^#smrgSAHAF From the Aegean to the Mediterranean the Blue Civilization -

GÜROL SÖZEN Born in 1940, Gürol Sözen graduated from the Department of Art History from the Faculty of Letters, University of Istanbul. He held his first personal exhibition at Kadıköy in 1960, since when he has held twenty nine personal exhibitions. Since 1959, Gürol Sözen has published several travel notes, serial interviews and newspaper articles. The scope of his activity since 1971 has included cultural programmes and documentary films for the Turkish Radio and Television (TRT). In 1976 Gürol Sözen was awarded the painting prize in the International Istanbul Festival. Gürol Sözen acted as general advisor for the Contemporary Soviet Painting Exhibition held for the first time in Ankara and Istanbul in 1987-1988. Sözen's silver and bronze sculptures were displayed under the title "Balance" by Gallery Urart in Istanbul and Emlak Art Gallery in Ankara in 1999. "Settling an Account of Forty Years" was a retrospective exhibition held in Akbank, Istanbul in 2000. His contemporary icons were displayed under the title "Icons of Sorrow" in the Museum of Turkish and Islamic Arts in Istanbul in 2005. In 2005, he exhibited his paintings and sculptures under the title “Icons of Istanbul”. Collections of the Museum of Turkish and Islamic Arts were also displayed during both icon exhibitions.The artist's most recent exhibition was titled “The Istanbul of the Seagulls” and took place in Almelek Art Gallery in May, 2012.

The works of the artist, including paintings and sculptures are held in private collections in the USA, Russia, Germany, the Netherlands, Italy, England as well as in Turkey. Among Gürol Sözen's books are Bin Çes¸it I·stanbul ve Bogˆaziçi Yalıları(The Thousand Faces of Istanbul and the Seaside Mansions of the Bosphorus), 1989, Akbank/ From the Aegean to the Mediterranean: the Blue Civilization (in Turkish and English), 1995/1998, Akbank/ Martıların I·stanbulu (The Istanbul of the Seagulls), 1999, Türkiye I·s¸ Bankası/ Civilizations Under the Clouds of Anatolia (in Turkish and English), 2000, Türkiye I·s¸ Bankası/ From the Aegean to the Mediterranean; the Blue Civilization, 2001, Türkiye I·s¸ Bankası/ By the Waters of The Maeander: Priene, Miletus, Didyma, (in Turkish and in English, with Prof. Dr. Zeynep Sözen and Prof. Dr. Münir Ekonomi), 2003, Yas¸ar Education and Culture Foundation/ Hittite Pattiya and Palliye, 2008, Can Publishing/ The Butterfly of a Thousand Mountains in Troy: Tales, 2008, Can Publishing/ The Search for Beauty in Anatolia (with co-author Prof. Dr. Zeynep Sözen), 2008, HSBC/ Mosaic of Anatolia (in Turkish and English),2011, HSBC/ A Twelve Thousand Year Old Civilization: Anatolia, 2011, BKG.