ARTHUR PINAJIAN AT THE ZORAYAN MUSEUM
“The unlikely discovery that
has rocked the art world.”
-ABC’s “Good Morning America” 03/10/13
May 1 – 3, 2013
A special evening honoring
ARTHUR PINAJIAN
(1914-1999)
over 50 oil paintings
No. 4687. Untitled, 1960. Oil on canvas, 29 x 40 inche
“He can be ranked among the best artists of his era.”
“He pursued his goals in isolation with the single-minded focus of a
Gauguin or Cezanne.”
-Professor William Innes Homer
Untitled, 24″x30″ oil on canvas
OPENING RECEPTION
WEDNESDAY, MAY 1, 2013
7:00 P.M. – 10:00 pm
EXHIBIT RUNS THROUGH MAY 3, 2013
THURSDAY & FRIDAY 1:00 – 9:00 P.M.
Under the Patronage of Diocesan Benefactors
Mr. & Mrs. Gerald and Patricia Turpanjian
AT
ZORAYAN MUSEUM
3325 N. Glenoaks Blvd., Burbank, CA 91504
(818) 558-7474
Please contact Linda Stepanian, Director of Stephanie’s Gallery and
Representative of the Pinajian Estate Collection at
(818) 790-4905
[email protected]
IMPORTANT LINKS:
New York Times
ABC NEWS
HUFFPOST ARTS & CULTURE
LOS ANGELES TIMES-VALLEY SUN
,0,6543964.story
Rediscovered
MASTERS
“THE UNLIKELY DISCOVERY THAT HAS ROCKED THE ART WORLD”
Burbank, CA: A special art exhibition, “The Pinajian Discovery,”
will open on Wednesday, May 1st and run through Friday, May 3rd at the
Zorayan Museum in the Cathedral of the Western Diocese of the Armenian
Church. The paintings have been selected from artist’s estate
collection by Linda Stepanian, Director of Stephanie’s Art Gallery, in
cooperation with the Zorayan Museum Committee.
In 2010 Stepanian featured the first Pinajian exhibition at the
Zorayan Museum to much acclaim. Then in March 2013 the Pinajian
extraordinary story exploded when the collection made its debut New
York City. National and international press reports about the
discoveryof Arthur Pinajian – an important artist whose life’s work
had been relegated to the garbage but rescued just in time – resulted
in a media blitz. On ABC’s “Good Morning America” it was featured as
“the unlikely discovery that has rocked the art world.”
Hundreds of other news outlets around the globe ran the story,
including a major piece byThe New York Times
and Los Angeles Times-Valley Sun
,0,6543964.story
Art historians nationwide are still expressing astonishment that works
of such caliber could have remained completely unknown. Many major
private collectors have already purchased the paintings and at least
six are headed to museums through Stephanie’s Gallery. Art historian
Peter Hastings Falk, curator of the collection, explains that the
artist was a hermit his entire life. After Pinajian’s death in 1999,
five decades of accumulated artwork were found stacked up in the
one-car garage and attic of the Bellport, Long Island, cottage he
shared with his sister. He had left instructions for his collection to
be discarded in the town dump. At the last moment an artist cousin
refused to let the garbage truck haul away the paintings. Instead,
Professor William Innes Homer [1929-2012], then dean of American art
historians, was asked to examine the life’s work of the unknown artist
and was stunned by what he found: a large body of extraordinary
abstract landscape and figurative paintings by a highly gifted artist
who was completely unknown in his lifetime. Homer urged Falk to head
the project. Soon a team of art historians was conducting research
into the life and art of Arthur Pinajian.
As a boy growing up in an Armenian community in West Hoboken, N.J.,
Pinajian was a completely self-trained cartoonist. During the Great
Depression he became one of the pioneers in a new medium: the comic
book. In 1940 he created “Madam Fatal,” the first cross-dressing
superhero, for Crack Comics. After World War II, he enrolled at the
Art Students League in Woodstock, N.Y. Although he knew a number of
the New York Abstract Expressionists, such as Franz Kline and Philip
Guston, he was largely reclusive. For 22 years his life revolved
around Woodstock while he passionately pursued his painting. His
admirable poetic color combinations are linked to the tonalities of
his better-known fellow Armenian, Arshile Gorky [ca.1904-1948]. Late
in life, he moved with his sister to Bellport. There, in a tiny
bedroom-studio he strived for visual and spiritual conclusions
regarding flatness and color that parallel the goals of the Abstract
Expressionists.
The exhibition is accompanied by a 128-page hardcover book with essays
by art historians Falk,
Richard J. Boyle, and the late William Innes Homer; art critic John
Perreault; conservator Jonathan Sherman; bestselling author Lawrence
E. Joseph, owner of the collection; and, Pinajian’s artist-cousin,
Peter Najarian. The collective essays present one of the most
compelling discoveries in the history of 20th-century American art.
Dr. Homer writes: “Even though Pinajian was a creative force to be
reckoned with, during his lifetime he rarely exhibited or sold his
paintings. Instead, he pursued his goals in isolation with the
single-minded focus of a Gauguin or Cezanne, refusing to give up in
the face of public indifference. In his later years he could be
compared to a lone researcher in a laboratory pursuing knowledge for
its own sake. His exhaustive diaries and art notes make it clear that
he dedicated all of his days to his art. He was passionate and
unequivocally committed.”
An Intriguing Literary Connection
It is interesting to note the astonishing resemblance between Pinajian
and the hero in Kurt Vonnegut’s Bluebeard: The Autobiography of Rabo
Karabekian, a 1987 novel about an eccentric painter. Both Pinajian and
Karabekian, a.k.a. Bluebeard, were Armenian-Americans, raised by
parents who survived the 1915 Turkish genocide of approximately one
million men, women and children who then made their way to the United
States where they raised their families during the Great Depression.
Both men then served with the United States Army during World War II
in the European theater, each earning a host of ribbons and medals,
including the Bronze Star. After the war, both abandoned their careers
as illustrators for higher artistic pursuits, joined the Art Students
League in New York, and hung out with the Abstract Expressionists at
the Cedar Tavern in Greenwich Village. Both eventually moved to Long
Island’s East End near the ocean, where they kept their paintings
tightly locked away in a garage.
“Ultimately Pinajian’s work reflects the soul of a flawed, yet
brilliant, artistic genius. When he hits the mark, especially in his
abstractions, he can be ranked among the best artists of his era . . .
His life is, above all, a model for those who feel that they must
follow their calling despite a lack of public acceptance,” concluded
Dr. Homer.
ABOUT PETER HASTINGS FALK AND REDISCOVERED MASTERS
“Call me the Peter Finch of the art world,” says Peter Hastings Falk,
referring to the actor’s memorable rant “I’m as mad as hell and I’m
not going to take it any more!” in the film Network. “I’m angry that
art history and the art market have proven to be ruthlessly forgetful.
With Rediscovered Masters my mission is to illuminate excellent late
career artists and those deceased who, for various reasons, have not
expanded or sustained the exposure they deserve. No one embodies this
more than Arthur Pinajian.”
According to Falk, Rediscovered Masters will provide a singular and
valuable service for exhibition planners, connecting museum curators,
gallerists, historians and critics with important, gifted artists
about whom tastemakers might not be aware. Admission is by invitation
only. Once an artist is admitted they are represented online with a
thematic exhibition, a critical biography and other essays. Artists
are identified through an Art Advisory Board composed of a cadre of
museum directors and curators, art gallery owners, and other art
professionals. The Senior Advisor is Peter Selz, former Curator of
Paintings at The Museum of Modern Art and founder of the Berkeley Art
Museum.
Opening eyes while fighting ageism, Rediscovered Masters expands upon
Falk’s 37 years of identifying and promoting excellent late-career
artists and artist estate collections. Falk is author and publisher
of what has long been regarded as the most exhaustive biographical
dictionary on American art, Who Was Who in American Art, a
three-volume opus that won the Wittenborn Award for the Best Art
Reference Book published in North America, awarded by the Art
Libraries Society. Falk also pioneered the documentation of art
auction prices with his massive annual Art Price Index International
and that data is now online at Artprice.com, the leader in art market
information.
Location:
The Zorayan Museum at the Cathedral of the Western Diocese of The
Armenian Church
3325 N. Glenoaks Blvd.
Burbank, CA 91504
(818) 558-7474
Hours:
Wednesday May 1, 7:00 PM to 10:00 PM
Thursday and Friday 1:00 PM to 9:00 PM.
Contact:
Linda Stepanian, Director of Stephanie’s Gallery and Representative of
the Pinajian Estate Collection at
[email protected]; (818) 790-4905
stephaniesartgallery.com
(High-resolution jpeg images are available upon request.)
STEPHANIE’S ART GALLERY, INC
466 Foothill Blvd.
La Canada, CA 91011
(818) 790-4905