Néjad Melih Devrim (1923-1995), Turc de l’École de Paris, artiste lyrique du signifiant

Un artiste affranchi de l’École de Paris

Résumé

Born in Istanbul in 1923, Nejad Devrim came from a family of artists and intellectuals. After his education at the Academy of Fine Arts in Istanbul in Léopold-Lévy’s studio, the artist arrives in Paris in 1946 where he was introduced to Alice B. Toklas, Gertrude Stein’s life partner. Nejad Devrim’s first solo show in 1947 was a success, and French art critics soon considered him to be one of city’s most promising young artists. Devrim went on to be exhibited by some of the best galleries in Paris, where he was recognized by the critic Charles Estienne. In 1950, Devrim was exhibited by Sidney Janis, in partnership with Leo Castelli. It was their first confrontation between American and European artists in the United States. In “Young Painters in US & France”, Devrim was shown alongside de Kooning, Kline, Pollock, Rothko… In 1952, he created Salon d’Octobre to defend independence of artists. Between 1948 to 1962 he also participated in Salon de Mai, Réalités Nouvelles, École de Paris group shows at galerie Charpentier. Recognized today as an artist from the School of Paris, critics and art historians include Nejad in their dictionaries and opus works about independent and abstract art from this period. In his abstract paintings Nejad kept the Ottoman legacy alive and he succeeded in combining a singular synthesis between East and West. In his “discovery-trips” at the end of 1960s, mostly in the Middle East, Devrim wrote about his upheaval going face to face with landscape, nature and beauty themes that he tried to translate in his work. After relocating to Poland in 1968, he dies in this country in 1995.