The First Female Sculptor: Sabiha Ziya Bengütaş

The first meeting of Ottoman Empire with the art of sculpting in Westerner terms became concrete by Sultan Abdulaziz's internalizing his impressions of the visit to Europe for a month in 1867 and by making C.F. FULLER sculpture a bust on a horse in 1871. The art of sculpting education within the lands of Ottoman Empire gained institutional identity by opening the School of Fine Arts in 3 March 1883. Although the first students of the School of Fine Arts were mostly composed of non-Muslims, within the course of time Turkish and Muslim children also showed interest in the school. Within this context, the first Turkish and Muslim female student of the School of Fine Arts was Sabiha Ziya (BENGÜTAŞ) (1904-2 October 1992). Starting her education in the department of painting in the School of Fine Arts, she graduates from the department of sculpting. Since her student years, Mrs. Sabiha Ziya had participated in exhibitions together with such persons would become important for Turkish sculpture art as Nijat SİREL, Zühtü MÜRİDOĞLU, Mrs. Melek Ahmet, Mrs. Rezan Ramiz, Ratıb Aşir ACUDOĞU and Mrs.Nermin Farukî. Especially, the artist exhebited her creations in Galatasaray and Ankara Painting Exhibitions opened in the first years of The Republican Period. In general, she created busts of her artist friends. In the middle of 1920’s, she started to Roma Fine Arts in İtaly for sculpture education. Continuing her sculpting works in Italy for a while, she is one of our most precious artists with her works of bust in the area of Turkish sculpting.

Keywords

Sabiha Ziya Bengütaş, Sculpture, School of Fine Arts, Resimli Ay Periodical