1877 - 1966
Into our strangely cosmopolitan society creep so many elements
of civilization from other lands that it is little wonder
we should feel America to be the destined leader of the world's
thought. And our art -- if ever we do produce a native school
-- how it will have been enriched from all the wisdom and
experience of the world.
One is reminded of this constant infusion of fresh inspiration
from afar when contemplating the works of Hovsep Pushman,
for here are things unique in art history yet glorious with
a loveliness that comes from the oldest sources of aestheticism.
In these canvases is to be discerned an innate orientalism,
expressing itself naively in color, while the occidental point
of view is maintained in the modeling.
From the lands where beauty first was born comes this rare
gift for so combining colors that in itself the scheme awakens
emotion. It is the spirit of the East declaring itself that
binds and thrills our fancy. Yet back of it all we sense the
presence of a kindred spirit, for while the hues are of the
Orient, the sentiment, emotion and depth of human feeling
which characterize the work of Hovsep Pushman are the age
long heritage of the Christian.
Hovsep Pushman's annual exhibitions at the Grand Central
Art Galleries, beginning in the late 1920s and continuing
until his death in 1966, were always a significant event.
Pushman's paintings and prints were displayed at the Galleries
in a velvet-draped room with special lighting to enhance the
delicate quality of their softly glazed surfaces. They quickly
gained favor with the public, with private collectors, and
were bought by important museums throughout the United States
and Europe.
Pushman's oriental still life painting is inherently linked
to the work of the 18th century French still life painter
Jean Baptiste Simeon Chardin (1699-1779). Chardin's carefully
composed still life kitchen scenes included polished utensils
and well worn objects which were rendered through the light
and depth of their patterns and subtle relationships, expressing
an undeniable spiritual bond between man and matter. Within
Pushman's work it must have been remarked by those who study
the art of India, China and Persia, that it presents an ever-present
combination of the beautiful with the cruel or terrifying.
Themes of grotesque and frightful beasts or gods are not uncommon
here, all executed with a refined color sense and a feeling
for line and composition that makes one marvel but the more
at the choice of subject. It has remained for an American
to preserve all that is lovely and pure in oriental aestheticism
and unite it to themes that are oft times as affecting as
a prayer and always sympathetic studies of humanity.
 In his oriental
still life painting, Pushman managed to create an atmosphere
of nocturnal and contemplative intimacy through his meticulously
arranged objects and their backgrounds. Pushman's concern
for the objects in his paintings was of symbolic and religious
importance. His oriental male and female figures represent
the legends of the ancient East and Far East. They epitomize
the experience of life, which implies a longing for the eternal.
These small figures included the Sacred horse, the long robed
statuette of a woman, a six armed Deity, the Buddha god of
peace, the warrior, and the nude female figure which is emerging
from her veils that are the Mystery of Life. Other special
objects in Pushman's compositions were a 2000-year-old iridescent
glass pitcher, a lacquered chest, a teakwood box, small carved
figures of saints from 13th and 14th century France and ancient
Persian plates. The backgrounds usually consisted of rare
centuries old tapestries and textiles. All these elements
were combined in faultless compositions, each a unique statement
of vitality and meaning. The mysterious charm of color is
blended and interwoven in intricate and significant schemes.
It pervades every one of his works, thrilling us like the
play of light in the rainbow, the glitter of a serpent's scales,
or the flash and fire of many jewels. He is a master of splendor
and romance, a man to whom color is almost a language, at
least a means of expression no less definite than the notes
of the musical scale. He plays upon our emotions with color
in much the same way that a musician does with sound, soothing
us with exquisite harmonies, enlivening us with dramatic contrast,
or melting us almost to tears with tender passages of tone,
shot through with the purple of tragedy. And of tragedy, what
land offers so terrible a record as Armenia? So much has been
written about her sorrows, so many tales of horror told, such
fearful pictures painted, that we have almost grown hardened
to her sufferings. Yet the gentle art of this subdued, retiring
man awakens in us a new thrill of sympathy and that through
the medium of a technique whose sole concern is beauty. Into
the soft black velvety eyes of an Armenian maid or matron
he can throw pathos that is heart rending, and this without
in any way disturbing the pensive, serene loveliness of the
woman herself.
William Merritt Chase (1849-1916), one of America's most
prominent artist teacher, was noted for his figure and portrait
painting and he also painted a number of still lifes, which
included fresh fish and flower pieces. These works combined
the dark palette of the Dutch Masters with the fluent bravura
brushwork associated with DiegoValesquez, the 17th century
Spanish master, and Chase's contemporaries, Anton Vollon (1833-1900)
and Edouard Manet (1832-1883). James A. McNeill Whistler (1834-1903),
who under Oriental influences, also stressed color harmonies,
which he called '`nocturnes" that were based on the musical
scale. Other American artists influenced by Chardin, who continued
the still life tradition well into the 20th century were Emile
Carlsen (1853-1932) and his son Dines Carlsen (1891-1966).
Both eventually specialized in kitchen scenes and Oriental
objects, emphasizing the relationship between form and light.
They carefully balanced different shapes and sizes of objects
with an open-air atmosphere that cultivated an 'ideal beauty"
painted in the high key of brilliant impressionist color and
a love for surface texture.
Pushman created poems to accompany many of his paintings
or described the significance of their compositional elements.
About one of his most beautiful compositions, Sultanabad Plate,
painted circa 1940, he wrote:
"This painting is composed of objects, which come from
the East. A little statue of Mongolian origin, a plate from
the Sultanabad district, a little iridescent bottle found
in an ancient Syrian tomb, and a Persian vase containing a
branch of apple blossoms. I have used a background so contrived
to supply a foil for the objects placed before them; light
streams through the composition binding the sitting statuette
with the plate . . . There is an abiding hush in this canvas,
the intense stirring stillness of remembered music."
Hovsep Pushman was born May 9, 1877 in the part of Armenia
known as Turkish Ermenistan (Armenia). For centuries the land
of Pushman's birth has represented the last and farthest outpost
of our faith, dark centuries during which its people have
died martyrs to untold persecutions sooner than resign that
faith. The gentle, the humanizing influence of this faith,
can be seen in every canvas to which this artist has applied
his skill, for every type he paints is delineated with supreme
sympathy. Here, we realize, is a man who paints what was spoken
on the Mount, the gospel of the brotherhood of man and the
oneness of his soul with the spirit of the universe.
 One
is amazed at first to hear this artist dwell upon such a theme
as the Pilgrimage to Mecca; recalling all that Mohammedans
have resorted to in the martyrdom of Armenia. The ancient
admonition to charity and forgiveness and a compassionate
spirit have borne their fruits in a genius that sees only
the beauty of the pilgrim's unquestioning devotion, the exquisite
gravity of the spiritual symbolism of Mecca to one so many
generations of whose ancestry have revered it as a shrine.
How marvelous a thing is a religion! What a pity, from a Western
standpoint, that this same amount of concentration had not
been better directed and employed. And yet, this is the standpoint
of the East, the mystic, dreamy, devout East, ever seeking
wisdom in the recesses of its own soul, rather than attempting
to work out the meaning of the world about it. One wonders
if perhaps, after all, the East may be right, if it is only
older and wiser than, the West, its conclusion the ultimate
destiny of our own thought. However, it seems not so, for
with us the welfare of the body is paramount. Progress is
a matter of more cleanly surroundings, better shelter, better
clothing, and better food, better and more amusements and
enjoyment for the whole people. Hence it is that our art took
its spirit from the Greeks and has always been representative,
often illustrative in character. The East is ever decorative
or symbolic, and in the works of Pushman we see much of the
qualities of both hemispheres.
Pushman's precocity was noticed early and encouraged by his
family. When he was 11 years old, he began his art studies
at The Imperial School of Fine Arts in Constantinople. The
youngest student ever admitted to the Academy, he won first
prize in sculpture and painting. However, continual political
persecutions suffered by the Armenians under Turkish Sultan
Abdul Hamed, forced the Pushman family (Hovsep, his parents
and siblings) to emigrate to the United States in 1896. They
settled in Chicago and became United States Citizens. Pushman
entered classes at the Smith Academy, where at the unprecedented
age of 17, he also began to teach.
Pushman decided to continue his art studies in Paris in 1910
at the Academy Julian under Tony Robert Fleury (1838-1912),
Jules Joseph Lefebvre (1834-1912) and Louis Adolphe Dechenaud
(1868-1926). It was Dechenaud, a highly respected portrait
painter, noted for his rich sense of color, which urged Pushman
to absolute self-expression, by drawing on the entire gamut
of his oriental heritage. Pushman began exhibiting at the
Salon des Artist Francais in Paris, where he was awarded the
Bronze Medal at the Paris Salon in 1914.
The first important exhibition of Pushman's works was held
at the Milwaukee Art Institute in 1915, followed by an exhibition
at the Art Institute of Chicago in 1916.
In 1916, just prior to Pushman's return to Paris, he moved
to Riverside California. He and his wife lived at the Mission
Inn in Riverside from 1916 to 1919. While in California, he
accepted a few rare portrait commissions. One of which still
hangs at the Mission Inn to this day. In 1918, Pushman and
a group of California painters founded the Laguna Beach Art
Association.
Pushman's portraits and figure pieces continued to impress
the public and critics alike. Critic Evelyn Marie Stuart,
in the Fine Art Journal exemplifies words of praise for the
quality of Pushman's work, and especially his color. Her article
was entitled "Dawn of a Colorist." Following this successful
exhibition, Pushman returned to Paris where he maintained
a studio throughout his life, continuing to exhibit at the
Salon des Artistes Francais and winning a Gold Medal at the
Exhibition in 1921.
After several years in Paris, Pushman returned again to the
United States. This time he settled in New York City, and
at the urging of Erwin S. Barrie, Director of Grand Central
Art Galleries, joined the Galleries as an Artist Member. The
1932 exhibition of Pushman's paintings and prints created
a sensation at Grand Central Art Galleries. All of the 16
paintings were sold out the opening day of the exhibition.
Critical acclaim and public approval followed the unprecedented
phenomenon. A commentary in an international art magazine,
stated:
"At his [Hovsep Pushman] recent exhibition in New York such
was the eagerness to secure examples of his work that every
single picture was sold on the opening day. One canvas was
purchased for a very high sum by the Metropolitan Museum of
Art of New York, and cash paid down on the nail. One of the
very few occasions when such a thing has taken place . . .
from what we have seen of his work, the surprising element
is that painting of such sound workmanship and excellent quality
should have met with immediate and unequivocal success. It
may be that the spiritual intention behind the actual painting
appealed very strongly to an American public (these pictures
are allegories with a mystic significance)."
Exhibition followed exhibition, with circuit tours and invitations
to all the major cities of the United States. This continuous
activity created a broad interest in his work throughout the
country among museums and collectors. It also resulted in
an interesting turn of events in 1940 involving the purchase
of his painting "When Autumn is Here", by the University of
Illinois; a work which was subsequently reproduced as a print
by The New York Graphic Society through an arrangement with
the University of Illinois with out the artist's permission.
This controversial dispute over an artist's copyright would
eventually (after Pushman's death) be ruled in favor of the
artist which helped create laws (Pushman's Law) to protect
artists in the future from copyright infringement.
From 1934 to 1966, Frost & Reed, Ltd. of Bristol and
London became the sole publisher of Pushman's work. Pushman
authorized them to reproduce a series of twenty-nine paintings.
Prior to printing, he would personally supervise each edition
to insure that they met his high standard for quality and
color. The oeuvre of oriental still life paintings and prints
by Hovsep Pushman is a major contribution to the history of
American art and represent an equally significant achievement
in the history of the still life genre.
Unfortunately, many details of Pushman's life are unavailable
and are closely guarded by the Pushman family. As a result,
his oeuvre is relegated to a minor footnote in the most important
and comprehensive book on the history of American still life
painting: "American Still Life Painting" by William H. Gerdts
and Russell Burke, Prager Publishers, 1971.
There is, however, a forgotten document that the staff of
The Illuminator rescued from obscurity, which describes Pushman's
contribution to American art:
"Hovsep Pushman, an American artist of Armenian birth, is
an excellent craftsman and he finds in objects of the East
models of form and color which he paints with rare fidelity.
No American painter has equaled him in the skill and beauty
with which he portrays these striking types,"
"Immigrant Gifts To American Life", The Illuminator, Allen
E. Eaton, New York, Russell Sage Foundation, 1932.
Pushman continued to paint in his studio in the Carnegie
Hall Building until just a few months prior to his death in
1966.
Sources:
Grand Central Galleries "The Illuminator," Winter Edition,
1978/1979
"Fine Arts Journal," September 1919
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