Mihri Musfik was an outstanding Turkish female painter. Hanim’s painting illustrated works of poetry, written by a famous poets’ group, "Edebiyat-i Cedide".
Background
Mihri Musfik was born into the Anchabadze dynasty as an Anchabadze princess on February 26, 1886 in Kadikoy, Istanbul, Ottoman Empire (present-day Kadikoy, Istanbul, Turkey). She was the daughter of Princess Fatma Nesedil Hanim and Prince Ahmed Rasim Pasha, who was a famous doctor, known as "Tibbiye Reisi". Mihri’s sister Enise Hanim was the mother of Hale Asaf, also a famous female painter.
Education
Mihri Hanım received a good education in the European style and learned music, painting and literature. She learned painting under the guidance of Fausto Zonaro at his workshop in Besiktas. At the age of seventeen, Mihri Hanım moved to Rome to follow an Italian conductor.
Career
After studies, Mihri moved to Paris, where she started to work as a painter, creating portraits and engravings to earn money for a living.
In 1913, she returned to Istanbul and began teaching painting at the Istanbul Teachers' Training School for Girls. The next year, in 1914, Mihri was appointed a director and art teacher at School of Fine Arts for Girls. She trained many women to paint, such as Nazli Ecevit, Aliye Berger and Fahrelnisa Zeid.
After staying in Italy during 1919-1920, Musfik Hanim returned to Istanbul and taught painting at the İnas Snayi-i Nefise Mektebi. In 1922, she painted Mustafa Kemal Ataturk’s portrait, the height of which was more than three meters. After completing the portrait, Musfik Hanım dedicated it to Mustafa Kemal himself at the Cankaya Kosku in Ankara. She then returned to Italy, where she painted many portraits, including the one of the Pope in the Vatican.
After the death of her sister Enise Hanim in 1938, Musfik Hanim moved to Paris, where she continued painting. Some time later, she settled down in the United States, where she taught painting as a guest professor at several universities in New York, Washington D. C. and Chicago. During the period from 1938 and 1939, Mihri worked as a protocol hostess at the World Exposition in Long Island, New York.
During her lifetime, the painter held several national and international exhibitions and produced cover illustrations for various journals, published in New York during World War II.