SAMİ YETIK  (1878-1945, Istanbul)

He was born in Istanbul in 1878.

His father is Hacı Raşit Efendi, one of the Asmaaltı merchants. After completing his primary education at Şehzadebaşı Taş Mektep, he continued to Çiçekpazarı Secondary School and Mulkiye High School. He started his first painting studies with the encouragement of Osman Nuri Pasha, who was an art teacher in this school.

He went to Kuleli Military High School because he was interested in military service. He met Hodja Ali Rıza in Harbiye. Thus, the first artistic enthusiasms were directed towards a conscious choice. He graduated from Harbiye in 1898. After leaving the Military Academy, he became an art teacher at the Veteran Military High School in Eyüp. He continued on to Sanayi-i Nefise, which he would finish in the first place. He graduated here in 1906.

With the special permission of Mahmut Şevket Pasha, he was sent to France. Between 1910 and 1912, he worked at Julian's Atelier, Jean-Paul Laurens. When he returned home, he wrote articles that wanted the innovations he saw in Europe to be included in the Sanayi-i Nefise program. Kuleli also became an art teacher. He is one of the founding members of the Turkish Painters Society.

After returning home, he participated in the Balkan War and was captured by the Bulgarians and lived in captivity for a while. He continued his close friendship with Mehmet Ali Laga, with whom he was at the front due to the Balkan War. While serving in the fortified area of ​​the Bosphorus during the First World War, he processed the war scenes in his paintings, which he had the opportunity to watch closely. He gave typical examples of this genre. He wrote articles on art in newspapers and produced two albums for secondary schools. He wrote the book "Our Painters", which is one of the source books of our art of painting, but whose first volume could be published in 1940. He took an active role in the training of military painters. He participated in Galatasaray exhibitions for many years.

He also served during World War I. He retired from the rank of major in 1933. Yetik, who participated in the Berlin and Vienna exhibitions in 1918, mostly has paintings about Istanbul, Bursa and other cities and the National Struggle. Sami Yetik died in Istanbul in 1945.

Sami Yetik is among the important members of the military painters generation. It has also been committed to the understanding of art, which accepts nature as a strong guide, and has taken care to reflect the values ​​of visuality and documentary in common solutions. In the last period of his life, he focused on interesting scenes from the life of Ankara, the new capital city, and made efforts to organize military painters in Ankara.

Source:  www.turkishpaintings.com