Nijat Sirel Explained

Ali Nijat Sirel
Birth Date:1897
Birth Place:Amasya, Ottoman Empire
Death Place:Istanbul, Turkey
Nationality:Turkish
Education:Sculpture
Alma Mater:Munich Fine Arts Academy,
Sanayi-i Nefise Mektebi.[1]
Known For:sculpture

Ali Nijat Sirel (1897–1959) was a Turkish sculptor. The Bursa Atatürk Monument that he made in 1931 together with Mahir Tomruk is considered one of his best works. He is one of the first sculptors to take over monument sculpture in Turkey from foreigners. He is an important figure for Turkish sculpture as he and Mahir Tomruk are among the teachers to first educate the Republic-era Turkish sculptors.

Biography

Sirel was born in 1897 in Amasya. In 1915, he was sent to Germany on a state scholarship to study sculpture. He was educated at the Munich Fine Arts Academy, after which he returned home.

In 1922, he started to work in İzmir High School as an art teacher. In 1927, he was appointed as a sculpture teacher at the Fine Arts Academy Istanbul and gave lessons alongside Rudolf Belling. In 1952, Sirel became the head of the academy. He died in Istanbul in 1959.

He sculpted many monuments starting with the Bursa Atatürk Monument that he created with Mahir Tomruk in 1931. Following, he made the Çanakkale Atatürk Monument (1933), Kocaeli Ataturk Monument, Bolu Ataturk Monument, and together with Hakkı Atamulu the Atatürk and İnönü monuments in Malatya.

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Heykel . msgsu.edu.tr . . 19 April 2018 . Heykel Bölümü, Sanayi-i Nefise Mektebi'nin kuruluşu (2 Mart 1883) ile eğitime başlayan ilk üç bölüm arasında yer almaktadır. Okulun kurucusu Osman Hamdi Bey'in yardımcısı olarak kuruluş çalışmalarında önemli görevler üstlenen Osgan Efendi (Yervant Osgan) aynı zamanda heykel bölümünün ilk öğretmeni olarak 1914 yılına değin bu görevi sürdürmüştür. Daha sonra Mehmet İhsan Özsoy, Mahir Tomruk, Ali Nijad Sirel, Ali Hadi Bara, Rudolf Belling, Prof. Zühtü Müritoğlu Adolf Treberer, İlhan Koman, Nusret Suman ve Prof. Şadi Çalık öğretim üyesi olarak görev almışlardır. .