Sarkis Sarkisian
Product Details
Sarkis Sarkisian, Turkish/American, 1909-1977. A 20th century pastel on paper portrait of a white-face clown. Signed "Sarkis" lower left. Image 11 1/4 x 18 3/4" high, in museum framing 24 x 31" high overall.
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Biography:
Born in Turkey in 1909, Sarkis Sarkisian’s artistic career began just eleven years after he immigrated with his family to Detroit in 1922. He attended the Wicker School of Fine Arts and the Art School of the Detroit Society of Arts & Crafts-what is now the College of Creative Studies. 1933 he was asked to work as an assistant instructor of drawing and design at the Art School in Detroit, and a year later he became a full time instructor. A short time later, in 1947, he was named the school’s Director.
Over the span of his lengthy career, Sarkisian participated in numerous competitive exhibitions across the country but continued to maintain a strong connection to the city of Detroit, thus including showings at the Detroit Institute of Arts and The Scarab Club. Sarkisian had a strong impact on the artistic culture of Detroit, and the sentiment was undoubtedly reciprocated as he once said, "Detroit has given me everything.”
His other teaching positions included those at the Somerset Summer Art School (1940), Oxbow Summer School of Art (1947), Wayne State University (1969) and the Cranbrook Academy of Art (1969).