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More than 100 paintings and sketches by Edmund Yaghjian, the first chair of the Department of Art at USC, are on display at the South Carolina State Museum through Sept. 16.
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| Self portrait, 1931 |
The exhibit, Edmund Yaghjian, A Retrospective, highlights the work and career of one of the most important South Carolina artists of the 20th century.
A native of Armenia, Yaghjian immigrated to the U.S. in 1907. In 1945 he moved from New York City to South Carolina where he taught art at USC for more than 21 years. His work in the exhibit provides glimpses of familiar scenes of New York and South Carolina, including the State Fair in Columbia.
At USC, Yaghjian was instrumental, with teachers Augusta Witkowsky and Catherine Rembert, in bringing a level of professionalism to the department and encouraging the development of the arts in the community and across the region. As in New York, he fell in love with the real life scenes of Columbia, and was drawn to depictions of everyday, vernacular life in his paintings.
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| Orange Sky on Park Street, circa 1970 |
Throughout his career, Yaghjian painted his surroundings, but his style continually shifted, from realism to stylized abstraction. The exhibition at the State Museum represents work from throughout his career, focusing on his paintings from the 1930s through the 1970s of New York City; Ossining, N.Y.; Columbia, Mo.; Columbia, S.C.; and Wallingford, Vt.
The museum is open Tuesday through Saturday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., Sunday from 1 to 5 p.m., and Mondays Memorial Day through Labor Day (May 28 through Sept. 3). Admission is $5 for adults 13-61; $4 for seniors 62 and over; and $3 for children 3-12.
For more information, call 898-4902 or 898-4952, or go to www.museum.state.sc.us.
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