Karacaahmet

Nazmi Ziya was born in Istanbul and took his first art lessons from Hoca Ali Rıza. At his father's request he studied at the School of Political Sciences, but after graduating enrolled at the School of Fine Arts in 1902, where he studied under Salvatore Valeri, Joseph Warnia-Zarzecki and Osgan Efendi. In 1905 he met the famous painter Paul Signac who was visiting Istanbul, and this meeting altered his view of art. When he graduated with a first class degree in 1908 he went to Paris to study at the Julian Academy in the studio of Jean-Paul Laurens. Then he went on to attend the studio of Fernand Cormon at the Paris Academy of Fine Arts. He travelled to Germany and Austria to view art in those countries, returning to Turkey after the First World War broke out in 1914. He was appointed director of İzmir Teacher Training School and went on to work as a schools inspector in Istanbul. He twice served as director of the School of Fine Arts, in 1918-1921 and 1925-1927. His work was first exhibited at the Galatasaray Exhibition.