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| Dikran |
DIKRAN
Sculptor and Architect
25 April 1913 - 21 April 1991
Dikran was born into an Armenian family
in Mersina, Turkey. At the age of ten, he was sent to
Paris, where he studied from 1923 to 1930 at Sainte-Barbe
high school. He continued his studies at the School
of Civil Engineering (École Spéciale des
Travaux Publics), graduating
in 1933 with a degree in Engineering and Architecture.
After graduating, Dikran returned to
Beirut, where his family had settled. He began working
as an architect and, in 1938, he built Saint-Nichan
Church in Beirut, among other projects.
One day in 1945, his artist friend
Galentz engaged Dikran’s interest in sculpture.
Although he was tempted at the time, just like Galentz,
to become involved in what was happening in Soviet Armenia,
he decided to remain in Beirut. In 1948, Dikran regained
the desire to create models and sculptures and produced
about half a dozen statuettes.
In 1950, he began studying sculpture at the Grande
Chaumière Academy in Paris, and around 1952,
he relocated permanently to France.
Having become a member of the French Council of Architects
(Ordre des Architectes), Dikran worked both alone and
in collaboration with fellow artists, moving to the
capital in 1953. He received few commissions for his
sculptures, yet in order to express his love of form
and volume, he made the first pieces out of plaster
for his own pleasure.
Right from his first exhibition at the Salon des Indépendants,
he managed to sell several pieces. But, as an architect,
he would not be satisfied with working with such a fragile
material and so began to concentrate on working in bronze.
In 1961, Dikran became a full-time sculptor. He presented
his work at exhibitions and various galleries up until
the end of the 1980s.
In 1981, he left Paris and moved to Grisy-les-Plâtres
in Val d’Oise where he remained until the end
of his life.
Individual Exhibitions
1963 Galerie Ror Volmard
(Paris)
1967 Galerie Régis
Langloÿs (Paris)
1967 Galerie Viollette (Bruxelles)
1968 Galerie Bernheim Jeune
(Paris)
1968 Galerie Anne Apesteguy
(Deauville)
1970 Corner Gallery (Londres)
1971 Galerie Cardo Matignon
(Paris)
1975 Studio 27 (Beyrouth)
1975 Galeria d’Arte
(Rome)
1977 Centre Culturel Arménien
UGAB
(Paris)
1978 Centre Culturel Arménien
(Téhéran)
1979 Galerie Guillet (Paris)
1986 Espace Beaugrenelle (Paris)
 |
André Malraux
in front of Dikran's work |
Collaborative Exhibitions
From 1963 Salon d’Automne
(Grand Palais)
From 1965 Salon des Indépendants
(Grand Palais)
1965 & 1967 Salon des
Artistes Français (Paris)
1968 Biennale des Beaux-Arts
(Musée d’Art Moderne)
1969 Artistes de l’Association
Thoros Roslin (Paris)
From 1973 Peintres témoins
de leur Temps (Musée du Luxembourg)
From 1974 Formes Humaines
(Musée Rodin)
1977 Contradiction (American
Center Paris)
1978 Evasion (Rodez)
1980 4th Contemporary Sculpture
Exhibition (Fontenay-sous-bois)
Awards
1975 Bigel Award, Human
Form category
1977 Grande
Médaille d’Argent de la Ville de Paris
Architecture
1938
Saint-Nichan Church, Beirut
1942 Central
Post Office, Beirut
1954 Invention of a hydraulic
machine for raising floors
1963 Participation in the
Madrid Opera House competition
1961-1975 Work on many private
houses in the Paris area
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