Prof. Nazan Erkmen was the first female Dean of Marmara University Faculty of Fine Arts and one of the most important artists and academicians of Turkey. Throughout her career she transmitted to her illustrations the events and heroes that affected humanity during its development process. By illustrating the legends of Sumer, Hittite, Assyrian, Persian civilizations, she carried the cultural values that are in the depths of history to the present; reflected all the subtleties of miniature art and established a solid bridge between the past generations and the future generations. Historical knowledge and consciousness are the most fundamental methods in interpreting and evaluating current events. They provide a 360-degree view of an event, an object, to evaluate and to interpret the event or image in all aspects. Nazan Erkmen showed the future generations the fact that everything is evaluated with a 360-degree view by her works she left behind. In this study, the works of Prof. Nazan Erkmen, which reveal the connection between the seals, miniature art and illustration, and keep the traces of the traditional arts and the ancient civilizations arts alive, are examined in terms of content and form. The influence of Anatolian art and Mesopotamian art on figures, symbols, colors and style she chose to use was studied.

Illustration, Anatolia, Mesopotamia, Nazan Erkmen, Graphic Arts