Garig Basmadjian

Garig Basmadjian was a Jerusalem-born Armenian art collector, gallerist, poet and translator in Paris who disappeared in Moscow in 1989.

1947 to 1989The Gorky gallery in ParisShowing contemporary Soviet art in EuropeHis 1989 disappearance in Moscow

Born: 20 December 1947, Jerusalem
Occupation: poet, gallerist, translator, collecting

Garig Basmadjian was born in 1947 in Jerusalem

Garig Basmadjian was born on December 20, 1947 in the Armenian quarter of Jerusalem. He studied philology at Yerevan State University.

In 1972 he married a French woman of Armenian origin he had met in Yerevan, and the couple moved to Paris. He wrote poems and translated poetry between Armenian, English, Russian and European languages. A collection of his poems was published in the USSR.

In 1978 he held his first exhibition of Armenian painters and opened Galerie Basmadjian in Montparnasse, showing contemporary Soviet painting. In 1981 he opened the Gorky gallery of Russian art on Boulevard Raspail, named after the artist Arshile Gorky. He worked with the Soviet Ministry of Culture, lent works to the Hermitage and the Tretyakov Gallery and donated some items to museums.

On July 29, 1989 he left the Rossiya Hotel in Moscow with an unknown companion and disappeared. It is presumed he was abducted and murdered. Investigations by Soviet and French authorities did not solve the case.

Milestones in Garig Basmadjian's life

1947
Born in the Armenian quarter of Jerusalem.
1972
Married and moved to Paris.
1978
Opened Galerie Basmadjian in Montparnasse.
1981
Opened the Gorky gallery of Russian art in Paris.
1988
Agreed with the Soviet Ministry of Culture on exhibitions of his paintings.
1989
Disappeared in Moscow.