Stephen Ayne Sacklarian with painted ties

Stephen Sacklarian (1899–1983) was an

Armenian American Armenian Americans ( hy, ամերիկահայեր, ''amerikahayer'') are citizens or residents of the United States who have total or partial Armenian ancestry. They form the second largest community of the Armenian diaspora after Armenians in ...

painter and sculptor of Bulgarian Armenian descent. Although Sacklarian never formally subscribed to any official art movement, critics consider his paintings to be a blend of

Modern Modern may refer to: History * Modern history ** Early Modern period ** Late Modern period *** 18th century *** 19th century *** 20th century ** Contemporary history * Moderns, a faction of Freemasonry that existed in the 18th century Phil ...

and

Abstract Expressionist Abstract expressionism is a post–World War II art movement in American painting, developed in New York City in the 1940s. It was the first specifically American movement to achieve international influence and put New York at the center of the ...

, with elements of

Cubism Cubism is an early-20th-century avant-garde art movement that revolutionized European painting and sculpture, and inspired related movements in music, literature and architecture. In Cubist artwork, objects are analyzed, broken up and reassemble ...

Early life

Stephen Sacklarian was born in 1899 in

Varna, Bulgaria Varna ( bg, Варна, ) is the third-largest List of cities and towns in Bulgaria, city in Bulgaria and the largest city and seaside resort on the Bulgarian Black Sea Coast and in the Northern Bulgaria region. Situated strategically in the ...

and emigrated to the United States in 1911. His parents were

Turkish Armenians Armenians in Turkey ( tr, Türkiye Ermenileri; hy, Թուրքահայեր, also Թրքահայեր, "Turkish Armenians"), one of the indigenous peoples of Turkey, have an estimated population of 50,000 to 70,000, down from a population of over 2 ...

who escaped persecution in Turkey from the Armenian Holocaust. Not much is known about Sacklarian’s early youth, other than he grew up in poverty in Philadelphia. He was a

Golden Gloves The Golden Gloves is the name given to annual competitions for amateur boxing in the United States, where they are awarded a belt and a ring. And the title of nations champion is awarded. The Golden Gloves is a term used to refer to the Nation ...

boxer during a brief period in his late youth. Sacklarian was also missing a small part of his dominant (right) painting hand ring finger from a childhood accident, though he never claimed it a hindrance on his artistic career.

Pre-art career and education

He eventually was accepted to the

Wharton School of Business The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania ( ; also known as Wharton Business School, the Wharton School, Penn Wharton, and Wharton) is the business school of the University of Pennsylvania, a private Ivy League research university in ...

, where he graduated with honors. Prior to full commitment to art, Sacklarian had a varied and financially successful career in industry and business as a sales engineer; and worked for

General Electric General Electric Company (GE) is an American multinational conglomerate founded in 1892, and incorporated in New York state and headquartered in Boston. The company operated in sectors including healthcare, aviation, power, renewable energ ...

amongst other companies. However, he later decided to formally and professionally pursue art, studying at the

Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Art The Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts (PAFA) is a museum and private art school in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.University of the Arts, the T Square Club-School for Architects, the Fleisher Memorial Art School, and ultimately in private study under sculptor

Paul Manship Paul Howard Manship (December 24, 1885 – January 28, 1966) was an American sculptor. He consistently created mythological pieces in a classical style, and was a major force in the Art Deco movement. He is well known for his large public com ...

Professional career

1930s–1950s

During his early career from the 1930s until the late 1950s, Sacklarian painted Realistically. Nude portraits, indoor stills and nature were predominant. Few of these early-period paintings are still around; he destroyed most of them. Sacklarian was relatively unknown in the art world during this time, not having yet found his unique painting style which for which he is associated.

Transition into Abstractionism (1960s)

In 1966, Sacklarian began painting with acrylics, which opened up new possibilities, enabling different uses of color and form which culminated in the distinct Abstractionist style for which he is known. During the late 1950s and early 1960s Sacklarian produced numerous pieces of wood sculpture, ranging from 12 inches to over 8 feet tall. His sculptures are described as "sensuous and dramatic," and with noticeable influences from African Art. Today, very few of his sculptures still exist, as he destroyed all of the known sculptures in his studio following Ayne's death.

Wife Ayne's death and period of destruction

Sacklarian was deeply affectionate toward his wife, Ayne Sacklarian (also an artist), and cited her as inspiration for the expressive joy behind his many works. However, Ayne died tragically and prematurely due to an anesthesiology error during minor surgery. Sacklarian immediately fell into a deep depression, and during this time he destroyed his studio and with it a vast majority of his works. He went through a dark period of art, then temporarily ceased painting, until resuming years later near the end of his life.

Late 1960s–death

His later works in the late 1960s and 1970s are considered to be vibrant and upbeat, more similar his earlier abstract works. Nygaard Otsby, contemporary art critic, states "Rather releasing his inner sorrows onto the canvas like other artists, Sacklarian grasps even further to channel the ecstasy that yneonce gave him, finding with it a virtually unparalleled creativity in his later years." Sacklarian visited with and was inspired by

Pablo Picasso Pablo Ruiz Picasso (25 October 1881 – 8 April 1973) was a Spanish painter, sculptor, printmaker, ceramicist and Scenic design, theatre designer who spent most of his adult life in France. One of the most influential artists of the 20th ce ...

Henry Moore Henry Spencer Moore (30 July 1898 – 31 August 1986) was an English artist. He is best known for his semi- abstract monumental bronze sculptures which are located around the world as public works of art. As well as sculpture, Moore produced ...

Arshile Gorky Arshile Gorky (; born Vostanik Manoug Adoian, hy, Ոստանիկ Մանուկ Ատոյեան; April 15, 1904 – July 21, 1948) was an Armenian-American painter who had a seminal influence on Abstract Expressionism. He spent the last years of his ...

Henri Matisse Henri Émile Benoît Matisse (; 31 December 1869 – 3 November 1954) was a French visual artist, known for both his use of colour and his fluid and original draughtsmanship. He was a draughtsman, printmaker, and sculptor, but is known prima ...

and other prominent artists of the 20th century. While he painted consistently throughout his career he and his estate hoarded most of his paintings. Sacklarian was an artist-in-residence at Notre Dame University in the 1970s. Sacklarian cites his inspiration as a difficult life and conscious choice for happiness: foremost "

is wife In linguistics, a copula (plural: copulas or copulae; abbreviated ) is a word or phrase that links the subject of a sentence to a subject complement, such as the word ''is'' in the sentence "The sky is blue" or the phrase ''was not being'' i ...

both in life and death" and "centuries of Armenian oppression and wanderings" as well as his rough upbringing and brief years as a boxer, and lastly the concepts of Genesis and the 'Reality of Unreality.'

Style

Sacklarian paintings are typically filled with biomorphic forms in the foreground in front of angular "room-like" backgrounds or dark color fields. Sacklarian uses perspective and composition, juxtaposing his vivid biomorphic forms in the foreground and the unidentifiable geometric rooms in which they reside. Human and animal forms, limbs, faces, and abstract sexual organs also hover in the foreground. The subconscious mind is a dominant thread in Sacklarian’s work, and his paintings are notedly dreamlike. "Some are brooding, yet most are light and full of mischievous humor. Many have sly sexual references." Sacklarian's palette varied, yet favored bright rich colors. Sacklarian claims to have at all times possessed the exact mental image of his finished works prior to initial creation.

Reception

Some critics view Sacklarian's work as an answer to the stark minimalism of Postmodern Art (see:

Minimalism In visual arts, music and other media, minimalism is an art movement that began in post–World War II in Western art, most strongly with American visual arts in the 1960s and early 1970s. Prominent artists associated with minimalism include Don ...

Postmodern art Postmodern art is a body of art movements that sought to contradict some aspects of modernism or some aspects that emerged or developed in its aftermath. In general, movements such as intermedia, installation art, conceptual art and multimedia, ...

). Art historian David W. Scott, described Sacklarian's painting forms as "emotion-charged puppets enacting dramatizations of human plights, frustrations and fears, whilst acklarianalways remaining the puppeteer." Art appraiser and critic Katherine Faith Prior described Sacklarian’s work as “Gorky-esque; deeply

Freudian Sigmund Freud ( , ; born Sigismund Schlomo Freud; 6 May 1856 – 23 September 1939) was an Austrian neurologist and the founder of psychoanalysis, a clinical method for evaluating and treating pathologies explained as originating in conflicts i ...

and shamelessly Laissez-aller.”

Death and legacy

Stephen Sacklarian died in 1983. He and Ayne never had children. Sacklarian's works are in the permanent collection of over 60 museums worldwide. His estate is currently managed by Leo Braudy of Capital Art Advisory.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sacklarian, Stephen Artists from Varna, Bulgaria Armenian painters Bulgarian painters Armenian sculptors Bulgarian sculptors Bulgarian people of Armenian descent 1899 births 1983 deaths 20th-century Bulgarian artists 20th-century Armenian artists 20th-century sculptors Bulgarian emigrants to the United States