Background
Huseyin Lifij was born in 1886 in Samsun, Turkey. The family of the artist immigrated from the Kuban region of the Caucasus during the Ottoman-Russian War of 1877 - 1878 and settled in Samsun.
Huseyin Lifij was born in 1886 in Samsun, Turkey. The family of the artist immigrated from the Kuban region of the Caucasus during the Ottoman-Russian War of 1877 - 1878 and settled in Samsun.
In 1896, when Hüseyin finished elementary school in Fatih, he became a student who had a special interest in painting classes. He completed his secondary education at Numune-i Terakki Mektebi in Şehzadebaşı but was not sent to the school for two years because of his illness, but with the support of his family, he took French lessons from the Alyans School of Israel and then from Iskender Ferit Bey. Hüseyin Avni left for Paris in January 1909 and enrolled to L'Ecole Nationale Speciale des Beaux-Arts on February 26, 1909, and started to study painting in Cormon Atelier.
Between 1901 and 1904 Hüseyin joined the Directorate of Railways at the Ministry of Public Works and started working at the age of 15. He also continued taking French lessons from Iskender Ferit Bey. Although he did not have any art education, he started to participate in the anatomy lessons in Mukhtiye Medical School and physics and chemistry lessons in Pharmacist Mektebi in order to improve his artistic skills.
In 1906, Hüseyin met Henri Prost, a French architect who was doing architectural drawings in Hagia Sophia. Iskender Ferit and Henri Prost advised him to take his paintings to Osman Hamdi Bey, the well known Turkish painter who was also the founder and director of the Museum. Osman Hamdi Bey, who liked the self-portrait of the young artist, asked him to show him his further works. Avni was recommended by Osman Hamdi Bey to Abdulmecid Efendi as a candidate for the state scholarship given to young artists to study in Paris. The young artist showed Abdulmecid Efendi the self-portrait which he had painted in 1906, signing it as 1908. In 1912 he was called back to Istanbul. During 1912 - 1914 Hüseyin taught painting in Istanbul Erkek Lisesi, and then French in the girls school in Kandilli.
In spring of 1916 Hüseyin joined the exhibition in "Galatasaraylilar Yurdu" with two paintings. Moreover, his article with the title "Le Mouvement Artistique, l'Exposition de Peinture du Galata-Saraililar-Yourdou" was published in newspaper Hilal that same year. At the end of World War I, he took place at the War Paintings Exhibition in Vienna with 18 works. He joined Galatasaray Painting Exhibition in 1919 with one painting.
Since July 16, 1922 till the end of August, Hüseyin participated in the Fourth Galatasaray Exhibition arranged by Society of Turkish Painters with three paintings. Then he took part in the exhibition at Free Painting Studio established in the same year with 7 pochades and one sketch. Avni Lifij, his wife Harika and her brother sculptor Nijad were among the teachers who went to Bursa to welcome Mustafa Kemal. Mustafa Kemal took Avni Lifij to Ankara where he stayed at the quarters of General Staff for four months. On this first visit, he painted the portrait of Maresal Fevzi Cakmak.
After returning from Ankara Hüseyin started to work on "Karagun" and "Akgun." He finished these compositions a year later. In 1923 he was appointed instructor of Decorative Arts in the Academy of Fine Arts and kept this position until his death. He participated in the fourth exhibition of the Turkish Union of Fine Arts with two paintings in 1927. That same year on June 2 he died in his flat at Harikzedegan Apartment in Laleli, Istanbul.
On March 25, 1922 Hüseyin married Harika Şazi, daughter of Dr. Ibrahim Sazi.