GREGORIO SCILTIAN (1900-1985) Portrait of Sege Lifar

signed, inscribed and dated 'G.Sciltian 21/VIII 59' (lower right) charcoal on paper 42 x 30 cm ((à vue) Executed in 1959 Gregorio Sciltian was an Italian-Armenian painter. He was born into an Armenian family in Nakhichevan, now part of Rostov-on-Don, Russia, in 1900. He studied fine arts in Moscow before leaving his homeland in 1919 following the October Revolution. He temporarily settled in Tiflis and later studied at the Academy and the Museum of Fine Arts in Vienna. In 1923, he settled in Rome, where he met various intellectuals and important painters such as Carlo Carrà, Filippo de Pisis, Antonio Donghi, Giuseppe Capogrossi, and Giorgio de Chirico. Sciltian participated in the Biennale of Rome in 1925 and the Biennale of Venice in 1926. He later lived in Paris and Milan. International success came in 1928 with his participation in the Exposition de l'Art Russe at the Palais des Beaux-Arts in Brussels. In 1933, he returned to Italy and settled in Milan. Sciltian died in 1985 in Rome.