Assadour

Assadour Bezdikian (b. 1943) is a renowned contemporary artist of Western Armenian descent who was born in Beirut, Lebanon. Widely known simply as Assadour, he studied art at the Italian Cultural Centre in Beirut. He then travelled to Perugia, Italy, after gaining scholarships from the centre to further his studies at the Pietro Vannucci Academy in 1962 and 1963. While in Italy, he became increasingly interested in drawing as a discipline. 

In 1964, Bezdikian won a competition organized by the Lebanese Ministry of Culture, which provided him with a further scholarship to study at the Ecole Nationale Superieure des Beaux-Arts in Paris, where his education spanned engraving, watercolour, drawing and painting. 

Initially, Assadour’s artistry was centred on paper and printmaking, but gradually he began to shift his focus to landscapes filled with geometric shapes and, later, additionally, human silhouettes. In his work, he questions humanity’s place in the world, commenting on the conflicts, challenges and irreconcilable elements relating to the modern condition, under the broader umbrella themes of time and history. 

The themes he chooses to explore are universal, spanning issues that range from exile and uprootedness to the impact of war and identity. Humanity’s relationship with time is a common thread that runs through his artworks, which combine geometric abstraction with elements of constructivism and Parisian surrealism. Shapes, letters, numbers and other iconographic motifs are brought together to create diagrams, juxtaposed with clockwork and temporal elements. Indications of urban chaos are other features of his work, which, over time, began to also include human silhouettes. His media of choice also varies, encompassing oil on canvas, tempera and watercolour on paper, and gouache and watercolour on paper, sometimes mounted on board. 

Assadour Bezdikian’s work has been widely exhibited globally. Recent solo exhibitions include: ‘Tracks and Paths’, Osthaus Museum, Hagen, Germany (2022); ‘Landscape in Motion’, Sursock Museum, Beirut (2016); ‘Paintings’, Espace Claude Lemand, Paris (2016); MIG (Museo Internazionale di Grafica), Laboratorio d’Arte Grafica di Modena, Italy (2014); ‘From Chaos To Harmony’, Galerie Claud Lemand, Paris (2012); Pericle Fazzini Museum, Assisi, Italy (2008); Tito Balesta Foundation, Longiano, Italy (2008); Cahiers d’Art, Paris, France (2004); Artgraph Gallery, Nagoya, Japan (2004); ‘Paintings on Paper and Artist’s Books’, Galerie Claude Lemand, Paris (2004); Keum San Gallery, Seoul, South Korea (2003); Artgraph Gallery, Nagoya, Japan (2003); Vivant Gallery, Tokyo, Japan (2002); Keum San Gallery, Seoul, South Korea (2002); and Galerie d’Art Contemporain, Chamalières, France (2001).

His work has also featured in several collectives, most recently: ‘Lebanon | Untitled: Modern & Contemporary Lebanese Art’, Cromwell Place, London (2023); ‘Beirut and the Golden Sixties: A Manifesto of Fragility’, part of the 16th Lyon Biennale (2022); ‘A la plume, au pinceau, au crayon: dessins du monde Arabe’, Institut du Monde Arabe, Paris (2019); ‘Face Value: Portraiture’, Saleh Barakat Gallery, Beirut (2018); ‘Donation Claude & France Lemand’, Institut du Monde Arabe, Paris, France (2018); ‘Tondo from East and West’, Espace Claude Lemand, Paris (2017); ‘Around the World through Tondo’, Musée de l’Hospice Saint Roch, Issoudun, France (2017); ‘Arab Print: Volume III’, Meem Gallery, Dubai, (2017); ‘From East and West’, Art Paris Art Fair, Grand Palais, Paris (2016); ‘L’Automne’, Moonshin Museum, Seoul, South Korea (2013); ‘Art From Lebanon’, Beirut Exhibition Centre, Beirut (2012); ‘Masters of the Tondo’, Espace Claude Lemand, Paris (2012); ‘Lebanese Creativity, 1959-2012’, Espace Claude Lemand, Paris (2012); and ‘Les Arts de l’Exile’, Espace Claude Lemand, Paris (2012).

Assadour’s work can also be found in several distinguished institutions and collections, including: The British Museum, London; The Victoria and Albert Museum, London; Bibliotheque Nationale, Paris; Fonds National D'Art Contemporain, Paris; Institut du Monde Arabe, Paris; the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation, Lisbon; the Barjeel Art Foundation, Sharjah; Mathaf: Arab Museum of Art, Doha; Dalloul Art Foundation, Beirut and the Sursock Museum, Beirut, among others. 

Assadour Bezdikian currently lives and works in Paris, France.