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Cihat Burak (1915-1994) Click for Artist Information
"Still Life"
THE TENSION BETWEEN MEMORY, HUMOR, AND NARRATIVE IN CİHAT BURAK’S STILL LIFES
Cihat Burak, one of the most original and narratively powerful figures in Turkish painting, stands out with his unconventional approach to the still life genre. While traditional still lifes are known for their aesthetic arrangement of objects, balance of light and shadow, and observational simplicity, Burak’s still lifes resemble multi-layered visual texts. His flowers are faded, his vases are cracked, and his backgrounds are filled with symbols that drift between dream and reality.
Burak’s approach to still life does not confine itself to the surface of objects. A flower in a vase may symbolize a historical trauma, a societal collapse, or a deeply personal memory. Urban landscapes hidden within the composition, miniature-like structures, fantastical birds, and grotesque figures reveal that the artist viewed still life not merely as “inanimate nature” but as a vibrant space of storytelling.
The flowers in Burak’s still lifes are often wilting, withered, or distorted. This aesthetic decay reflects the passage of time, the poetry of deterioration, and perhaps the erasure of memory’s fragile layers. Figurative and architectural elements alongside the flowers suggest that cultural codes how humanity reconstructs nature have been inscribed on the canvas surface.
A distinct sense of humor and irony is also present in Burak’s still lifes. Especially through caricatured details subtly embedded within the work, the viewer is invited to smile while also being prompted to reflect. In this way, his still lifes demonstrate that Burak was not only a painter, but also a keen storyteller and observer.
In conclusion, Cihat Burak’s still lifes break away from the classical tradition of motionless, observational still life painting. Instead, he constructs a rich narrative space where memory, imagination, and social critique intertwine. Each still life is not merely a vase and a bouquet it is a poetic, dreamlike, and polyphonic universe layered with traces of the past.
Oil on cardboard pasted on hardboard
50.5 x 35.5 cm
signed
Estimate: 300.000 TL - 450.000 TL
Starting Bid: 200,000 TL
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Cihat Burak
CİHAT BURAK (1915 - 1994)
After completing his secondary education at Galatasaray High School in 1937, he graduated in 1943 as the students of Sedat Hakkı Eldem, Bonatz and Emin Onat from the architecture department of the Istanbul Fine Arts Academy, which is now Mimar Sinan Fine Arts University. He was sent to France with a United Nations scholarship. He studied architecture and painting in Paris for three years. When he returned home in 1955, he resumed his job at the Ministry of Public Works. It was sent to Afghanistan in 1957 for the Kabul Embassy Building projects.
The artist, who opened his first solo exhibition in 1957 at Istanbul Beyoğlu City Gallery with his works in France, in addition to his works based on the understanding of "social realism", there is a fantastic fiction in his works such as Dolmabahçe Palace Gate, Tombstones and Girl with Pearls. Among the works of the artist, who uses the theme of death in his work titled “My Canary, My Beautiful Bird, I Am Shot On You”, there are also paintings by celebrities such as Nazım Hikmet, Eren Eyüboğlu and Aliye Berger as well as the recent “Cat” paintings.
The artist stated that he made architecture to make a living and painting because he loves; Expressionism is observed in metal printing works, porcelain and glass works, and terracotta sculptures and busts, as in their paintings.
Bronze Medal with 1964 Naval Battle in Paris Imagination Navy
Silver Medal at the Utrillo Gift Exhibition in Paris, 1964
1982 Sedat Simavi Foundation Visual Arts Award, Istanbul
1991 Plastic Arts Association Honor Award
