Panos Terlemezian

1865 | Yerevan, Armenia

Panos Terlemezian was born in Aygestan, located in the vicinity of the city of Van, Western Armenia, Ottoman Empire, in 1865. His father was a farmer. He received primary education in Van Central college (1881–1886) that he graduated with honours and was employed as a teacher. When a student he entered a youth group fighting against sultan’s government, because of it he had been subjected to the persecution all lifelong. His role in liberation movement that had been carried in Western Armenia is important.
He continued education and majored in fine arts. He finished an art society school in Saint-Petersburg (1895—1897), then in 1899-1904 he studied at Académie Julian, a private art school in Paris.
Terlemezian also befriended, painted, and roomed with Komitas Vardapet during Komitas’s years in the Ottoman Empire.
In 1909, Panos Terlemezian was elected as a mayor of Van. In 1915 he had been elected a so-called “member of temporary military government”, having direct participation in Van battles for self-defence and became one of the leaders of Van Resistance.
After the Armenian Genocide he lived in France, Italy, Spain, and USA. In 1928, after the Sovetization of Armenia, he moved to Yerevan, where he lived until his death in 1941. Influenced by impressionism, he became the author of industrial pictures (1929–31, National Gallery of Armenia).
The contribution of Panos Terlemezyan in Armenian fine arts is invaluable. He was rated highly and the art works of Panos Terlemezyan were appreciated in Armenia, the arts school established in Yerevan in 1921, was named after him in 1941.