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Georges Terzian

(French, b.1939-2021)

Georges Terzian was born in Marseille on the 8th of March 1939. Of Armenian descent, his family originally lived in Russia but moved to France before he was born.

Terzian began to draw and paint when he was very young. At fourteen his parents enrolled him into L'Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Marseille. He studied there for one year but quit before completing his studies, although he continued to paint in his workshop in Sainte-Mitre, near Marseille. He also studied music in Paris with Jean Lumière who tutored many talented musicians emerging in Paris at the time.

Inspired by the Post Impressionists, Georges Terzian's early paintings focused on the landscapes of Provence. Working in oil and gouache he experimented with the impressionist technique of painting 'en plein air' in the areas surrounding his family home. At this time he was particularly impressed by Cezanne's compositions of simple form and colour planes, painted at the turn of the century.

Georges Terzian settled in Paris in the 1960s. Painting prolifically, the artist's development was consistently hinged to the Cubist movement with a particular focus on Braque and Picasso. Through studying the works of these cubist masters, Terzian developed his own type of post cubism. Focusing almost entirely on still lifes, he experimented with the formation of different objects, working largely in oil. Terzian began to view his subjects as a symphony of colours and shapes and sought to express the overall dynamism in each of his paintings.

Having exhibited in a number of solo exhibitions in Paris, his works have been acquired by many public and private collectors in France and further afield. Terzian's work has drawn wider international attention and has developed a strong presence on the secondary market in London, Paris and New York. The largest collection of his paintings to date were exhibited at Alon Zakaim Fine Art in 2010.

Georges Terzian