Atanur Dogan a Turkish-Canadian watercolour artist. He is a graduate of the Fine Arts program at the Dokuz Eylul University in Buca, Izmir, where he specialised in watercolour and sculpture. 

Atanur has travelled throughout Turkey spending a considerable amount of time in small Anatolian towns and villages. His work captures the daily life of ordinary people going about their tasks or idling in the heat of the day. His figures have a great strength and sense of poetry, reflecting an uncomplicated existence, structured only by the demands of a more traditional way of life. He is well travelled and has painted subjects from a variety of cultures and peoples, worldwide. 

Atanur’s portraits reflect an acute awareness of character. His work is distinguished by a unique rendering of his subject’s face and hands. With his excellent drawing skills and control of watercolour he reveals the personality and attributes behind an old man’s face that bring it to life in a way unusual in this medium. The hands of an old villager tell of the harshness of work and, and yet, a quality of tenderness. His strong and determined use of dark colours with spots of light and a liberal use of water are both risky and extraordinary for a watercolorist but he achieves amazing results. It is these abilities and techniques, in particular that make his paintings so appreciated and valuable.

Atanur’s passion for creating real life, characters find expression in his sculpture as well, the same natural, vigorous and anatomically correct figures, the same focus on detail and expression to convey the distinctive qualities of his subject. It is due, in part, to his skill and experience as a sculptor that the figures in his paintings have such intensity and dimension. His commissioned works of famous people can be seen throughout Turkey, in public parks and plazas.

Atanur met and married his wife, Asuman, while attending university and they now have two sons. In 1993, he and Asuman established residence in Canada and now have dual citizenship. Atanur has maintained an active membership in the Federation of Canadian Artists and Oakville Art Society.

He has exhibited his work in exhibits throughout Turkey and in Zurich, Paris, London, as well as in Taiwan and Japan. In North America, their work has been exhibited in New York, Los Angeles, Portland and Seattle; Toronto, Ottawa, Calgary, Edmonton, Victoria, and numerous showings in Vancouver. His paintings enrich art collections around the world. 

In 2004, the Portrait Society of Canada selected Atanur Dogan, as one of five portrait artists, deemed best in the world. He was also invited by the Portrait Society of Canada to be the demonstrating portrait artist at the “2004 International Portrait Arts Festival” held in Toronto. 

In September 2008, the Dogan family relocated to Oakville, Ontario. While their eldest son attends the Media Arts program at Sheridan College, the couple intends to continue to create their watercolor art and to become involved in the art society of eastern and central Canada.