S.H.

Sam Tchakalian

Bay Area artist Sam Tchakalian created a series of large, black and white Abstract Expressionist lithographs in the early 1960s, an evolutionary period between earning his MFA and beginning a full time teaching career at the San Francisco Art Institute. This allowed the artist, known primarily for his large paintings, to explore and develop his printmaking style.

Like his paintings, the size of the matrix informed the raw physicality of his application of color, and in the nearly 3 foot high "S.H." we witness this in full: the more space Tchakalian is given, the more movement his hand, arm, and torso are given to communicate his vision and an ''automatic" composition onto the blank field. The final product is a dance as much as it is a litho crayon on stone.

Sam Tchakalian, painter, printmaker, and teacher, was born in Shanghai, China in 1929. His father was one of three Armenian brothers who ran a chain of French-style bakeries in Shanghai. After the death of his mother, he and his brothers were raised by their Chinese stepmother. His family relocated to California in 1947 and Tchakalian enrolled at San Francisco State College where he earned his bachelor’s degree in psychology in 1952.

During the Korean War, Tchakalian served as an intelligence officer in the United States Army between 1952 and 1954. After his discharge, he used his G.I. benefits to return to San Francisco State College where he studied paintings and art education. He set up his live/work studio on Duboce Street in San Francisco in 1957 and received his master’s degree in 1958.

Tchakalian began teaching in the late 1950s and he held a variety of teaching jobs. He was a guest lecturer in painting at the California College of Arts and Crafts in 1962-1963, and he taught painting at the College of San Mateo in 1964. He joined the faculty of the San Francisco Art Institute in 1966 and taught there for thirty-five years. Scott Greene, a former student, described Tchakalian: “He was a force of nature, or a cannonball barreling down the halls, and always with an entourage following him everywhere.”

Painter/printmaker Squeak Carnwath commented: "Sam Tchakalian was a painter whose work....has an authenticity which is so lacking nowadays...Sam’s paintings were aggressive and gentle simultaneously...He was a beloved teacher. He could be harsh during critiques, but people learned a lot and loved it. He was in there duking it out.”