The Artine & Teddy Artinian Self-Portrait Collection: Selections from the Permanent Collection

This exhibition features a selection of work from one of the newest acquisitions to the collection. The Artine & Teddy Artinian Self-Portrait Collection is a major collection of well over two hundred and fifty paintings, drawings, and mixed media work, which was originally gifted to the Appalachian Cultural Museum. The Turchin Center holds the Music In Art Collection, a major gift from Artine & Teddy Artinian in 2000, with over 155 works on paper.

"Assembling these Carolina self-portrait[s] has been a...labor of love, a heart-warming adventure lubricated by strong doses of persuasion and persistence, not to speak of occasional wile...For in every case these [self portraits] are more than portraits. They represent...personal relations with intensely interesting, colorful, and at times enigmatic personalities."

"Some [artists] responded to the challenge with alacrity, while others seemed to face the same challenge hesitantly, almost reluctantly, as if afraid to expose their private selves to public scrutiny. The image reflected in the mirror is at times serious, at times disarmingly whimsical, as if soliciting the viewer's sympathy."

"But however dissimilar these portraits may be in mood, form, and content, the message is unmistakable: the artist looking at himself in the mirror, seriously or playfully, invites our interest and sympathy to that most fascinating of all subject, himself."

- Excerpts from A Word From the Collector
(From the 1983 exhibition brochure) 

Featured Artists

About the Collector

Artine Artinian, Ph.D. (1907-2005), was a Professor Emeritus of French Literature at Bard College. After his retirement in 1964 he devoted much of his time to collecting interests related to French letters. Several of his collections have been shown widely in the U.S. as well as in France, Mexico, and New Zealand. His publications included eight books, five on Guy de Maupassant, and this scholarly activity brought many honors, including a decoration from France (Officier d'Academic) and an honorary Doctor of Letters from Bowdoin College. He lived eight months of every year in Palm Beach, FL and the rest in Boone, NC, with his wife "Teddy."

View our Flickr Site to view images of this exhibition.