Tankut Öktem

Tankut Öktem (1941, Istanbul – 5 December 2007, İstanbul) was a Turkish sculptor well known especially for his monumental works.

He was born 1941 in Istanbul and his childhood was spent moving from one location in Turkey to another following the successive assignments of his parents, who were veterinaries employed by the state.

By his teens, he was already recognized as a child prodigy in sculpture and painting, and he concentrated on the former discipline after his enrollment in the ceramics branch of Istanbul State College of Fine and Applied Arts (Turkish: İstanbul Devlet Tatbiki Güzel Sanatlar Yüksek Okulu).

[1] Tankut Öktem became well known in Turkey after the 1970s, especially with monumental works of Atatürk or the Turkish War of Independence as theme, and which are remarkable especially with their high number of figurines.

[4][5] Tankut Öktem died on 5 December 2007 in a traffic accident in Üsküdar, İstanbul, at which also his wife and daughter Pınar were injured.