Description
Portuguese / English bilingual edition. An Explanation of Prodigies: Onik’s biographical note; Dali and Onik; 1950-2004 paint selection; jewels and finally dancing. Onik Sahakian was born on December 4, 1936, in Tehran, at the time it was the capital of the Persian Empire. Still very young, received a scholarship to attend the Persian Miniature Painting Course in the famous Honarestan Zibaé Keshwar (Tehran Institute of Fine Arts). In 1956 he went to the United States and joined Chouniard Art School in Los Angeles, California, where he completed his master’s degree in 1964, he developed his knowledge of the techniques of classical painters, being initially influenced by the French school, then by the Italian school and, in a third phase, by French Impressionists. He was an advisor to Empress Farah Diba, in the sphere of the Niavaran Cultural Centre. He met Salvador Dalí in 1958 and this friendship would last until the end of the life of the Spanish painter, inevitably also attracted by a certain worldview, shaped by the irresistible appeal of Dali’s surrealism. In 1987, Onik moved to Lisbon and, finally, made his first exhibition in Portugal, where his multifaceted talent offered painting and jewellery – some of the jewels Gala wore were his own – sculpture, scenography and costumes for ballet.
