Hovhannes (Jean) Alhazian was born in Van, now in Turkey, in 1881.

He graduated from the Tiflis School of Fine Arts under the guidance of Harutyun Shamshinian (1856–1914). From 1903 to 1908, he completed his studies in Paris at the Ecole Nationale des Beaux-Arts [National School of Fine Arts] in the class of Fernand-Anne Piestre known as Fernand Cormon (1845–1924).

His first submission to the Salon d’Automne [Autumn Exhibition] in 1907 was a “Moonlight Effect.”

He then travelled around Finland, Holland and Spain. He exhibited two Finnish landscapes at the same Salon d’Automne in 1911.

From 1912, he regularly featured in the “Société Nationale des Beaux-Arts” and became an associate member in 1929.

He was also a member of the Union des Artistes Libres [Union of Free Artists] and joined the “Ani Group” formed in Paris in 1926 bringing together Armenian painters from the Diaspora. He took part in the Salon des Indépendants [Exhibition of Independent Artists] in 1929 presenting landscapes of Provence. He held a series of solo exhibitions in the “Allard” and “Saint-Augustin” galleries in Paris.

After his death in 1958, the Union Culturelle des Arméniens de France [Cultural Union of the Armenians of France] and his family donated some 200 works to the National Gallery of Armenia, some of which are on permanent display.

He excelled in the art of light and shade, the transformation of nature scenes throughout the seasons, from the springtime landscapes to the Provençal foliage through to the snowy plains under the low Finnish sun. The strong colours he uses are lit up by the contrast created by the light.

There are few figures in his paintings but one always has the impression that they could appear at any moment in the landscape.

Frédéric Fringhian