الفنان إسماعيل فتاح الترك

He was born in Basra in 1934.

He held six exhibitions for sculpture and five exhibitions for painting in Rome, Baghdad, and Beirut.

Participated in some exhibitions of the Baghdad group and exhibitions of the Iraqi Plastic Artists Association.

Member of the Baghdad Group 1957, Al-Zawiya Gathering 1966.

Member of the Iraqi Artists Syndicate. And the Iraqi Plastic Artists Association.

The artist Ismail Fattah Al-Turk obtained many certificates in his field of specialization from different countries, including a diploma in fine arts, the drawing department, in 1956, a diploma in sculpture arts 1958, a high diploma from the Academy of Fine Arts in Rome 1963, and a higher diploma in sculpture and ceramics from Rome.

Al-Turk held many art exhibitions in various countries, including:
1961-1963 Art Galleries in Rome
1963 Contemporary Art Exhibition in Rome
1965-1968 at the Museum of Modern Art, Al-Wasiti Gallery, Gallery One in Beirut, Graphic Gallery Baghdad, Lamtur Gallery in Beirut, Kufa Gallery in London.

During his busy artistic life, Al-Turk received many awards, including the Sculpture Award in Fine Arts Baghdad 1956, the First Sculpture Award at the Foreign Artists Exhibition in Markta, Italy 1963, the State Prize for Fine Arts, Baghdad 1989.

The late great left behind immortal works of art of monuments and sculptures, including:
The poet Maarouf Al-Rasafi – bronze 3.5 meters – Baghdad
– Ancient Arab medicine mural – bronze and marble 2’8 meters – Baghdad Medical City
– Bronze mural on the wall of the Renationalization Company in Baghdad -3’5 m
Al-Farabi – Al-Zawra Garden – Baghdad
Al-Wasiti – Bronze – Arts Center in Baghdad -1972
– Abu Nawas – Bronze – Abu Nawas Street – 1972
Al-Kazemi – Bronze – 1973 – Al-Kadhimiya City, Baghdad
– Tigris and Euphrates – Marble – 1982 – Ministry of Culture – Haifa Street, Baghdad
Monument to the Martyr – 1983, Baghdad
Martyr’s Monument

Perhaps one of the most important and prominent works of art designed by the late Iraqi artist is the huge monument to the martyr in the center of the Iraqi capital. International critics who visited the monument considered the work an architectural genius and artistic design, because it is built in the form of an open dome with a space between its two non-opposite halves.

As for the genius of the design, it lies in the optical illusion that the Turk embodied in the monument erected on a vast open ground, as the car passers-by see that the two halves of the dome, which appear closed at the beginning of the street, begin to move away from one another as if a gate opens in front of it in preparation for the exit of something. When the visitor enters the site of the monument, he notices that this thing is the Iraqi flag, which rises to the top, embodying the ascent of the martyr’s soul to heaven.
The monument, erected in 1986, symbolizes the martyr’s sacrifice for the sake of his homeland and its principles. Its most prominent architectural features are the open Abbasid dome and the banner that rises five feet above the ground and three meters below the ground, where it is seen in the form of a chandelier, and the fountain whose water flows into the ground to symbolize the blood of the martyr.

The artist loved Iraq even when he was in bed when his last wishes were while he was in contact with his sister in Baghdad. A question that says, “When will I return home so that I can see my group of artists and grill fish and bring back the good days, and God willing, Iraq will change?” But he died the moment the plane from the Emirates landed at the airport. Baghdad, according to his relatives.

The Iraqi sculptor Ismail Fattah al-Turk died in 2004 at the age of 70 after a struggle with illness.