Albert Bitran Gölge Topraklar Gök Topraklar

Albert Bitran (b. 1931, Istanbul; d. 2018, Paris) forged his identity as an artist in Paris, where he arrived at the age of 17 to study architecture. He held his first exhibition there in 1951. Starting his artistic journey at a very young age, Bitran’s works were showcased in significant exhibitions of the post-war Parisian art scene, including Salon des Réalités Nouvelles and Salon de Mai. Emphasising abstract expressionism over figurative narration, Bitran’s artistic footprint extended far beyond Paris with exhibitions in Milan, Cologne, Brussels, Cuba, Stockholm, New York, London, Copenhagen, Tokyo, Istanbul, and Lyon. Among his recent solo exhibitions are Land of Shadows, Land of Sky, Dirimart Dolapdere, Istanbul (2024); Exposition Albert Bitran, Galerie Bertrand Trocmez, Clermont-Ferrand (2019); Affinités en noir majeur, Galerie Convergences & Galerie Gratadou-Intuiti, Paris (2017); and Regard sur Albert Bitran, Elfebeen Mansion, Luxembourg (2016). Clotilde Scordia is a Paris-based art historian, art critic and curator, graduated in Art history from Paris-Sorbonne. She mainly works about Turkish art and non-European avant-garde (especially from MENA area). She is the author of Istanbul-Montparnasse. Les Peintres Turcs de l’École de Paris (Paris, Déclinaison, 2021) and her monograph about Turkish artist Nejad Devrim, former resident at Cité Falguière in the 1950s, was published in 2022. She used to work on André Lhote catalogue raisonné and is currently working on those of Nejad Devrim and Albert Bitran.