Ashod Zorian The Generational Teacher
Ashod Zorian was born in Girasun, a seaside town on Turkey's northern coast, in 1905. His father, Apig, was a well-known lawyer, and his mother was a well-educated pianist.
He attended the local Armenian National School until 1915 when he was admitted to the Armenian Yesayan Orphanage. They "discovered" his talents and sent him to Vienna to study art.
In September 1922, Zorian arrived in Vienna. He studied for three years at the city's Art School (Wiener Kunstschule), and then for three more years at Rome's Academy of Fine Arts, under the tutelage of Professor Umberto Coromaldi. Simultaneously, he studied at the Academie de France in Villa Medicis (1926-1928).
Zorian took part in the Circolo Artistico Biennale for the first time in Rome. Then, in the second half of September 1929, he moved to Alexandria to join his uncle Vahan, who had settled there a few years before with his small family.
Alexandria was a lovely, cosmopolitan coastal city at the time. Zorian had spent twelve happy years in this city. He began his career as an art teacher at Boghosian Armenian National School (till 1941). He was also an artist, taking part in the annual art saloon in Alexandria with his works.
In May 1932, he received a bronze medal at the third Saloon Competition.
From February 6 to 16, 1939, he finally had his first one-man show at Galerie Grégoire. This exhibition was a huge success, and it was the pinnacle of his life and artistic career in Alexandria.
The Nazis bombed the British naval base in Alexandria several times in 1941. Bombs were dropped on the city centre on occasion, killing hundreds. As a result, thousands of terrified residents fled the city, including Zorian and his uncle's family, who went to Cairo.
From that point forward, a new era of success and prosperity began in his life. He was hired as an art teacher at the Kalousdian Armenian National School in Boulaq right away. He left this job in 1952 to be able to focus completely on his creative endeavours, as well as the establishment of his private studio school. Many young disciples of both sexes learned the elements of art at this school. Due to his failing health, it was closed in 1968. This was just before the opening of his final one-man show, which ran from February 10-28, 1969, at the French Cultural Center in Cairo.
Harmig Ballarian (his uncle’s daughter), Nora Ipekian, Eliz Partam, Joseph Egoyan, Shushan Deuletian-Egoyan, Rose Papazian, Chant Avedissian, Vahé Varjabedian, Laila Ezzat, Mervat Refaat, and others are among his notable disciples. We should also mention Herant Antranikian, who came to his school on occasion to draw sketches from models, usually the "popular" types (including nudists).
It should be noted that Egypt's Queen Farida After being divorced by King Farouk (the last king of Egypt) in late 1948, attended this private school in Zorian in the early 1950s.
Zorian had three solo exhibitions in Cairo during the 1940s: at the Hotel Continental (1942), the Société Orientale de Publicité (1944), and the Gallery A.D.A.M. (1948).
All of these highly successful exhibitions paved the way for his brilliant career in Cairo. He became famous and prosperous, and as a result, he was able to move beyond his previous Italian academism, adopting a bolder and more simplified style, free of unnecessary details and employing bright, saturated "Fauvist" colours.
In addition to ten solo exhibitions, Zorian has participated in numerous group exhibitions in Cairo and Alexandria, as well as internationally. Just to name a few, we recall his participation in the annual saloons of Cairo and Alexandria; the biennale of Alexandria (1955 and 1957); the winter saloon of Paris (1952); and the four great shows of Armeno-Egyptian artists in Cairo (in 1945, 1958, and 1962); and in Alexandria (in 1953), among others.
Zorian was, first and foremost, an artist who used his art to express beauty in Nature and Life (particularly female beauty). Two of his works are considered masterpieces. These are "The Armenian Folkloric Dance Ensemble," a large horizontal panoramic work, and "The Cotton Pickers," a vertical work.
The first of these pieces was completed in 1966. It was done with great care and precision, using tinted oil paints sprayed with airbrushes. Colour harmonies of browns, greys, and small areas of blue and red (only applied to the central figure) are beautifully rendered, and the composition is symmetrically balanced. The "dominant" colour, however, is white, which is delicately tinted with browns and blues and covers 75% of the canvas. The measurements are 180 x 450 cm. One of the artist's most talented disciples, Eliz Partam (1930-2007), must be mentioned here, as he assisted his master in the execution of this massive work.
The second masterpiece is "Cotton Pickers," completed in 1968 and one of Zorian's final works. It's an oil painting on canvas. It measures 120 x 92 cm in size. This priceless work in Cairo's Mazloumian collection was created using modern techniques such as dripping paint on a canvas laid flat on the ground (action painting). Zorian, on the other hand, was never trapped in abstraction.
Finally, a significant religious painting by the artist titled "The Resurrection of Christ" should be mentioned. This piece was created in 1944 for the Armenian Orthodox Church in Cairo. Zorian died on June 4, 1970, in Cairo.
