Burhan Karkutli

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Burhan Karkutli ( Arabic برهان الدين كركوتلي, DMG Burhān ad-Dīn Karkūtlī ; * 1932 in Damascus ; † December 26, 2003 in Bonn ) was a German-Arab artist.

The style of his graphics is characterized by Arabic ornamental art, its arabesques , Arabic calligraphy and the tradition of political posters . The motifs include oriental mythical figures, historical figures and political issues, especially the Middle East conflict in which he sided with the Palestinians with his art.

His pictures were described as "haunting, striking, their subject immediately understandable for everyone" and as a "new style of contemporary Arab art". In the 1970s and 1980s, Karkutli became one of the most popular Arab artists in Europe, and prints of his graphics hung in countless student shared apartments.

Karkutli studied art in Cairo, East Berlin and Madrid. Its first exhibition took place in Damascus in 1958 and dealt with the atomic bombing on Hiroshima , the pictures were confiscated by the Syrian secret service. Studying with the GDR artists Arno Mohr and Walter Womacka from 1962 to 1964 at the College of Fine and Applied Arts influenced Karkutli's style significantly and inspired his search for an "almost programmatic [n] imagery to develop his vision of a more just world for broad Formulate population groups in a recognizable and understandable way ".

Politically persecuted in Syria, he moved permanently to Germany in 1970, initially to Berlin; later he lived in Frankfurt am Main and Bonn. He took German citizenship.

Karkutli was born in Damascus to a well-known Syrian family, but saw himself as a Palestinian. In 1975 he began to work with Palestinian activists and other political groups in the Federal Republic, and printed political graphics in high volumes. According to Jutta Ströter-Bender

“... [Karkutli] worked on the one hand with generally valid depictions of war and persecution, but also with clear victim-perpetrator assignments and largely unambiguous gender typologies in clear black outlines. Young, brave warriors, gloomy aggressors and beautiful women are surrounded by doves, flowers and ornaments. "

Pictures in which he criticized Israeli military actions brought him the accusation of anti-Semitism.

His German wife Dietlinde Karkutli published one of the first books on belly dancing in German, which saw numerous new editions.

In the last ten years of his life he performed successfully as an "Arab storyteller" all over Germany. Karkutli died on December 26, 2003 and was buried in Bad Godesberg .

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Obituary by Harald M. Bock, General Secretary of the German-Arab Society , December 27, 2003 online ( Memento of September 28, 2007 in the Internet Archive )
  2. ↑ a b c d e f Jutta Ströter-Bender : "The Syrian artist Burhan Karkutli (1932-2003)". In: World Heritage and Arts Education, Edition 6/7, October 2013, pp. 8–11 ( PDF )
  3. ↑ a b Harald M. Bock: In memoriam Burhan Karkutli ( Memento of the original from September 28, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (Commemorative speech by the Secretary General of the German-Arab Society, January 2, 2004)  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.dag.de
  4. ↑ a b c d Georg Baltissen: Artists of the People . In: the daily newspaper , January 2, 2004 (obituary)
  5. ↑ In memory of Burhan Karkutli. Press release District Office Neukölln, January 14, 2005 online ( Memento from September 29, 2007 in the Internet Archive )

literature

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Karkutli, Burhan
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German-Arab artist
DATE OF BIRTH 1932
PLACE OF BIRTH Damascus
DATE OF DEATH December 26, 2003
Place of death Bonn