1. OSMAN HAMDİ BEY
TURKISH ARTIST
He was born in Istanbul
in 1842. He was a
contemporary Ottoman
man of his time. He was
regarded as an
intellectual. He
established the first
school of fine arts in
Istanbul and was its
director for the first 28
years.

4. THE TURTLE TRAINER
The turtle trainer is one of Osman Hamdi
Bey’s most original and creative works. It has
two versions.
The turtle trainer, dressed in a red dervish
robe, wants to educate the turtles. Of course
this was a metaphorical situation. It portrays
this basic social message: Change is difficult,
needs much patience. The turtles in this
picture stand for a stubborn, resistant and
slow changing society.

5. He is holding the ney. But
unfortunately the turtles have no ears to
hear the ney. He calls for westernization.
The turtles are deaf to his ney.
The turtle trainer represents a patient
intellectual. And the light coming from
the window is also an important factor.

6. We have worked with 25 students.

7. One of our most talented students work on Osman
Hamdi Bey.

8. She did a great job.

9. We hang it on our school wall.

10. Some of our students use fabric and
pastel together.

11. We also use trinket. We use walnut
to make turtle shells.

12. We use fibers in this work.

13. We used linocut technique.

14. We draw with charcoal.

15. Elif, our English teacher is good at
drawing and she draw a sample on
the board.

17. We took photographs .

18. They used collage technique.

19. She used pastel while drawing.

20. They used fabric technique.

21. Drawing made with charcoal.

22. They used crayon.

23. We use plasticine to make turtles.

26. The following pictures show our works
with our students. Our students are 7th
and 8th grade students.

30. Some of our students use colored
papers they cut and paste them on a
paper.

32. Our Comenius Corner:
Oil painting, Acrylic painting and
Gouache painting are also used while
drawing Osman Hamdi Bey.