Zareh MUTAFIAN (1907-1980) - Lot 204

Zareh MUTAFIAN (1907-1980) Two women at table. Oil on canvas. Signed on the back. 73 x 60 cm. The sea and memory The shadow years (1907-1923) Zareh Mutafian was born on March 15, 1907, in Ünye, Turkey, on the shores of the Black Sea near Samsun. Eight years later, the Armenian genocide claimed his entire family. He himself, left for dead, was snatched from the convoy of deportees by a Kurdish tinsmith. Taken in by Near East Relief, he returned to Samsun and was transferred to Greece. But in 1923, the Italian bombardment of Corfu marked a new ordeal: the Armenian orphanage housed in a disused barracks was targeted. As "compensation", one hundred orphans were sent to Italy, some of them to the Mekhitarists in Venice. Zareh was one of them. "The art of this young but seriously cultivated painter did not mature amid the frivolities of the big world; it matured in bitterness and pain. André Lermont From Venice to Milan: learning the light (1923-1937) In Italy, he initially dreamed of becoming a violinist, but illness forced him to choose painting. The Venetian masters were his first guides. In 1927, he entered Milan's Brera Academy, graduating in 1931. In 1932, he was awarded the title of "Professore" in Rome. The following year, his first solo exhibition was held in Milan, after which he moved to Switzerland. From 1934, he exhibited in Zurich and Basel, and in 1935 and 1938 at the Athénée in Geneva. In 1937, he settled in Geneva for three fruitful years, where his paintings, bathed in peace, celebrated Lake Geneva and the Alps. "The great seductress awakened his true vocation; the various Venetian hues penetrated his soul." Gustavo Macchi Paris and the revelation of colors (1939-1960) In 1939, Mutafian moved to Paris and married Haïgouhie Damlamian, whom he had met as a child in Samsun. Naturalized French in 1949, he nevertheless remained profoundly Armenian, writing and thinking in his native tongue. He took part in the great salons (Tuileries, Automne, Indépendants) and, in December 1945, held his first Parisian exhibition at Galerie Allard gallery. This was followed by Marseille (1946), Paris (1948, 1950, 1954, 1957) and Milan (1952). Brittany, discovered after the war, became his adopted artistic homeland. His seascapes, splashed with light, expressed exile and nostalgia for the Black Sea. "The Breton ocean was the main inspiration for Mutafian, who found on the shores of old Armorica a reflection of the shores of his own country. G.-J. Gros The impetus of travel (1960-1966) The 1960s further broadened his horizons. In 1962, he exhibited in the United States, in New York, Milwaukee, Los Angeles and Fresno, then in 1963 in Beirut and, in 1966, in Paris. His works were now circulating on two continents, hailed as symphonies of color. "There's something expressionist, sensual, fiery in the violence with which this artist (...) treats the sea, the characters and even certain scenes of massacre." René Barotte Armenia rediscovered (1967-1979) In 1967, he was invited to Yerevan, the capital of Soviet Armenia. For the first time, he set foot on Armenian soil. There, he met the famous painter Martiros Sarian and the Catholicos Vazgen I. This revelation inspired a new series of works on "Armenia regained". He returned in 1971 for a second exhibition in Yerevan. From 1967 to 1979, he held numerous exhibitions: Paris (1967, 1968, 1975), Marseille (1969), Milan (1970), Lyon (1972, 1973) and Geneva (1975). In 1976, the Orangerie du Luxembourg organized a masterly exhibition devoted to the sea, the eternal theme of his painting. In 1979, he exhibited in New York: an apotheosis dedicated to Armenia. "Embalmed autumn, the lyricism of the zither exalts the concert of your sunburnt colors." Zareh Mutafian The Last Wave (1980) He was preparing an exhibition in Venezuela when he died on May 11, 1980. On his easel remained an unfinished portrait of a mekhitarist father, dated March 12. He is buried in Bagneux cemetery, in the vault for Armenian intellectuals. All his life, Mutafian pursued the light. From Venice to Paris, from Brittany to Yerevan, from the Black Sea to the Atlantic, his brush sought to transform pain into bursts of color. His work remains a sea of memory, a song of exile transfigured by beauty. "The tumultuous sky that blooms like a garden in strange suns has always fascinated the artist's flamboyant vision." Jean Dalevèze Solo exhibitions Exhibitions during the artist's lifetime: - 1933 February: Milan, Casa d'Artisti - 1934: Zurich, Aktuaryus and Basel, Kunstverein - 1935 January: G