Tekezade Said, 1869-1913

Tekezade Sait graduated from the Academy of Fine Arts in 1898. He participated in the Ottoman Painters Society exhibitions and helped to found the society's publication, the Ottoman Painters Society Gazette. He was best known for his portraits, painted in a classical-academic style, and rarely painted still-lifes.

Since still-life is one of the essential subjects of classical-academic training, it is no surprise that Tekezade Said also produced works in this genre, also due to the tradition of the genre of providing viewers with reminders of their own mortality. “Still-Life” informs us about the painting materials used at that time. In this a composition of bottles, tubes of oil paint and brushes, the artist examines the light falling on these objects, and in doing so has departed to some extent from the classical-academic style. In the vibrations of color in the shadows of the objects cast on the ground he has engaged in experiments not far removed from impressionism.