Akoral, Nevzat

Akoral’s prints from this period depict daily life in the slums of Ankara: Around the Fire, seen here, shows men warming themselves over an open fire at the bottom and, in a smaller scale, a group of horse carriages at the top. Both this woodcut and Akoral’s Porters (G1975.271) capture a fleeting moment, as laborers pause to rest or reflect.

Akoral entered the Arts and Crafts Department of the Gazi Education Institute, Ankara, in 1946 and graduated three years later. Between 1960 and 1962, he continued his studies in graphic art at Indiana University. After returning to Turkey, he joined the Gazi faculty, where he taught until his retirement in 1976. Primarily a printmaker, Akoral made mostly black-and-white woodcuts and linocuts until the 1970s, when he began to focus more on painting.