Nusret Çolpan was a Turkish painter, architect and miniaturist, renowned for his paintings in Ottoman miniature style depicting cities around the world, particularly Istanbul. He painted over 300 miniatures in his 32 years of Artlife.

Nusret Çolpan was born in Bandirma in 1952. He graduated from the Department of Architecture at Yildiz University in Istanbul. During this period, he studied with two of the leading authorities in Turkish illumination and miniature painting, Dr. A. Süheyl Ünver and Azade Akar.

Mr. Çolpan has been greatly inspired by the work of Matrakçi Nasuh, the acclaimed miniaturist in the court of Süleyman the Magnificent. Using the benefits of his architectural skills, he developed his own style on the basis of the rules of miniature art.

He introduced his works in exhibitions in Topkapi Palace, Press Museum, Atatürk Library, Istanbul Municipality, Cemal Reşit Rey Exhibition Hall, Tugra Gallery, Kadir Has University and Istanbul University Cerrahpaşa Medicine Museum. His works were also presented in various exhibitions in Germany, Japan, Kazakhstan, Luxembourg, Syria, Georgia, India and U.S.A.

He committed a tile Paris miniature to the president of France H.E. Jack Chirac and a Moscow miniature to the president of Russia Vladimir Putin. Majority of Mr. Çolpan's works are now found in private collections in New York, Germany, England and Japan, as well as in Turkey. One of his miniatures is a part of the permanent collection at the Santa Barbara Museum of Art in California.

Çolpan died because of heart disease on May 31, 2008 in Istanbul. The Newspapers and TV Channels described his loss with words as "miniature has lost its smiling face".

1972 - 87



1987-99



1999-08

Videos about Nusret Colpan
Article about Çolpan at Wikipedia
Information about miniature art