GEORGES TERZIAN | La Petite Guitare
Oil on Panel
38 x 46 cms / 15 x 18 inches
Signed G Terzian (lower right)
La Petite Guitare by Georges Terzian is a distinguished example of late 20th-century post-Cubist painting. Combining geometric abstraction with the tradition of still life, Terzian constructs a dynamic composition of flattened planes and angular forms. The stylised guitar, juxtaposed with architectural and decorative motifs, reflects the artist’s rigorous formal discipline and his profound engagement with the legacy of Synthetic Cubism. The work’s chromatic intensity and compositional balance place it firmly within the canon of French modernist abstraction.
Joyful, rhythmic and intensely graphic, La Petite Guitare encapsulates the unmistakable visual language of Georges Terzian. Across its surface, musical instruments, patterned textures and angular planes harmonise in a richly orchestrated composition. The titular guitar, flattened and reassembled in fragments, is flanked by amphora-like vases and architectural forms outlined in confident black. Bold colours of turquoise, ochre, scarlet and green, lend the work a carnival energy, while subtle detailing, like the diamond-shaped motif and stylised scroll, nods to Terzian’s layered cultural inspirations.
Born in Marseille in 1939 to Armenian parents, Terzian was a polymath from the start, a trained artist, a shoemaker and a cabaret singer in 1960’s Paris. His formative years at the École des Beaux-Arts in Marseilles grounded him in classical technique, yet it was Cubism that would shape his mature voice. Terzian absorbed the legacies of Picasso, Braque and Léger, yet imbued them with personal lyricism and theatricality. His musical training resonates through every canvas: La Petite Guitare has the cadence and syncopation of a jazz improvisation, dynamic yet composed.
The artist’s enduring fascination with pattern, structure and sound is evident in the architectural order behind the seeming spontaneity of his forms. From his studio in Paris, Terzian has continued to create works that celebrate colour, movement and cross-cultural influence. This composition, modest in scale but bold in execution, is a vivid example of his distinctive post-Cubist style, at once referential and entirely his own.
