Tülay Tura Börtecene

Who was Tülay Tura Börtecene? (1936 İstanbul -2018 İstanbul)

Tülay Tura Börtecene (is a Turkish abstract expressionist painter. From her first exhibition in 1959 onwards, she consistently produced abstract works and remained committed to canvas and oil paint as her materials throughout her artistic life.)
She was born in Istanbul on February 1, 1936. She completed her high school education at Istanbul Girls’ High School. Between 1955 and 1959, she studied at the Istanbul State Academy of Fine Arts, painting department, in the studios of Halil Dikmen and Bedri Rahmi Eyüboğlu.

For her postgraduate studies, she went to the United States and worked on painting and ceramics at the University of Wisconsin between 1961 and 1962. From her very first works, she embarked on a “design of the universe” in her paintings.
Börtecene, who opened her first exhibition in Istanbul in 1959, later participated in group exhibitions in the United States, France, and Italy. In 1963, together with Adnan Çoker, Devrim Erbil, Altan Gürman, and Sarkis, she exhibited “Blue”. She was a member of the “Group”.

In 1964, she married the poet Ahmet Oktay and settled in Ankara. They had a child named Deniz. Between 1964 and 1974, she worked as a painting teacher at TED Ankara College. She exhibited her work at the 1966 Tehran Biennial in Iran. She returned to Istanbul in 1974 and continued her work there.

Börtecene primarily relied on canvas and oil paint, producing abstract works. She derived the origins of these abstractions from dreams and subconscious images. In her paintings, nebula-like color tones are seen harmoniously intertwined. She expressed the view that, “But once the first color is chosen, the painting begins.”
In the 1980s, influenced by the political climate of the post-coup period, the artist produced critical, socially themed figurative paintings. The poems of Edip Cansever and Gülten Akın inspired her paintings. After her works titled “Faces” and “Faces and Things,” she continued her abstract work. From the 1990s onwards, she returned to abstract expressionist painting.