Deent Gallery, Amsterdam, the Netherlands. They met with Nâzım Hikmet and his wife Vera in Paris.

In the following years the artist has exhibitions again in Paris and for the first time in Prague.

1964

Dino’s Long March exhibition showed again, this time at Ryter Gallery, Zurich, Switzerland.

Later in the year he participated in the Turkish Artists exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art, Paris. He also participated in the World Artists exhibition at the Ibn Haldun Museum, Algeria.

1966

The artist's two large-sized works War and Peace created in 1939 were exhibited at the Dom Pisatili Gallery, Moscow. Dino reflects on the experience below in a letter to his wife:

“Dear Güzin, It is not 20 but 30 below zero this morning, but I dress very warmly, Nâzım’ın coat with furs, a nice fur cap etc. Yesterday the exhibition opened with an 'elite' type of crowd, led by Lili Brik etc. Simonov and Yutkevich spoke, and there were many old friends. Unfortunately Vera, Hesa and Erast had the flu and could not attend, they were terribly sorry. I drop by Vera almost every day, she makes me eat wonderful meals, everyone is busy feeding me actually...” – Abidin Dino, Moscow, 3 February 1966

That same year, Dino directed the World Football Cup documentary, the movie Goal! The film was found worthy of British Academy of Film and Television Arts’ Robert Flaherty Documentary Award. However, on Dino return from London, he was hospitalized with severe pains and high fever, and diagnosed with nephritis.

1968

Dino was on the streets of Paris during the student demonstrations, he marched and attended meetings together with them and drew pictures of the activities on the streets, which can be seen in this image.

The year also saw Dino have a handful of successful shows. He had a three day-long personal exhibition on the events at the Sorbonne University, and a ceramic tiles exhibition at the Henriette Gomez Gallery, Paris. The artist also participated in the Artists Against Racism group exhibition at the Gallery Museum. Güzin’s mother, Ferdiye Dikel came from Istanbul to live with the couple in a nearby studio apartment.

1969

Dino came to Turkey for the first time in many years in 1969. The minute he landed in the Istanbul airport, it was made clear to the artist that his unfavorable status still continued:

“An interesting episode pertaining to my friendship with Abidin Dino relates to his first visit to Turkey in 1969, after he had directed the 1968 World Football Cup’s documentary, Goal! On that day, [...] Dino was almost through the passport checkpoint without any problems, when they received a phone call and said, 'Mr. Dino, they want you to go to the Political Division.' We put his suitcases in our car, and followed the police car in which he was taken [...] Finally they let him go, on condition that he come again next day.” – Cevat Çapan

1971

Despite the trouble before, the artist visited Turkey again and together with Metin Altıok he painted huge panes in support of the TÜBITAK (The Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey) strike in Ankara.

1972

The Dino couple moved to the studio-flat at 10, Rue de L’Eure, allocated by the Paris municipality to artists, with the help of gallery owner Henriette Gomez.

1976

Dino participated in the 7 Turkish Artists exhibition at Venissieux Cultural Centre. The exhibition was reopened at the Sergi Berliet factory.

The artist also collected, organized and exhibited the works of 80 contemporary artists, including Miró and Picasso for the Homage to Parisian Peasant exhibition dedicated to Louis Aragon’s work and opened at the three passages of Panaromas, Verdeau and Jouffroy. Turkish artists such as Komet, Mehmet Nâzım, Utku Varlık, Kemal Bastuji, Nil Gerede and Mübin Orhon also participated in the exhibition.

1977

Dino had his first personal exhibition in Turkey after many years, Ninety Flowers/Flowers If You Touch, which was organized by Ferit Edgü and opened at Vakko Art Gallery, Ankara.

1987

Dino drew the poster for Cannes Movie Festival’s 26ème Semaine International de la Critique Française section. He also participated in the International Istanbul Biennial.

1988

His work Pictures of Pain created after kidney surgery in Montpellier in 1967 was exhibited for the first time with the title Drawing Pain at Garanti Art Gallery, Istanbul. Le Mausolée du Maître Blanc, a book consisting of André Velter’s poem and Abidin Dino’s illustrations was published and sold by Fata Morgana Publications, there were only 12 copies and were sold at a price of 12,000 francs each.

1994 – today

In the years and decades that have followed Dino’s death an appreciation for his work could be seen in the number of commemorative events, exhibitions, re-publications of his illustrations and books that have taken place since 1993.