Ayetullah Sümer - Turkish Painting Association

Who is Ayetullah Sümer? (1905 Izmir – 1979 Istanbul)

Who is Ayetullah Sumer, who prefers to paint misty paintings dominated by dark tones in his works? Where did he paint the paintings of Atatürk and İsmet İnönü? Here is the interesting life story of Ayatollah Sümer.

Ayetullah Sümer, who was born in Izmir in 1905, completed his primary and secondary education in this city and then went to France in 1925 and continued his education at Marseille Trade School. Sümer, who became interested in painting while continuing his education in Marseille, attended Théophile Bérengier’s painting workshop at the Marseille School of Fine Arts until he returned to Izmir in 1927. Sümer, who opened his first personal exhibition at the Izmir Turkish Hearth in 1928, decided to be completely interested in art there. In the same year, he receives a government scholarship and goes to Paris. The artist works on frescoes with Paul-Albert Baudoüin, the head of the fresco workshop at L’Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Art. He returns to Istanbul and establishes a fresco workshop at the State Academy of Fine Arts. The artist exhibited his paintings in his flat in Şişli in 1943 and formed an art group with his students called As Group.

The artist, who settled in Istanbul after returning to Turkey, established a fresco workshop at the Istanbul State Academy of Fine Arts in 1938 and continued to give education there until his retirement in 1971. Sümer was also one of the painters selected for the Homeland Tours organized by the Republican People’s Party in 1939. As part of the trip, he went to Afyon and produced sketches and paintings there.

Known for his realistic portraits, the artist created landscapes and still lifes that left a misty, misty, deserted and mystical effect.
He is known as one of the first painters of the Republican period. The views of Afyon he drew in 1939 were followed by still life and portrait works. Sümer also painted many paintings of Atatürk and İnönü.
The misty atmospheres in his paintings, which are generally dominated by dark tones, reflect his pessimistic and introverted world. The artist, who died in 1979, has works in many private collections. In addition, his important works such as "A View of Istanbul-1943", "Books are the Tale of Life- 1951", "Copper Vessels-1955" are in the Istanbul Painting and Sculpture Museum.

Sümer, who died in Istanbul in 1979, was deemed worthy of the "Osman Hamdi Honor Award" in 1983 within the scope of the "100th Anniversary of the Foundation of the Academy" celebrations.