ilhan Koman

(Edirne 1921 – Stockholm 1986)

ilhan Koman entered the istanbul Academy of Fine Arts in 1940; after studying painting for a year he transferred to the sculpture department and studied with Prof. Rudoph Belling. After his graduation he received a state scholarship and went to Paris in 1947 where he worked in l’Académie Julian and l’École du Louvre, and opened his first solo exhibition (1947-51). 

He produced his first iron works in Istanbul between 1951 and 1958 at the Academy’s sculpture department and workshop of which he was the co-founding instructor. In the same years he started the furniture company “Kare Metal” together with Şadi Çalık, Sadi Öziş, and Mazhar Süleymangil. In 1955 he joined André Bloc’s “Groupe Espace 1951” and declared the Turkish “Groupe  Espace” together with Hadi Bara and Tarık Carım. In 1957 he was invited to the Brussels World Fair to represent Turkey. In 1958 he moved to Stockholm where he took a professorship at the Swedish School of Arts Crafts and Design, Konstfackskolan, and lived here until his death in 1986. 

In 1965 he bought and renovated M/S Hulda, a two-mast Baltic schooner and cargo ship built 1905 in Sweden. M/S Hulda was to be his home and workshop until his death. His latest work consist mainly of projects designed to be implemented in public spaces. Some of these projects are registered with the Swedish Patent Office.

In Turkey he is best known for "Akdeniz" (Mediterranean) and the western frieze of Atatürk’s Mausoleum as well as several bronze and iron works. 

His works that span a wide range of innovative materials and methodologies are presently found in the collections of Moderna Museet, Stockholm; Musée d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris; Museo J. Battle, Montevideo; Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), New York; National Museum for Painting and Sculpture, Istanbul; Palais des Beaux-Arts (BOZAR), Brussels; Seattle Art Museum, Seattle; santralistanbul and Boğaziçi University, Istanbul; and various other public or private collections.

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© Yıldırım Arıcı