October Issue 2001
Hampton III Gallery in Taylors, SC, Features
Works by the Late Edmund Yaghjian
From Oct.
4 through Nov. 10, 2001, Hampton III Gallery in Taylors, SC, will
hosts an exhibition of paintings by Edmund Yaghjian (1903-1997).
These works painted in the 1950's depict the environs of Columbia,
SC. Around 35 paintings will be on display. This is the first
exhibition of Yaghjian's work since his death in 1997.
Cubism is evident in some of the works. In A Break from Housework a bold color palette appears within hard lines defining the flat spaces of a train car and round trees. The outlined foreground figures show three women who pause to chat. At the right a small boy with his dog is isolated. Four broken houses are lined up on the upper right, giving some perspective to the work.
Other of Yaghjian's paintings are less segmented. He uses a naive view in painting in the work Pentecostal Church. In Corner Drug Store the building looks like a stage set. At the bus stop a man reads the newspaper while a young boy passes behind into the light. The built up paint surface is blended with a myriad of color, creating a softness within the defined forms. The titles Senate Street, Along Assembly Street, Stores on Lower Main, Along Bull Street, Park Street Grocery, Gervais Antique Shop, and Coalyard name specific places. The works A Little Fellow with his Dog, Bringing in Some Vegetables, and Passing the Time of Day, show everyday life at the mid-portion of the century.
Yaghjian's family immigrated to the US when he was 3. Formal training started at the Rhode Island School of Design and continued at the Art Student League before he left to teach at the University of Missouri. In 1945 Yaghjian came to Columbia, SC, to head the department of art at the University of SC. He retired from the university in 1966.
"I call myself a painter, only time will tell if I am an artist," Yaghjian said. Yaghjian's distinguished career was filled with notable awards and exhibitions. Among the museums that showed his work are the Metropolitan and the Whitney in New York, the Corcoran and the National Gallery in Washington, DC, the Butler Institute of Art in Cleveland, OH, and the Penn. Academy in Philadelphia. He has had one-man shows at the Kraushaar Gallery in New York City; Mint Museum in Charlotte, NC; Gibbes Museum of Art, Charleston, SC; Telfair Academy, Savannah, GA; and the Columbia Museum of Art, Columbia, SC, among others. He was the catalyst behind the foundation of the Artists Guild of Columbia and the Guild of SC Artists.
In March 1953, Yaghjian had a one-man show at the Telfair in Savannah, GA, the exhibition contained work that is being shown in the current show at Hampton III Gallery. The following appeared in the Savannah Morning News: "Mr. Yaghjian has employed the local scene and his paintings furnish interesting examples of familiar subject matter with original approach and treatment. He achieves an unusual combination of primitive and sophisticated technique. The trees, for instance, are all reduced to the geometric forms, especially in the handling of buildings. "Humor invades the whole show and a lively interest in folk customs and characteristics. There are a number of abstractions, but we feel that the artist is primarily interested in interpreting the scene around him and its adaptation to contemporary expression."
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