HALE SONTAS

(1943, Istanbul)                    

After studying art history at İstanbul Universlty, Sontas continued her studies in the Department of Painting at the Istanbul State Academy of Fine Arts in 1962. She worked at Bedri Rahmi's Atelier, and graduated in 1968. She studied art in Switzerland and conducted research and expeditions abroad studying wall carpeting in Aubusson.

She had her first personal exhibition in istanbul in 1970. The same year, she studied the technique of knotted carpeting. In 1971, she went to France for a year to continue her research. There are two periods in her paintings. Between 1970 and 1974, her abstractionist approach was shaped under the direct influence of fantasy. In her later works, the fantasy element comes forth in an emphasis on figurative tendency. In these paintings, personal relationships appear at a dramatic level.