Bidspirit auction | Panos Terlemezyan (Armenian, 1865-1941)

Panos Terlemezyan (Armenian, 1865-1941) - Panos Terlemezyan (Armenian, 1865-1941), oil on cardboard, signed l.l., 22 x 14 cm. Notes Panos Terlemezyan (1865–1941). Born in the Aygestan district of Van, Ottoman Empire, son of a farmer. Educated at the Central College of Van under Mekertich Portukalian (1881–86), where he became one of the first members of the Armenakan Party. Taught drawing, aesthetics and geography in Van (1886–89) while active in the Armenian national movement, arrested in 1890 and again in 1891 (sentenced to death, later escaped), fleeing via Persia to Tiflis. Trained formally at the Imperial Academy of Arts, St. Petersburg (1895–97), then at the Académie Julian in Paris (1899–1904). Close friend of composer Komitas Vardapet, with whom he lived during Komitas's Ottoman years. Elected mayor of Van (1909). During the 1915 defense of Van led resistance efforts as a member of the temporary military government. After the Armenian Genocide, lived in exile across France, Italy, Spain and the USA. Returned to Soviet Armenia in 1928, settling in Yerevan for the rest of his life. Style shows strong Impressionist influence, spanning portraiture, landscape and, in his late Yerevan years (1929–31), industrial subjects. Named Emeritus Artist of Soviet Armenia (1930), joined the Society of Painters of the USSR (1932), and received the title People's Artist of the Armenian SSR (1935) and the Order of the Red Banner of Labour (1939). Died in Yerevan, April 30, 1941; the Yerevan art school he helped found in 1921 was posthumously named in his honor. Works held primarily at the National Gallery of Armenia.