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Abidin Dino,  (1913 - 1993) was a Turkey|Turkish
artist and a well-known painter. 

==Early years==
He was born on March 23, 1913 in Istanbul into a
family who loved art. He started drawing and
painting at a young age influenced by his family.
As a child he lived in Geneve, Switzerland and
France for several years with his parents,
returning to Istanbul in 1925. Dino began his
secondary education at the American highschool
Robert College of Istanbul, but dropped out to
devote himself to painting, drawing and writing.
His articles and cartoons were soon being
published in newspapers and magazines, and in 1933
he and five other young innovative painters
founded the “List of Turkish painters|Group
D”, which held several exhibitions of their
work. At around the same time, he illustrated
Nazim Hikmet|Nazım Hikmet’s books of poetry

In 1933, the Soviet director Sergei Yutkevich, who
had made a film about Ankara, invited Dino to the
Lenfil Studios in Leningrad, and with
Ataturk|AtatĂĽrk's encouragement Dino accepted. In
Leningrad, he worked as a scenery designer and
assistant director at several film studios, and
directed a film called "Miners" in Moscow, Kiev
and Odessa. Shortly after returning to Turkey, he
went to Paris, France where he worked from 1937 to
1939, meeting such famous artists as Gertrude
Stein, Tristan Tzara and Picasso.

Following his return to Istanbul again, he
participated in the famous "Harbor Exhibition",
consisting of paintings of the city's dockworkers
and fishermen by well-known Turkish painters of
the time. The exhibition aroused widespread public
interest, and that year Dino was asked to design
the Turkish pavilion at the 1939 New York World's
Fair. Meanwhile, he published articles and
cartoons in several of the foremost magazines of
that time, studying a new approach to realism
together with his elder brother poet Arif Dino.

During World War II, he did drawings inspired by
the conflict, but his treatment of political
subjects in wartime aroused official hackles, and
in 1941 the martial law command of Istanbul exiled
him and his elder brother to southeastern
Anatolia, where their grandfather was governor
before. The years of exile until 1945 were
artistically very productive for Dino. While his
young wife Guzin Dino taught French
language|French at Adana High School, he worked
for a local newspaper, producing articles and
drawings that illustrated with poetic realism of
the hard lives and working conditions of
agricultural laborers in the region. It was here
that he wrote his plays "Bald" and "Heirs", and
began doing sculpture. In 1951, he was allowed to
leave Turkey. So he went first to Rome, Italy
where he stayed nine months, but settled then in
Paris in 1952.

==Paris days==
Within a short time, the home of Guzin and Abidin
Dino in Paris became the haunt of many famous
artists and writers. The couple first moved into
the studio on the top floor of Max Ernst's
apartment on the quay of Saint Michel, and later
to a small flat in L'Eure.

Their foreign and Turkish friends, including Nazim
Hikmet, Yasar Kemal|Yaşar Kemal, Ahmet Hamdi
Tanpinar and Melih Cevdet, found the opportunity
to meet one another at the Dino’s home. The
Dinos were also always ready with a helping hand
for young Turkish painters and students in Paris,
introducing them to world famous masters, and
assisting them to get established.

For eight years from 1954, Abidin Dino
participated in the "Salon de Mai" exhibitions in
Paris, while Guzin Dino produced programmes for
Radio France, taught Turkish language|Turkish at
the Oriental Languages Department of the Sorbonne,
and did French translations of Turkish literature.

==Unforgettable friendship==
Although Abidin Dino lived abroad, he never
severed relations with Turkey and his friends
there, and took a close interest in everything
that occurred, particularly in the political
field. He was always delighted to cooperate with
other artists and writers, writing prefaces and
drawing illustrations for his friends' books with
unbounded generosity.

After more than a decade's absence he visited
Turkey in 1969 to open an exhibition of his work.
From then on he came more frequently,
participating in both one-person and mixed
exhibitions. In 1979 he was elected honorary
president of the National Union of the Visual Arts
(UNAP) in France. His film "Goal" (1966) was a
spectacular tribute to his visual sensitivity and
brought him the "Flaherty prize". This film about
the Football World Cup 1966 final is a documentary
that did not confine itself to football matches,
but included fascinating footage of people in
London and elsewhere in England.

==Master of drawing==
Abidin Dino was interested in everything that was
alive, skillfully capturing images with his brush,
pencil and camera. He had two favorite themes:
hands and flowers. In a book of small drawings,
which he did for his wife Guzin published on the
tenth anniversary of his death, glimpses of the
love and sense of solidarity are seen, which were
his inspiration. Entitled "Guzin's Abidins", this
book consists of drawings and essays by Abidin
Dino.

One may come across his name in numerous art
galleries and museums around the world, in a poem,
the lyrics of a song, or a book. He is not only
one of the pioneers of modern Turkish painting,
but produced masterful works in such disparate
fields as caricature, sculpture, ceramics, cinema,
and literature.                       

Dino died on December 7, 1993 at the Villejuif
Hospital in Paris. He laid to rest in the
Aşiyan Cemetery in Istanbul.