Sarkis Sarkisian
American, born Turkey, 1909 - 1977Portrait of Guy Palazolla, 1938
Not on view
Oil on canvas
Dimensions20 × 14 in. (50.8 × 35.6 cm)
Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Harold L. Frank, 1977.27
In this painting, Sarkis Sarkisian depicts fellow artist Guy Palazolla (1919–1978). Born in Kalamazoo, Michigan, Palazolla grew up in Detroit, attending the Art School of the Society of Arts and Crafts (now College for Creative Studies), where Sarkisian was his teacher. Named Associate Dean in the School of Art at U of M in 1975, Palazzola carried on extensive television broadcasting which earned him an international reputation. His teaching and art received several awards over the years.
Sarkis Sarkisian was also a painter and teacher, who spent most of his career in Detroit. Sarkisian later said: “Detroit has give me everything. I was an immigrant kid, who came here at 13." He emigrated with his Armenian family from Smyma, Turkey, in 1922. Sarkisian studied at the Wicker School of Fine Arts and at the Art School of the Detroit Society of Arts and Crafts, where Sarkisian was hired as an assistant instructor of drawing and design in 1933. He became a full instructor in 1934, and was named Director in 1947.
