Mihri Müşfik, 1886-1954

One of the first women painters in Turkey, Mihri Müşfik was born in İstanbul in 1886. With an interest in literature, music, and also painting, she took lessons from Italian artist Fausto Zonaro, court painter during the reign of Abdülhamid II. Müşfik continued her studies in Rome and Paris. After teaching at the Teachers School for Girls, she became the first woman to be a headmistress at the School of Fine Arts for Girls founded in 1914. Interested in literature from an early age, she befriended the circle of poets and authors known as the “Edebiyat-ı Cedideciler” (Literary Innovators). She later moved to the USA where she continued her work.

Mihri Müşfik encouraged her students to work out in the country. The practice of working from models, which she adopted during her academic training abroad, led her to attach importance to painting, sculpture, and especially drawing. Her works generally consist of portraits and other figurative painting. Müşfik liked to use family members and her closer circle as subject matter; in this work titled “Portrait” she has painted a friend. The fact that she has centered the composition on a single female figure, her technical mastery, and the finesse in her application of paint are all pioneering practices for the time. The same technical and compositional approach can be seen in most of her works. In this portrait, she has depicted the image of a real woman almost as if she were a dream because of her fine application of pastel paints.