"Geometría y abstracción" by León Tutundjian in Guillermo de Osma Gallery
12/05/2019.
[MAD] Spain 06.05 > 19.07.2019
metalocus, RODRIGO GARCÍA
metalocus, RODRIGO GARCÍA
On May 6, it was inaugurated at Galería Guillermo de Osma, in collaboration with the Marc Domenech Gallery in Barcelona and the Galerie Le Minotaure in Paris, the exhibition of the Armenian artist Léon Tutundjian “Geometría y abstracción”.
Sans titre, 1928. Ink on paper 31.5 x 23.5 cm. "Geometría y abstracción" by Leon Tutundjian.
Sans titre, 1929. Oil on canvas 31.5 x 23.5 cm. "Geometría y abstracción" by Leon Tutundjian.
Sans titre, 1929. Relleu on wood and metal 31.5 x 23.5 cm. "Geometría y abstracción" by Leon Tutundjian.
Sans titre, 1926. Ink on paper 21,5 x 17 cm. "Geometría y abstracción" by Leon Tutundjian.
Sans titre, 1927. Ink on paper 25 x 21,5 cm. "Geometría y abstracción" by Leon Tutundjian.
The sample of Léon Tutundjian collects more than forty pieces including paintings, reliefs, collages, watercolors and drawings made between 1924 and 1929, one of the most important and fruitful periods of one of the most outstanding artistic figures of Paris between the wars, and of which linear motifs predominate.
Léon Tutundjian was one of the most outstanding artistic figures of Paris between the wars. In fact, he was one of the most relevant artists in the consolidation of a particular model of abstract, geometric and organic art at the same time. Between the second half of the 20s and the beginning of the 30s, Tutundjian made many of his most beautiful and important works. He devoted himself intensely to making work on paper in which linear motifs predominate, usually on vaporised backgrounds, with biomorphic motifs, sometimes being carried away by automatism, others remaining in an absolutely geometric terrain.
The few reliefs that have survived to this day deserve special attention, of which two important examples can be seen in the exhibition. They are probably the most relevant contribution that Tutundjian made throughout his artistic production. The combination between collage and object trouvé; the painted backgrounds of a gray cold simulating a cement wall; the combination of wood with metal; the fragile balance between weight and counterweight, the straight line and the curve, the circle and the square; a subtle sensation of frozen movement; all this, converts these works into magnificent specimens of sculpture-painting that are directly linked with the works 'built' by his contemporaries such as Tatlin, Rodchenko, Moholy-Nagy, and also Domela, Calder or Miró.
Léon Tutundjian was one of the most outstanding artistic figures of Paris between the wars. In fact, he was one of the most relevant artists in the consolidation of a particular model of abstract, geometric and organic art at the same time. Between the second half of the 20s and the beginning of the 30s, Tutundjian made many of his most beautiful and important works. He devoted himself intensely to making work on paper in which linear motifs predominate, usually on vaporised backgrounds, with biomorphic motifs, sometimes being carried away by automatism, others remaining in an absolutely geometric terrain.
The few reliefs that have survived to this day deserve special attention, of which two important examples can be seen in the exhibition. They are probably the most relevant contribution that Tutundjian made throughout his artistic production. The combination between collage and object trouvé; the painted backgrounds of a gray cold simulating a cement wall; the combination of wood with metal; the fragile balance between weight and counterweight, the straight line and the curve, the circle and the square; a subtle sensation of frozen movement; all this, converts these works into magnificent specimens of sculpture-painting that are directly linked with the works 'built' by his contemporaries such as Tatlin, Rodchenko, Moholy-Nagy, and also Domela, Calder or Miró.
More information
Dates
Inauguration.- Monday, May 6 at 7:30 p.m. Exhibition.- From May 6 to July 19, 2019.
Location
Galería Guillermo de Osma.- Calle Claudio Coello, 4 1º izq (Madrid).
Léon Tutundjian
Léon Tutundjian (Amasia, Turkey, 1905 - Paris, France, 1968) was born into a cultured Armenian family, as his father, a violin aficionado, was a professor of physics and chemistry and his mother governess. At age ten he was orphaned as a father due to injuries sustained during a bombing of the Turkish army. He made his first studies in Constantinople (now Istanbul) and learned music, also at age 14 he learned painting and ceramics at the School of Fine Arts of that city. After the death of his father and in the face of economic difficulties for which, consequently, the whole family was engulfed, the mother is forced to sell her property and possessions in order to take care of her children. Around 1921-22, Tutundjian got accepted on a ship bound for Greece along with other Armenian children who were also orphans, although he was much older than the rest of the children rescued.
Tutundjian entered the Loutraki orphanage where he learned the trade of ceramics and painting on canvas, later he traveled to Venice and arrived in Paris around 1923-24, where he immediately connected with the avant-garde of the moment. He took part in the important international exhibition ESAC (Expositions selectes d'art contemporain) in 1929, was a member of the mythical and restricted group Art Concret (1930) by Theo Van Doesburg, which was so important in geometric abstraction in Switzerland and Latin America over the years 40/50. He also participated in Abstraction-Création (1931) and his work was exhibited in several galleries in Paris and many of the Salons that were held during those years. His work was always linked to geometry, except during the 40s and 50s when he approached the surreal world.
Léon Tutundjian was a demanding man, temperamental, not very sociable, but with a firm spirit of innovation. His relationship with the art market was never easy and, despite being connected with the artistic elites of the time and belonging to some of the most outstanding avant-garde groups of the time, he could never see how his work received the recognition it deserved. Precisely for this reason he still remains one of the most mysterious and enigmatic artists of the Parisian avant-garde. The fact that many biographical gaps still exist today only adds to the mystery of his life, and at the same time encourages the recovery of his original and particular artistic production, in order to bring it back to the center of debates about a period of which there is still much to learn and understand.
Tutundjian entered the Loutraki orphanage where he learned the trade of ceramics and painting on canvas, later he traveled to Venice and arrived in Paris around 1923-24, where he immediately connected with the avant-garde of the moment. He took part in the important international exhibition ESAC (Expositions selectes d'art contemporain) in 1929, was a member of the mythical and restricted group Art Concret (1930) by Theo Van Doesburg, which was so important in geometric abstraction in Switzerland and Latin America over the years 40/50. He also participated in Abstraction-Création (1931) and his work was exhibited in several galleries in Paris and many of the Salons that were held during those years. His work was always linked to geometry, except during the 40s and 50s when he approached the surreal world.
Léon Tutundjian was a demanding man, temperamental, not very sociable, but with a firm spirit of innovation. His relationship with the art market was never easy and, despite being connected with the artistic elites of the time and belonging to some of the most outstanding avant-garde groups of the time, he could never see how his work received the recognition it deserved. Precisely for this reason he still remains one of the most mysterious and enigmatic artists of the Parisian avant-garde. The fact that many biographical gaps still exist today only adds to the mystery of his life, and at the same time encourages the recovery of his original and particular artistic production, in order to bring it back to the center of debates about a period of which there is still much to learn and understand.
