Arto Der Haroutunian profile

Name:	Arto Der Haroutunian
Year of Birth:	1940
Year of Death:	1987
Country:

View all current work by Arto Der Haroutunian on Collect Art

The family of the famous restaurateur and artist, Arto Der Haroutunian will be exhibiting Arto’s paintings for the first time since his death. This well-know character would have seen daily outside his restaurant on Albert Square in Manchester. The special event in honour of Arto is being held at the Collect Art Gallery, with an open evening on Friday 14 November, 2008 from 6 – 9pm.

Arto was born in Aleppo, Syria, the son of a priest of the Armenian Orthodox Church. His father's family originated from Cilicia (South Turkey) and his mother's from Armenia. As a 9 year old his father saw the whole of his family, except for a beloved sister, massacred during the Armenian genocide of 1915 to 1918. He became separated from his sister whilst walking hundreds of miles to Syria where he and thousands of other survivors found sanctuary. After spending nearly a year living on the streets he was picked up and placed in an orphanage. As an adult he spent many years searching for his sister, eventually finding her among the Bedouin.

The Der Haroutunian family moved to Beruit, Lebanon for a few years before in 1952 settling in Manchester in North West England when his father was sent as a priest to the Armenian Church there. Their home was the rectory attached to the church. When 18, Arto went to Manchester University to study architecture. There he met his future wife Frances who was studying geography. They married in 1967 and Arto qualified as an architect and set up his own practice in 1970. In 1976 their son Raffi was born.

Arto started painting in 1963 after being goaded into it by an artist friend. He converted the coal cellars of the rectory into a studio and within six months had produced seventy paintings. The first article about his art appeared in 1965 in " The Idiom" an arts magazine produced at the University. At the time he was having his first one man exhibition at the Manchester Central Library and it was transferred to the Student's Union afterwards.

Without the "benefits" of a formal art school training his paintings possess an individuality that is entirely his own. Over the years Arto succeeded in fusing his two backgrounds of East and West into a new and personal style. He was a master of line and colour. His architectural training is evident in the linear aspect of his works. His pictures are full of sinuous lines, which flow across the canvasses creating shapes, spaces and depths without much recourse to perspective so showing the influence of ancient Armenian manuscripts. Primarily though he was a colourist and he has said "I am from a warm country. Colours are brighter in the Middle East because of the sun. I don't have theories about colour, I follow instinct. My colour has modified though - it has been toned down by the British weather!"

Arto exhibited both in the north and south of England as well as abroad. Along the way he struck up friendships with fellow northern artists Colin Jelicoe, Geoffrey Key, John Picking and Emanuel Levy. His works are in several private collections in Britain and abroad as well as in galleries in Armenia, Syria, Lebanon and Nigeria.

Each painting can be distinguished by his distinctive signature, which combines his first name in English and Armenian.

On the 6th October 1987, Arto died of a sudden heart attack at the untimely age of 47. He was a driven and enthusiastic polymath who unfortunately ran out of time.

For additional info on Arto or to request an invitaion to the open night, please contact the Collect Art gallery at 01925 75 99 88.

Major Exhibitions:

Central Library, Manchester 1964
Colin Jellicoe Gallery, Manchester 1965, 66, 67,70, 86
Manchester University 1965
Gulbenkian House, London 1973
Alex Manoukian Gallery, Lebanin 1975
Gallerie Contemporaire, Beirut 1975
“NW. 1” Chenil Galleries, London 1976
Langton Gallery, London 1977
“NW.2” National Theatre, London 1979
Taurus Gallery, Gargrave 1980
Haworth Art Gallery, Accrington 1981
Stockport Art Gallery 1982
Cheshire County Council Touring Exhibition 1984
Cyprus 1987

Major Collections :

National Art Gallery of Armenia
Modern Art Gallery, Yerevan, USSR
Sarian Academy of Arts, Syria
Mugitanst Gallery, Lebanon
Lagos City Art Gallery, Nigeria

Examples of work