Annual Exhibition highlighting modern Egyptian Art at Ubuntu Art Gallery, Cairo, Egypt. Text by Reem Aljeally
Fusing European mastery with Egyptian culture, Armenian Egyptian modernist Ashod Zorian, is renowned for his captivating sceneries inspired by cosmopolitan cities, his statically positioned nudes, and bright to almost fauvist colors.
Ashod Zorian was born in 1905 into an eventful and difficult life that eventually led him to Alexandria and then Cairo. Zorian’s work was deeply transformed by his life in Cairo after moving to the city in 1941. The artist employed his European techniques from his early studies into his work and then stepping out of them into a more intuitive approach, using bolder strokes and movement distinguishing the work he created in Cairo that has prefaced his international position.
Zorian’s artistic practice was shaped through his studies in Vienna in 1922, and then under the Italian mastery of Umberto Coromaldi in Rome where he studied at the Accademia De Bella Art in 1928. At the same time, he attended lessons at Academie de France, in Villa Medicis (1926-1928). In Rome, Zorian exhibited at the Biennale of Circolo Artistico, following that with numerous participations in major exhibitions like the Winter and Spring Salons in Paris.
Upon his residence in Egypt, Zorian became an educator himself, serving as an art teacher in both Alexandria and Cairo until 1952. Following that, the artist ran his private studio school where famous artists were studying such as Harmig Ballarian, Nora Ipekian, Eliz Partan, Joseph Egoyan, Shushan Deuletian-Egoyan, Rose Papazian, Chant Avedissian, Vahé Varjabedian, Margo veillon, Inji Efflatoun, Leila Izzet, Mervat Refaat, and even Queen Farida.
The artist had his first solo exhibition in 1939 at Gallery Gregoire in Alexandria marking an important point in his career that witnessed his last solo in 1969 at the French Cultural Center in Cairo just one year before his passing. Ashod Zorian’s artworks are a symbol of a true search of mastery within the artist, embracing impressionism with the warmth of the desert of Egypt resulting in fascinating artworks that are simple in expression yet profound in sensation.
His artworks are part of collections in the Modern Art Museum in Cairo, Museum of Des Beaux Arts in Alexandria, National Museum of Armenia, Convent Des Peres Mekhitariste in Venice and Vienna, and many private collections.
This edition of UBUNTU Art Gallery’s annual exhibition The Collector’s Eye, highlights Ashod Zorian as a modern master from Egypt. The majority of Zorian artworks displayed here are part of the Mazloumian family’s collection which were mostly gifted by the artist himself to his doctor, Kevork Mazloumian during his life. The Mazloumian collection is considered the biggest and most astounding collection of artworks by Ashod Zorian in Cairo today. The family set to part with some of Zorian artworks to share with interested collectors and to highlight his creative career and distinctive works.
