An American Surrealist – Master Painter & Printmaker

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Born in Chelsea, Massachusetts in 1929, Martin Barooshian has lived and studied all over the world: New York, Paris, the Middle East, and India, to name a few. 

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Since the early 1950s, Barooshian has been fascinated by fantastic art and surrealism. He cites the work of Miró, Matta, Dali, and in particular Arshile Gorky, as contributing to the development of his mature style.  Barooshian shares with them an artistic commitment to exploring the subconscious. Imagination, fantasy, and freedom of thought are paramount.  And at a time when his  aesthetic philosophy was emerging and taking shape, his technical skills as a graphic artist received new impetus.

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In Paris, in 1956, he studied intaglio printmaking with Stanley W. Hayter at Atelier 17.  This experience was profoundly important for Barooshian and for many other artists, including Picasso, who came to know and work with this important innovator and teacher.

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Mystery, humor, romance, eroticism, lyricism, line, color and the subconscious mind are all part of the artistic concerns of Martin Barooshian. He is a technician and a thinker. He acknowledges the work of others and yet has innumerable ideas of his own to contend with and make visible. His art is not voguish or predictable.  His art invites us and encourages a contemplative spirit as we peer more closely and carefully.  In the graphic arts as well as in oils, Martin Barooshian delights in the known and the unknown, and he explores both worlds with inspired technical finesse.

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Barooshian’s prints — lithographs, etching and woodcuts are notable for their artistic qualities as well as the care and expertise he brings to them as a master technician printmaker.    Barooshian’s work is in some of the most prestigious museums in the world, including the Museum of Modern Art and the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, the Library of Congress, Currier Gallery of Art,  and the International Gallery of Art, New Delhi, India, as well as in numerous private collections. 

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Barooshian, with degrees from the Boston Museum School of Fine Arts and Tufts University, a graduate degree from Boston University and further training in Europe (Paris mainly), has won numerous fellowships and awards.    He has served as the President of the Society of American Graphic Artists, Vice President of the U .S., Committee to the International Association of Art (UNESCO), guest curator at Pratt Graphics Center in New York, and is a frequent juror for national and international art competitions.

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Master Printer • Master Painter • Teacher • Innovator

 

Over 50 years of intense creativity and technical finesse have lead down a path of mystery, humor, eroticism, lyricism, line, and color, and into the depths of the subconscious mind.  The work invites you to acquire a contemplative spirit and peer into an unpredictable world filled with life affirming surrealist fantasies and joyous abstract design.  His works are the permanent collections of numerous leading international museums.

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Personal
Born in Chelsea, MA in 1929, MB has lived and studied all over the world: New York, Paris, 
the Middle East, and India, to name a few.

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Academic
School of the Boston Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, MA
Undergraduate Majors in Painting and Graphic Arts, High Honors
Graduate study in Graphic Arts, High Honors
Tufts University, Somerville, MA • BS in Education
Boston University, Boston, MA • MA in Fine Arts History
New England School of Art
Atelier Gaston Dorfinant and Atelier Jean Pons, Paris, France (for lithography)
Atelier 17 with S.W. Hayter, Paris, France (for etching and engraving)
Study With Indian Artisans through the US IA and the New York State Department of Education travel grant

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Professional Summary
• Taught at the university and high school level for over 30 years at such institutions as the School
   of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston and the Pratt Institute in NYC.
• Internationally recognized expert in printmaking techniques, American and European Prints
• Swann Gallery Auctioneers’ works on paper expert, authenticator, and appraiser for 10 years
• Lectures and provides demonstrations nationally for professional and community associations
• Listed in Who’s Who in American Art; Allgemeines Kunstler-Lexicon; Library of Congress Catalog 
   of Prints;  Print Reference Sources: A Selected Bibliography: 18th-20th c.
• Society of American Graphic Artists (SAGA); Print Club of Albany; Boston Printmakers

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Shows and Collections

 

Individual Exhibition Highlights

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Childs Gallery, Massahusetts                     Montreal Museum of Fine Art, Canada
Honolulu Academy of Art, Hawaii             Boston City Hall, Main Gallery
Currier Gallery of Art, New Hampshire    University of New Hampshire
Art Wood Gallery, Massachusetts             South Bend Art Center, Indiana
Atelier 7, California                                      The Print Club, Pennsylvania
Gropper Gallery, Massachusetts               Attelboro Museum, Massachusetts
AGBU Galleries (3 shows MA, NY, NJ)       Art Complex Museum, Massachusetts
Belian Art Center, Michigan                       Firehouse Gallery, New York

National and International Collective Exhibition Highlights, All Invitational or Juried
Society of American Graphic Artists, New York
Currier Gallery Traveling Print Show, New England
DeCordova Museum, Lincoln, MA  
International Biennial of Contemporary Color Lithography, Cincinnati Art Museum
Boston Printmakers Traveling Exhibitions
Museum of Modern Art, New York City, NY (And Associated Traveling Exhibitions   US and Europe)
National Academy of Design, NYC
Library of Congress Print Biennial
American Color Print Society, Traveling Exhibition
The Print Club, Philadelphia, PA
International Print Exhibit, Council for Cultural Planning & Development, Rep. of China
U.S. Embassies in Paris, Warsaw, Mexico City
International Asian Invitational to Japan, China, Korea, and Taiwan
Young American Printmakers, Traveling Show, MoMA, NYC -- Europe and Latin America
Traveling Art Guild, exhibition sites throughout North America
Contemporary Miniature Prints Traveling Exhibition, throughout NA
Art Gallery of Ontario Traveling  Exhibition, throughout Canada
Monotypes” and “International Miniatures,” Pratt Graphics Center, NYC
USA Graphics Invitational to “6th All-India, International Graphics”, New Delhi
East/West Print Exchange Traveling Exhibition
The Presidents Show, Traveling Exhibition (Spectrum Fine Art, NY and Philadelphia College of Art)
Fogg Museum, Harvard University
Carnegie Center Art Gallery, WA

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Award Highlights

Full Tuition Scholarship, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
First Prize in Graphics, Boit Family Summer Competition, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
Albert H. Whitin Traveling Fellowship, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
Master Teacher Grant, New York State Education Department
Purchase Prize, American Library of Congress
Currier Gallery, Purchase Prize
National Academy of Design, Print Prize
Modern Art Interior Show, Special Mention

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Selected Permanent Collections

Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
Museum of Modern Art, New York
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
National Gallery of the Arts, Washington, DC
Library of Congress, Washington, DC
New York Public Library, New York
Boston Public Library, Boston
Lincoln Center Museum of the Performing Arts, NY
Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, Canada
National Gallery of Modern Art, New Delhi, India

Museum of Modern Art, Yerevan, Armenia 
    (Was only Modern Art Museum in USSR)
Rosenwald Private Collection
Currier Gallery of Art, New Hampshire
Art Complex Museum, MA – Weyerhaeuser Family Collection
Georgetown University, Washington, DC
Notre Dame University, Indiana
IMB Corporate Collection
Xerox Corporate Collection
PriceWaterhouseCoopers Collection