YURDAER ALTINTAŞ

Yurdaer Altıntaş was born in Kars in 1935. In the first year of high school, he entered and passed The Istanbul State Academy of Fine Arts exams and started to study painting. In 1952, he continued his education at the Istanbul State Academy of Fine Arts, Department of Decorative Arts, at the Poster studios. Altıntaş started working professionally in the last year of his higher education. He graduated from the high education department of the Poster Studio in 1957, and after a short six-month advertising agency experience, he preferred to work independently. His first solo exhibition, which he opened at the Turkish-German Cultural Center in 1964, is the first graphic design exhibition held in Turkey.

With the publication of his works in Gebraucshgraphik magazine published in Germany in 1965, he became the first Turkish graphic designer whose works were published in a foreign publication. Beginning in the second half of the 1960s, his works were accepted into numerous graphic design events abroad. He made attempts to ensure the recognition of Turkish graphic design abroad. He pioneered the establishment of the Graphic Artists Association in 1968. The illustrations of Nasreddin Hodja that he made were published in England in 1974 as a book. Beginning as a lecturer at IDGSA Applied Industrial Arts High School (UESYO) in 1976, he assumed different roles in graphic design education until his retirement from Mimar Sinan University Fine Arts Faculty Graphics Department in 2002. From 1987 to 1993, he served as the president of the Graphic Designers Professional Association.

In 1996, he organized an international invited poster exhibition for his 60th birthday. Altıntaş's works are in various museums and archives around the world. In 2011, his works of sixty years were exhibited at the 21st International Istanbul Art Fair and the Artist Honorary Award was given to Altıntaş. Yurdaer Altıntaş passed away in Istanbul in 2019. The works of the artist have been accepted to our museum by donation.