[USA / MIDDLE EAST] Original print. Ed: E/A. Print by IMOGA, led by Süleyman Saim Tekcan

TURHAN SELÇUK, (1922-2010), [IMOGA: Süleyman Saim Tekcan], [Istanbul], 2002.

An attractive original print by Turkish cartoonist Turhan Selçuk (1922-2010). Abdülcanbaz was crushed under the foot of the Statue of Liberty. Abdülcanbaz is the name of the comic book drawn by Turhan Selçuk for Milliyet newspaper in 1957 and its protagonist.

Edition of E/A. Signed and dated in pencil on the lower right by the artist. Size: 50x70 cm, printed size: 35x50 cm.

Selçuk was a prolific Turkish cartoonist. He is considered to be one of the few cartoonists in Turkey, who paved the way for the current Turkish cartoon scene. Selçuk was the founder of the Turkish Cartoonists Association together with Semih Balcioglu and Ferit Öngören.

Istanbul Museum of Graphic Arts (IMOGA): Süleyman Saim Tekcan, who founded many of the printmaking studios throughout universities in Turkey, thereby ensuring training in the printmaking field at these institutions, established his first private studio in 1974 in Kuyubaşı. The purpose of this studio was to have a designated place for Tekcan to make his own artistic productions. Tekcan intended to produce only his own etching and screen prints, and he conducted the manufacture of all of the studio equipment, such as the etching press, screen printing machine, and drying racks, by personally implementing the technical drawings from sample projects he brought from Germany. This studio was the only private studio in Turkey outfitted with technological equipment to this degree in the printmaking field at the time. Thus, the idea of ​​sharing his studio with other artists arose in Tekcan's mind. Nurullah Berk was the first artist to produce prints at the studio. Later, Gündüz Gölönü, Ferruh Basaga, and Neset Günal, respectively produced prints at this studio.

As a result of a culmination of artistic works and experience accumulated by Süleyman Saim Tekcan over 30 years, with his first studio established in Kuyubasi, then Sögütlüçesme and finally Artess Çamlica, Turkey's first printmaking museum, IMOGA, the Istanbul Museum of Graphic Arts was founded in 2004. IMOGA was built as the main production and exhibition building in the developing area of ​​Ünalan, a neighborhood on the Anatolian side of Istanbul, between Acibadem and Göztepe, on the outskirts of the hills of Çamlica. The building, with a closed area of ​​2000 m2, has six floors designed to serve various activities and purposes. In the section designed as exhibition space yielding a total area of 1100 m2, which includes the entrance level and the two levels beneath it, works in the permanent collection are presented to art lovers on an alternating basis.