Biographical highlights
1905
Born in Amasya (Anatolia).
1922
Goes into exile. Stays in an orphanage in Greece and then at the San Lazaro Armenian school in Venice.
1924-1928
Arrives in Paris. Finds work with a ceramist. First group show.
1929
– Abstract art exhibition, Galerie des Editions Bonaparte.
– ESAC- Selected exhibitions of contemporary art, Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, with Arp, Charchoune, Van Doesburg, Freundlich, Torrès-Garcia, Kupka, Miro, Mondrian, Picasso, Severini, Survage, Villon, etc.
– Salon des Surindépendants.
1930
– Foundation of the Art Concret group with Carlsund, Helion, Van Doesburg and Wantz.
– Solo show, Galerie des Editions Bonaparte.
– International Exhibition of Post-Cubist Art (Cubism, Post- Cubism, Purism, Constructivism, Neoplasticism, Surrealism, Superimpressionism) organised by Carlsund in Stockholm.
– Salon des Surindépendants.
– Produktion Paris exhibition, Zurich, featuring Arp, Beothy, Delaunay, Giacometti, Gleizes, Mondrian, Freundlich, Ernst, Vantongerloo, etc.
1931-1938
Is a founder of the Abstraction-Création group and member of the editorial board of the eponymous journal alongside Arp, Gleizes, Hélion, Herbin, Kupka, Valmier and Vantongerloo.
Meets the dealer Léonce Rosenberg.
Resigns from Abstraction-Création and takes part in a group exhibition with the Surrealists at Galerie Pierre Colle.
Marriage and birth of his daughter Lea.
1939-1958
Mobilized, wounded during fighting.
Production of ceramic buttons and dishes in a small workshop during the war.
Takes part in group exhibitions such as:
– Konkrete Kunst at the Kunsthalle in Basel in 1944.
– Exhibition of the Union of Free Armenian Artists in 1945.
– Salon des Indépendants every year
– Concrete Art in Stockholm in 1957
– etc.
1958-1967
Solo shows of his early abstract works at the Colette Allendy Gallery in 1958, and at the Yvon Lambert Gallery in 1966.
Takes part in several group shows, including:
– Concrete Art at Yvon Lambert
– Zéro Point, (organized by the poet and critic Imre Pan);
– 50 years of collages at the Musée d’Art et d’Industrie de Saint-Etienne.
Salons: Comparaisons, Grands et Jeunes d’Aujourd’hui.
1968
Death in December.