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YEREVAN, JUNE 26, ARMENPRESS: In the framework of the “Encounters with Art” series, the Cafesjian Center for the Arts will hold the event “Haroutiun Galentz: Beyond the Palette” on June 27. As Armenpress was reported by the Department for Public Relations and Marketing of the Cafesjian Center for the Arts, the event is dedicated to the art of renowned Armenian artist Haroutiun Galentz and to the newly opened exhibition Haroutiun Galentz: Color as Form, which presents a selection of works from the Galentz Museum..
In the framework of the program the Curatorial Assistant to the Associate Director for Public Programs, PHD in Arts, the Guide atCafesjianCenter for the Arts Armen Yesayants will perform a speech on the subject “Haroutiun Galentz: Beyond the Palette”.
The admission is free, by prior reservation. The “Encounters with Art” monthly program was launched at the Cafesjian Center for the Arts in October 2010, as a series of events dedicated to Armenian, as well as international artists and important cultural events. The partner for the event is Armenia Wine Company.
The exhibition “Haroutiun Galentz: Color as Form” is yet another step on the path to introduce the artist to a much wider audience, and not only Armenian. Such an initiative reflects the mission of the Cafesjian Art Center. The world created by Galentz, however unreal, is equally real to the extent that it exists on the canvas surface and directly relates to the principal laws dictated by nature – balance and harmony. As Galentz used to say: “In the end, all “isms” will disappear. They will be subsumed in one totality, they will become nature.”
The exhibition will last till September 22, 2013. The admission to the Eagle Gallery is free.
Galentz was born inKyurin, Ottoman Empire (present dayTurkey) on March 27 of 1910. His father owned a wool-dying factory which left a profound impression on young Galentz with its vats of bright colors. In 1915, during the Armenian genocide, Galentz’s father was taken away by Turkish soldiers, never to be seen again. Galentz along with his three brothers and mother escaped toAleppo, Syria. A few days after Galentz’s mother died of starvation and fatigue. Galentz and his three brothers spent their childhood and youth in an Aleppo orphanage. Despite the hardships of life in the orphanage, Galentz began cultivating his passion for arts in part by encouragement from one of the orphanage sisters. He often escaped the orphanage to roam around the Aleppo markets and paint.
In 1922, at the age of 12, Galentz left the orphanage to become an apprentice to a lithographer and later received his primary artistic education from Onik Avetisyan in Aleppo. He then followed his brothers to Tripoli, Lebanon where they had opened a photo studio. Galentz painted backgrounds to be used in the photo sessions. From 1929-1933, the French painterClaude Michuletwas his teacher in Beirut Academy of Fine Arts, where he then taught painting until 1939.
Galentz was awarded the Medal of Merit by the presidium of International Exhibitions in New York in 1939, and the honorary prize by the government of Lebanon for his bas-reliefs in the Pavilion of Lebanon presented at the New York International exhibition.
In 1938 he took into apprenticeship a young woman by the name of Armine Paronyan (Galentz), whom he later married on May 2, 1943. Armine became a prominent Armenian painter alongside her husband.
Galentz and family expatriated to Yerevan, Armenia in June 1946. The next year he participated in a group show organized to exhibit the works of newly expatriated painters. He participated in group exhibitions organized by the Artists Union, of which he was a member since 1947. He held several solo shows both in Yerevan and in Moscow and was posthumously awarded Armenian Republic’s (SSR) State Prize in 1967.
Galentz’s house in Yerevan is now a museum. His paintings are also in the collections of the National Museum of Armenia (Yerevan), Republic of Armenia’s Cultural Ministry as well as private collections in Moscow, St. Petersburg, Tbilisi, New York, Paris, Vienna, Beirut, Aleppo, Cambridge, San Francisco, Los Angeles to list a few.