Nevin Çokay

Who was Nevin Çokay? (1930-2012)

She completed her primary and secondary education in various cities of Anatolia. She entered the State Academy of Fine Arts in 1947 and graduated in 1953 from the Bedri Rahmi Eyüboğlu Workshop. The “On’lar Group” (Ten Group) that she formed during her student years created a stir. She held her first solo exhibition at Adalet Cimcoz’s “Maya” gallery (1953).

In addition to her painting, she worked for four years in Nedim Otyam’s folk song choir at Istanbul Radio (1950-1953). During this period, they gave concerts and performed folk dances in Italy (1952). She made a film called “Yurda Dönüş” (Return to Homeland) under the direction of Nedim Otyam. She also did film dubbing. After 1954, she devoted herself entirely to painting. Besides the solo exhibitions she held every year, she participated in various group exhibitions. These include the State Museum of Painting and Sculpture and the Paris Young Artists Biennale. She won second prize at the “Istanbul Art Festival” in 1961.

In 1979, she was invited to the Netherlands, where her paintings were exhibited for a year in various museums and galleries in Deventer, The Hague, and Rotterdam; she was also interviewed on Dutch television.
Her paintings are included in the Painting and Sculpture Museum, the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, the Istanbul Municipality, Istanbul University, Umjetnicka Galerij in Yugoslavia, and private and official collections in the Netherlands and Germany.
She worked as a high school art and art history teacher for seventeen years. She also taught painting in her own studio for three years, in the Levent Art Gallery painting studio for four years, and in the Çizgi Art House studio for three years.

She continued her painting work in her own studio. She was married and had one child. She died at her home in Foça on Tuesday, July 24, 2012.