Léon Tutundjian (Amasia, Turkey, 1905 - Paris, France, 1968) was born into a cultured Armenian family, as his father, a violin aficionado, was a professor of physics and chemistry and his mother governess. At age ten he was orphaned as a father due to injuries sustained during a bombing of the Turkish army. He made his first studies in Constantinople (now Istanbul) and learned music, also at age 14 he learned painting and ceramics at the School of Fine Arts of that city. After the death of his father and in the face of economic difficulties for which, consequently, the whole family was engulfed, the mother is forced to sell her property and possessions in order to take care of her children. Around 1921-22, Tutundjian got accepted on a ship bound for Greece along with other Armenian children who were also orphans, although he was much older than the rest of the children rescued.
Tutundjian entered the Loutraki orphanage where he learned the trade of ceramics and painting on canvas, later he traveled to Venice and arrived in Paris around 1923-24, where he immediately connected with the avant-garde of the moment. He took part in the important international exhibition ESAC (Expositions selectes d'art contemporain) in 1929, was a member of the mythical and restricted group Art Concret (1930) by Theo Van Doesburg, which was so important in geometric abstraction in Switzerland and Latin America over the years 40/50. He also participated in Abstraction-Création (1931) and his work was exhibited in several galleries in Paris and many of the Salons that were held during those years. His work was always linked to geometry, except during the 40s and 50s when he approached the surreal world.
Léon Tutundjian was a demanding man, temperamental, not very sociable, but with a firm spirit of innovation. His relationship with the art market was never easy and, despite being connected with the artistic elites of the time and belonging to some of the most outstanding avant-garde groups of the time, he could never see how his work received the recognition it deserved. Precisely for this reason he still remains one of the most mysterious and enigmatic artists of the Parisian avant-garde. The fact that many biographical gaps still exist today only adds to the mystery of his life, and at the same time encourages the recovery of his original and particular artistic production, in order to bring it back to the center of debates about a period of which there is still much to learn and understand.
Tutundjian entered the Loutraki orphanage where he learned the trade of ceramics and painting on canvas, later he traveled to Venice and arrived in Paris around 1923-24, where he immediately connected with the avant-garde of the moment. He took part in the important international exhibition ESAC (Expositions selectes d'art contemporain) in 1929, was a member of the mythical and restricted group Art Concret (1930) by Theo Van Doesburg, which was so important in geometric abstraction in Switzerland and Latin America over the years 40/50. He also participated in Abstraction-Création (1931) and his work was exhibited in several galleries in Paris and many of the Salons that were held during those years. His work was always linked to geometry, except during the 40s and 50s when he approached the surreal world.
Léon Tutundjian was a demanding man, temperamental, not very sociable, but with a firm spirit of innovation. His relationship with the art market was never easy and, despite being connected with the artistic elites of the time and belonging to some of the most outstanding avant-garde groups of the time, he could never see how his work received the recognition it deserved. Precisely for this reason he still remains one of the most mysterious and enigmatic artists of the Parisian avant-garde. The fact that many biographical gaps still exist today only adds to the mystery of his life, and at the same time encourages the recovery of his original and particular artistic production, in order to bring it back to the center of debates about a period of which there is still much to learn and understand.
