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MARCOS GRIGORIAN COMMEMORATED AT IAF
Mehr News Agency
Oct 26 2007
Iran
(MNA) -- A ceremony was held at the Iranian Artists Forum on
Wednesday in memory of the late Iranian-Armenian artist Marcos
Grigorian. Grigorian, who is recognized as a pioneer of Iranian
modern art, died from a heart attack at his home on August 27 in
Armenia. He was 82. Veteran artist Aidin Aghdashlu talked about
Marcos and his artworks. He said, "There is much that can be said
about Marcos and his art which is of great importance. His influence
can be observed in every part of our art and culture. He was one
of those people who impart a special meaning to life. "Marcos
experienced great restlessness throughout his life and his art is
rooted in this impulsiveness. Whenever he felt inspired to take up
a new style or technique, he would become excited and impatient to
put it into practice by creating new artworks. "He was a collector,
a film actor and a gallery owner. He was particularly interested
in the style of Arshile Gorky, an Armenian abstract expressionist
painter (1904-1948), and he had a private collection of his works,"
he added. His niece Janet Lazarian also participated in the ceremony
and said that Marcos had, before his death, donated all his works and
collections to Armenia's one and only museum. She added that every
in-coming Armenian minister of culture had promised to establish a
museum for his works but that it had never been accomplished.
"Marcos himself later wrote a letter to the cultural officials of
Armenia asking them to return his works and to convert his own house
into a museum. However he never received a reply in his lifetime.
There is still no answer," She stated. She went on to say, "The only
way open to us is to make a heartfelt appeal for the establishment
of a museum to house his works, so we are going to get a petition
together and deliver it to the Armenian Embassy in Tehran." At the end
of the ceremony, Mir Ahmad Mirehsan talked about the avant-garde nature
of Grigorian's works. Aryasp Dadbeh made a speech about the various
influences of the Iranian and Armenian cultures. The participating
artists signed the petition. Marcos was born into an Iranian Armenian
family which emigrated from Russia to Iran in 1930. He studied at the
Accademia di Belle Arti in Rome. In 1954, Grigorian returned to Iran
from Rome and opened the Galerie Esthetique in Tehran. Grigorian's
artworks encompass a wide range of themes; his first paintings depict
the violent despair of the victims of Auschwitz. Later, turning to
sculpture, his works were dominated by such themes as Persian bread,
abgusht (a type of Persian soup) and wheelbarrows full of straw. He is
also renowned for the sculptures which he crafted from a combination of
clay and straw. Grigorian was also fond of teahouse paintings. Some of
his works are now on display at the Museum of Modern Art in New York,
Tehran's Museum of Contemporary Art, The Museum of Contemporary Art
in Kerman, and the Armenian National Gallery.
Mehr News Agency
Oct 26 2007
Iran
(MNA) -- A ceremony was held at the Iranian Artists Forum on
Wednesday in memory of the late Iranian-Armenian artist Marcos
Grigorian. Grigorian, who is recognized as a pioneer of Iranian
modern art, died from a heart attack at his home on August 27 in
Armenia. He was 82. Veteran artist Aidin Aghdashlu talked about
Marcos and his artworks. He said, "There is much that can be said
about Marcos and his art which is of great importance. His influence
can be observed in every part of our art and culture. He was one
of those people who impart a special meaning to life. "Marcos
experienced great restlessness throughout his life and his art is
rooted in this impulsiveness. Whenever he felt inspired to take up
a new style or technique, he would become excited and impatient to
put it into practice by creating new artworks. "He was a collector,
a film actor and a gallery owner. He was particularly interested
in the style of Arshile Gorky, an Armenian abstract expressionist
painter (1904-1948), and he had a private collection of his works,"
he added. His niece Janet Lazarian also participated in the ceremony
and said that Marcos had, before his death, donated all his works and
collections to Armenia's one and only museum. She added that every
in-coming Armenian minister of culture had promised to establish a
museum for his works but that it had never been accomplished.
"Marcos himself later wrote a letter to the cultural officials of
Armenia asking them to return his works and to convert his own house
into a museum. However he never received a reply in his lifetime.
There is still no answer," She stated. She went on to say, "The only
way open to us is to make a heartfelt appeal for the establishment
of a museum to house his works, so we are going to get a petition
together and deliver it to the Armenian Embassy in Tehran." At the end
of the ceremony, Mir Ahmad Mirehsan talked about the avant-garde nature
of Grigorian's works. Aryasp Dadbeh made a speech about the various
influences of the Iranian and Armenian cultures. The participating
artists signed the petition. Marcos was born into an Iranian Armenian
family which emigrated from Russia to Iran in 1930. He studied at the
Accademia di Belle Arti in Rome. In 1954, Grigorian returned to Iran
from Rome and opened the Galerie Esthetique in Tehran. Grigorian's
artworks encompass a wide range of themes; his first paintings depict
the violent despair of the victims of Auschwitz. Later, turning to
sculpture, his works were dominated by such themes as Persian bread,
abgusht (a type of Persian soup) and wheelbarrows full of straw. He is
also renowned for the sculptures which he crafted from a combination of
clay and straw. Grigorian was also fond of teahouse paintings. Some of
his works are now on display at the Museum of Modern Art in New York,
Tehran's Museum of Contemporary Art, The Museum of Contemporary Art
in Kerman, and the Armenian National Gallery.