Charles Garabed Atamian

CHARLES GARABED ATAMIAN

Armenian Istanbul 1872 - 1947 Paris

A painter and illustrator, Charles Garabed Atamian, was born in Constantinople (now Istanbul) to Armenian parents and completed his early education at the local French School, Lycée Français Saint-Benoît, before training in Venice at the Collegio Armeno Moorat Raphael and the Accademia di Belle Arti. He returned to Constantinople in 1894 before leaving Turkey for Paris in 1897. Atamian found success illustrating books, magazines and newspapers, as well as producing artwork for theatrical productions before exhibiting paintings in oil from 1903 onwards at the Salon d’Automne and at the Société Nationale des Beaux-Arts between 1913 and 1942, becoming an associate and later a member.

In 1992 Saint-Gilles-Croix-de-Vie in the Vendee region of Western France, on what is known as the Côte de Lumière, named Atamian an honorary citizen of the city and the following year an avenue was named after him. The artist’s granddaughter bequeathed a collection of 42 paintings to the city in 1995. He painted there for several months during the summer between 1929 and 1939, having first visited on the advice of a friend in 1923. Sadly the artist never returned after the outbreak of the Second World War.