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  • Saroyan in black and white

    Saroyan in black and white
    By Felicia Cousart Matlosz / The Fresno Bee
    January 20, 2008

    For all his fame as a writer, William Saroyan also cut a compelling
    figure on film. In photographs, to be exact.

    The dashingly handsome face of his youthful days aged into the
    countenance that many Fresnans remember from the writer's later years
    in his native city. The longish hair. The drooping, walruslike
    mustache. The long, wide sideburns. The deep, piercing eyes. The
    serious look of an artist.

    It's that familiarity that makes a photo exhibit of Saroyan in Armenia
    an interesting insightful slice of the writer's life. The 40-plus
    black-and-white photos, displayed on the first and second floors at
    City Hall, were taken by Boghos Boghossian.

    They are from 1976 and 1978, when Saroyan visited his ancestors'
    homeland. Boghossian, an award-winning photographer who was born and
    lives in Armenia, went with him everywhere. Saroyan once wrote to
    Boghossian: "For my friend, one of the great poets of the camera in
    the world."

    But more than just photographs, this exhibit -- called "Saroyan As
    Captured Through the Lens of Boghos Boghossian" -- melds the two
    Saroyan treks with the writer's own words. The curator of this
    display is Varoujan Der Simonian, who enjoys photography as a
    hobby. He is president of the Armenian Museum of Fresno and is
    executive director of the Armenian Technology Group, a Fresno-based
    nonprofit group that provides support for Armenian farmers.

    Both organizations are presenting this exhibit, one of many events
    marking the centennial year of Saroyan's birth in Fresno. (Art
    exhibits on City Hall's first and second floors are coordinated by the
    Fresno Arts Council.)

    What does Der Simonian hope that visitors take away from this show?

    "The human personality of Saroyan, his character," Der Simonian
    says. "While he is in a crowd or away from Fresno, he is able to
    recall moments of his life that have touched him and that he has
    written stories of. It's the sensitivity of the man, which probably
    has not been so clear."

    On the first floor, for example, is a page of short excerpts from the
    story "Return to the Pomegranate Trees." Saroyan writes about the
    pomegranate trees that a relative planted near Fresno, and that he
    helped tend as young teenager in 1919 and 1920. Twenty-five years
    later, he takes his 5-year-old son Aram for a drive and searches for
    the trees. They are gone: "The whole place was taken over again by the
    little burrowing animals, the horned toads, and the jack rabbits."

    The two drive to Sanger, where Saroyan shows Aram a pomegranate tree
    and hands him a fruit that's not quite ripe. They return to San
    Francisco, and Aram keeps the small fruit. More than a month later,
    they visit Fresno, and Aram wants to drive out to the land where his
    father tended pomegranate trees. Once there, the boy glances around
    and wordlessly and carefully places the fruit on the ground.

    Now look at the photo, one of Der Simonian's favorites in this show,
    taken in 1976. Saroyan, dressed in a light-colored jacket and a dark
    shirt, is looking upward, his left hand holding a small
    pomegranate. "Look at his eyes. His mind is not there," Der Simonian
    says. "It's sad. It's beautiful. ... You can see the feelings in his
    eyes. People, hopefully, can relate to it."

    Another photo shows a completely different side of Saroyan. Der
    Simonian titled it "Sam, the Highest Jumper of Them All." The 1978
    shot shows a smiling Saroyan between two other authors, his arms
    around their shoulders, his feet gleefully lifted off the ground.

    Der Simonian says the exhibit will travel to other parts of the state
    after Fresno.

    The exhibit came about when Der Simonian and Boghossian met last
    summer. Der Simonian knew of Boghossian and his work and had been
    introduced to him through mutual friends. When Der Simonian saw the
    extent of Boghossian's photos of the Fresno writer, Der Simonian asked
    whether he could put together a show. The photographer agreed and also
    approved the approach of how each shot would be titled.

    The pictures not only present contemplative photos of the writer but
    also document how he was followed like a rock star by crowds of
    college students and other admirers.

    Larry Balakian, chairman of the William Saroyan Centennial Committee,
    says it's interesting how Saroyan is seen interacting with not just
    writers but other artists in these photos, taken only a few years
    before his death in 1981. He also says the comments he's heard about
    the exhibit have been "absolutely tremendous."

    "It certainly takes you back to that period," Balakian says. "It makes
    you feel like you're there."

    The reporter can be reached at [email protected] or (559)
    441-6428

    More information
    If you go
    What: "Saroyan As Captured Through the Lens of Boghos Boghossian"
    Where: Fresno City Hall, Tulare and P streets
    When: Through Jan. 31, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
    Cost: Free
    Details: (559) 243-5880
    Visit: www.saroyancentennial.org
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