Gürol Sözen (1940) graduated from the Department of Art History from Literary Faculty of University of Istanbul. He held his first solo exhibition in Kadıkoy, Istanbul Turkey in 1960, since when he has held over thirty solo exhibitions. Since 1959, Gürol Sözen has published several books, serial interviews and newspaper articles. The scope of his activity since 1971 has included cultural programmes and documentary films for the Turkish Radio and Television (TRT). In 1976 Gürol Sözen was awarded the painting prize in the International Istanbul Festival. Gürol Sözen acted as general advisor for the Contemporary Soviet Painting Exhibition held for the first time in Ankara and Istanbul in 1987-1988. Sözen' "Settling an Account of Fourty Years" retrospective exhibition held in Akbank, Istanbul in 2000. His contemporary icons were displayed under the title éIcon of Sorrow" in the Museum of Turkish and Islamic Arts in Istanbul in 2005. In the flowing years he exhibited his paintings and sculptures under the titles such as  "Icons of Istanbul", "The Istanbul of the Seagulls" in Istanbul. Sozen's most recent retrospective exhibition "60 Years of Gürol Sözen" held at Is Sanat Kibele Hall, Istanbul.

The works of the Gürol Sözen, including paintings and sculptures are held in private collections in the USA, Russia, Germany, the Netherlands, Italy, England as well as in Turkey.

Among Gürol Sözen’s books are1000 Çeçit İstanbul ve Boğaziçi Yalıları / The Thousand Faces of Istanbul and the Seaside Mansions of the Bosphorus,1989, Akbank / From the Aegean to the Mediterranian: The Blue Civilization (Turkish-English), 1995/1998, Akbank / Martıların İstanbulu (The Istanbul of the Seagulls), 1999, Türkiye İş Bankası / Civilization Under the Clouds of Anatolia (Turkish -English), 2000, Türkiye İş Bankası / From the Aegean to the Mediterranian: The Blue Civilization, 2001, Türkiye İş Bankası / By the Waters of the Maeander: Priene, Miletus, Didyma  (Turkish-English, with Prof. Dr. Zeynep Sözen and Prof. Dr. Münir Ekonomi), 2003, Yaşar Education and Culture Foundation / Hittite Pattiya and Palliye, 2008, Can Publishing / The butterfly of a Thousand Mauntains in Troys: Tales 2008, Can Publishing / The Search of Beauty in Anatolia (with co-author Prof. Dr. Zeynep Sözen), 2008, HSBC / Mosaic of Anatolia (Turkish and English), 2011, HSBC / A Twelve Thousand Year Old Civilization: Anatolia, 2011, BKG.

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