CARZOU EXHIBIT TO BE HELD AT THE ZORAYAN MUSEUM
http://www.mirrorspectator.com/2011/08/25/carzou-exhibit-to-be-held-at-the-zorayan-museum/
August 25, 2011
Carzou in his atelier.
BURBANK, Calif. - Born Karnik Zouloumian on January 1, 1907 in Syria
to an Armenian family, Carzou later created his name from the first
syllables of his first name and surname. Becoming a world traveler
at an early age, Carzou was educated in Cairo, Egypt before moving
to Paris in 1924 at the age of 17 to study art and architecture
in earnest.
Carzou mastered a number of mediums, though his line drawings and
engravings would become well known as illustrations for some of the
20th century's most revered writers, including Hemingway, Albert
Camus, Ionesco and Rimbaud. Carzou produced stunning work of painted
glass and porcelain, in pencils, gauche and pastels as well as oils,
often choosing to work on textured or irregular fabrics and papers
rather than traditional canvas.
In July 1977, Jacques Chirac, the French prime minister, presided over
Carzou's retrospective exhibition at the Château de Val in Corrèze.
There were also retrospective exhibitions in Switzerland, Luxembourg,
Rochecheouart, the Château des Hayes and Perouges, near Lyons. Carzou
was awarded the National Order of Merit by the president of the
republic. In December of the same year, he was made a member of the
Academie des Beaux-Arts, where he replaced Jean Bouchaud. On April 4,
1979, he became a member of the Institut de France.
One of the artist's master works, completed in his 80s, was the
Apocalypse of Saint Joan in the Chapel at Manosque in Vaucluse, France,
which depicted not merely the passion of the saint and national hero,
but the ravages of war. Carzou, like his contemporaries Hemingway,
Dali and Picasso (though in an interview the artist criticized
Picasso for being "vulgar"), was part of a generation that witnessed
many wars. Haunted to the point of obsession by the horrors he had
witnessed, Carzou's work went through a period where the artist
seemed to be desperate to remind the world of the holocausts past,
perhaps in warning. His work on the Chapel de Manosque, one of the
oldest churches in France, became his own fitting tribute when it
was dedicated as the Museum de Jean Carzou in 1995.
Under the auspices of Archbishop Hovnan Derderian and patronage of
Diocesan benefactors Antranik and Virginia Zorayan, the Zorayan Museum
will honor Carzou with an exhibition. The opening reception will be
held on September 15 at 7 p.m. at the Zorayan Museum of the Western
Diocese. For more information, visit www.armenianchurchwd.com.
http://www.mirrorspectator.com/2011/08/25/carzou-exhibit-to-be-held-at-the-zorayan-museum/
August 25, 2011
Carzou in his atelier.
BURBANK, Calif. - Born Karnik Zouloumian on January 1, 1907 in Syria
to an Armenian family, Carzou later created his name from the first
syllables of his first name and surname. Becoming a world traveler
at an early age, Carzou was educated in Cairo, Egypt before moving
to Paris in 1924 at the age of 17 to study art and architecture
in earnest.
Carzou mastered a number of mediums, though his line drawings and
engravings would become well known as illustrations for some of the
20th century's most revered writers, including Hemingway, Albert
Camus, Ionesco and Rimbaud. Carzou produced stunning work of painted
glass and porcelain, in pencils, gauche and pastels as well as oils,
often choosing to work on textured or irregular fabrics and papers
rather than traditional canvas.
In July 1977, Jacques Chirac, the French prime minister, presided over
Carzou's retrospective exhibition at the Château de Val in Corrèze.
There were also retrospective exhibitions in Switzerland, Luxembourg,
Rochecheouart, the Château des Hayes and Perouges, near Lyons. Carzou
was awarded the National Order of Merit by the president of the
republic. In December of the same year, he was made a member of the
Academie des Beaux-Arts, where he replaced Jean Bouchaud. On April 4,
1979, he became a member of the Institut de France.
One of the artist's master works, completed in his 80s, was the
Apocalypse of Saint Joan in the Chapel at Manosque in Vaucluse, France,
which depicted not merely the passion of the saint and national hero,
but the ravages of war. Carzou, like his contemporaries Hemingway,
Dali and Picasso (though in an interview the artist criticized
Picasso for being "vulgar"), was part of a generation that witnessed
many wars. Haunted to the point of obsession by the horrors he had
witnessed, Carzou's work went through a period where the artist
seemed to be desperate to remind the world of the holocausts past,
perhaps in warning. His work on the Chapel de Manosque, one of the
oldest churches in France, became his own fitting tribute when it
was dedicated as the Museum de Jean Carzou in 1995.
Under the auspices of Archbishop Hovnan Derderian and patronage of
Diocesan benefactors Antranik and Virginia Zorayan, the Zorayan Museum
will honor Carzou with an exhibition. The opening reception will be
held on September 15 at 7 p.m. at the Zorayan Museum of the Western
Diocese. For more information, visit www.armenianchurchwd.com.