Léon Tutundjian retrospective at Musée de Grenoble
The Musée de Grenoble is hosting the first-ever retrospective of Léon Tutundjian (1905–1968), an Armenian-born avant-garde artist long overlooked despite his influence on figures like Alexander Calder and Jean Arp. The exhibition, titled "Léon Tutundjian. Poétique du cosmos," runs from June 2026. Tutundjian fled the Armenian genocide as a teenager, arriving in Paris around 1924 after stays in Greece and Venice. He befriended Jean Hélion, Auguste Herbin, and Theo van Doesburg, co-founding the Art concret group in 1930. His work spans tachisme, geometric abstraction, biomorphic forms, and surrealism, with notable relief sculptures from 1929. The show aims to correct his historical marginalization, supported by a catalog with contributions from museum director Sébastien Gokalp and art historian Gladys Fabre.
Key facts
- First retrospective of Léon Tutundjian at Musée de Grenoble.
- Tutundjian was born in 1905 in Amassia, Asia Minor.
- He survived the Armenian genocide and arrived in Paris around 1924.
- He co-founded the Art concret group in 1930 with Hélion, Van Doesburg, Carlsund, and Wantz.
- His work includes tachisme, geometric abstraction, and surrealism.
- He created notable relief sculptures in 1929.
- The exhibition is titled 'Léon Tutundjian. Poétique du cosmos'.
- The catalog includes texts by Sébastien Gokalp and Gladys Fabre.
Entities
Artists
- Léon Tutundjian
- Jean Hélion
- Auguste Herbin
- Theo van Doesburg
- Jean Arp
- Alexander Calder
- Ervand Kotchar
- David Kakabadzé
- Gladys Fabre
- Marie Deniau
- Sébastien Gokalp
- Camille Mauclair
- Robert Delaunay
- František Kupka
- Léonce Rosenberg
- André Breton
- Paul Klee
- Vassily Kandinsky
- D'Arcy Thompson
- Otto Carlsund
- Marcel Wantz
- Joan Miró
- Alberto Giacometti
- Wassily Kandinsky
- Théo van Doesburg
- Nelly van Doesburg
- Kurt Schwitters
- Jean Painlevé
- Arshile Gorky
- Salvador Dalí
- Pablo Picasso
Institutions
- Musée de Grenoble
- Galerie Le Minotaure
- Galerie Alain Le Gaillard
- Galerie Bonaparte
- Galerie L'Effort moderne
- Centre Pompidou
- Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam
- Éditions du Regard
- Beaux Arts Magazine
- École des beaux-arts d'Istanbul
- Monastère arménien de San Lazzaro
- Grenoble Museum
- School of Paris
- Abstraction-Création
- Beaux-Arts de Constantinople
- Monastery of San Lazzaro
- Galerie Percier
- Galerie des Éditions Bonaparte
- RKD Netherlands Institute for Art History
- RFI
Locations
- Grenoble
- France
- Paris
- Villejuif
- Amassia
- Asia Minor
- Istanbul
- Turkey
- Greece
- Venice
- Italy
- Amsterdam
- Netherlands
- United States
- Constantinople
- Armenia
- Africa