Marie Balian

rdf:langString Marie Balian

rdf:langString Marie Balian

rdf:langString Marie Balian

rdf:langString Marseille

rdf:langString Marie Balian, née Alexanian, (January 25, 1925 in Marseille, France – September 13, 2017 in East Jerusalem) was an Armenian artist and ceramic painter, especially known for her distinct and impressive ceramic tile murals. Her family originally came from the small Turkish town Kutahya. They fled Turkey on foot to Greece in 1917. From there, they took ship for France. Marie grew up in Lyon, France. As a six-year-old girl she began drawing and at ten she was doing portraits. She studied at the École nationale supérieure des Beaux-Arts in Lyon but had to drop out for financial reasons. In 1953 she met her distant cousin Setrak on his way to study ceramic technology with Ray Finch and Bernard Leach in England. They married in 1954 in Betlehem. Her contribution to Middle Eastern art was to introduce more Armenian elements, such as trees, animals and birds in a primitive style and elevate the craft to fine art and therewith brought her own cachet. She added movement to what had traditionally been static compositions and reminded us of the glorious beauty of nature. Suddenly, gazelles were prancing, peacocks were preening, garlands were flowing. The concept known as the Gardens and Views of Paradise of Marie Balian developed. She referred to 13th century after Christ when Persian artists were favoring garden scenes for their painted ceramic tiles. Symmetry gave way to dynamic asymmetry. At a later age she herself becomes aware she is a link in an ancient chain, and that she has played a crucial role in rescuing one branch of a centuries-old tradition from oblivion. "It's very easy for me. It's as if I had already done this in an earlier age, like the fourth, fifth or sixth century." She became the master painter of the Balian atelier in East-Jerusalem, the Palestinian Pottery and a renowned artist. In the introduction of the documentary "The Glimps of Paradise" about her life and art and worldwide recognition Marie is described as one of the icons of the Jerusalem art world. The book "Birds of Paradise" further documents her fine art. Modern media like Google Images and Pinterest show a variety of her work.