Osman Hasan, a painter born in Thessaloniki in the early 1900s, his father Hasan a grocery and haberdashery (hoisery) shop owner in Thessaloniki. Osman was in his 20s when they came to Istanbul in 1924 with the exchange of population.

It is known that the confectioner Muhlis, who opened up a shop in Harbiye after the exchange, was Osman's older brother.

His biological mother passed away right after Osman Hasan's birth. Hasan Bey married Pakize Hanım. In addition to raising Osman, Pakize Hanım gave birth to 3 more children: Rabia, Nihal and Mustafa. Hasan Bey and his family lost their house and shop in the fire of 1917. With the news of the exchange, Hasan Bey passed away and the family’s forced trip to Istanbul took place in difficult conditions and without a father. His family subsequently took the surname Atakandan, but he did not use any other name or surname other than Osman Hasan.

Osman Hasan painted with oil and of nature while in Thessaloniki, and he learned photography from Greek and Italian masters in Thessaloniki as well. After coming to Istanbul, he lived a bohemian life as a painter in Beyoğlu.

When his oil paintings did not provide him enough to make a living, he embarked on redrawing, colored and enlarged black and white photographs of relatives from the Kapancı family taken at weddings or other important occasions. (See below for some examples).
However, his real work and recognition came off with the production of porcelain print photographs of the deceased in the Bülbülderesi Cemetery.

The photographs in most of the graves with Osman Hasan signature in the Bülbülderesi cemetery was compiled into a book by C. M. Kösemen under the title Osman Hasan and the Tombstone Photographs of Dönmes. According to Cem Kösemen “Osman Hasan was a Dönme artist who created the portraist found on many of the tomb-stones in these cemeteries. With a superior skill of portraiture and mixed media techniques that combined photographs with painting, he captured expressive portraits from his community as its last practicing members were laid to rest. (…) Hasan was talented not only in being able to capture the character of his subjects, but also for expertly retouching them afterwards.” (C. M. Kösemen, 2014, Osman Hasan and the Tombstone Photographs of Dönmes, Libra, İstanbul).

These porcelain photographs can also be found other cemeteries such as Macka, Ferikoy, and even in Izmir cemeteries. For some examples, see below.

Osman Hasan married an Italian artist and had no children. While many photographers had their porcelain prints made in Italy, Osman Hasan processed it in his own studio.

The porcelains in Bülbülderesi still maintain their vitality, but the secret of his art vanished with him in the 1950s.

Author: Nurhan Yenturk