Sirak Melkonian

Sirak Melkonian (15 October 1930 – 17 August 2024; Persian: سیراک ملکنیان, Armenian: Սիրակ Մելքոնյան) was an Iranian-Armenian painter and one of the pioneers of modern art in Iran.

Biography Melkonian was born on 15 October 1930 in Tehran. Due to his father's occupation, the family moved to Arak and later returned to Tehran again. At the age of 12, with his father's support, Melkonian began learning oil painting under the tutelage of an Assyrian painter named Alex Gevargiz.

During his teenage years, during high school years, Melkonian became a member of the Progressive Armenian Cultural Association, where he pursued painting seriously for over a decade alongside other Armenian artists. He met Marcos Grigorian, through whom he was introduced to modern European and Western art. Melkonian's early works exhibited a figurative and expressionist approach. In 1957, he won the Contemporary Iranian Artists Award from the Iran-America Society, and in 1958, he received the Royal Prize at the Tehran Biennial. and shortly thereafter, his works were exhibited at the Paris Biennale.

Over the years, Melkonian participated in numerous solo and group exhibitions both in Iran and internationally. In the years before the Iranian Revolution, during the 1970s, he won first place at the Tehran International Art Exhibition. His works were showcased in the third edition of the Independent Artists Group exhibition in 1975, at the WashArt 77 Art Fair, and the FIAC 77 Art Fair.

From 1972 to 1975, Melkonian, in addition to his professional activities as a painter and artist, also privately taught painting in Tehran. In 1981, he emigrated to Greece and about a year later moved to Canada, where he continued to live and work in Toronto.

Melkonian died on Saturday, 17 August 2024, at the age of 93 in Toronto.

Style Melkonian was one of the pioneers of figurative art in the 1950s (1330s in the Iranian calendar). Alongside a group of artists centered around Marcos Grigorian, he played a key role in shifting figurative painting in Iran—originally influenced by Impressionism—towards Expressionism. This group sought not only to transform the form and structure of painting but also to move beyond a romantic engagement with tradition and its mere depiction. Their critical and inquisitive perspective aimed at discovering their cultural roots within the surrounding society while confronting the modern world. Esthetic Gallery, Tehran, May 1957 Esthetic Gallery, Tehran, November 1957, Introducing Linocut Prints for the 1st time in Iran Iran-India Culture Relation Society, Tehran, 1962 Zervan Gallery, Tehran, 1973 Odermatt Gallery, Paris, France, 1976 Zand Gallery, Tehran, 1978 Athens, Greece, 1981 Arshile Gorky Gallery, New York, 1983 PM Collection, Los Angeles, USA, 1986 Studio Café, Newport, USA, 1987 AMV Graphic Organization, Toronto, Canada, 1997 Bay Side Gallery, USA, 2000 Gorky Gallery, Toronto, Canada, 2004 Mah Art Gallery, Tehran, 2006 Retrospective: "Seven Decades of Sirak Melkonian's Paintings," Aria Gallery, Tehran, 2015 Retrospective: "Seven Decades of Sirak Melkonian's Paintings," Ab Anbar Gallery, Tehran, 2015 "An Odyssey from Sand to Snow", Sahar K Boluki Fine Art Gallery, Toronto, 2023

Group shows Melkonian has been part of exhibitions, amongst other: "Epic Iran," Victoria and Albert Museum, London, England, 2020 "5 Titans of Modern Iranian Art," Sahar Balooki Gallery, Toronto, Canada, 2022 "Several Seasons: Fereydoun Ave and La'l Collection," Art Jameel, Dubai, 2023

Works in collections

Tehran Museum of Contemporary Art Sa'dabad Palace Niavaran Palace Sepah Bank Collection Victoria & Albert Museum Los Angeles County Museum of Art