(Istanbul 1924–1981 Paris) Untitled, signed, dated Mübin 58–59, oil on canvas, 116 x 89.5 cm, border, (PS)

After taking his degree in political economics in 1947 in Istanbul, Mübin Orhon travelled to Paris to take his master’s degree in economics. At the same time he attended drawing classes at the Grande Chaumière academy. Between 1950 and 1953 he exhibited at the Salon de Réalités Nouvelles, and a few years later in the Salon de Mai. Mübin Orhon’s first solo exhibition was held in 1956 at the Galerie Iris Clert, at that time the avant-garde gallery in Paris. His close friends included the sculptors Takis, César and Giacometti, as well as the painter and graphic artist Messagier and Maussion.
Orhon’s works can be assigned to the style of Lyrical Abstraction which, as Mathieu said in Paris in 1948, “in view of the theories, represents the ultimate in total, absolute freedom to confront everything manifesting traces of Cubism, of Constructivism and of Surrealism.” These works, executed between 1958 and 1959, show disengagement from any tradition and any formal rule system. Orhon transforms his own perceptions into an artistic form, by turning the painting materials into the catalyst and the medium of inner expression.