Krikor H. (K. H.) Zambaccian

K. H. Zambaccian was a Romanian entrepreneur of Armenian origin, who became one of the most prominent and knowledgeable art patrons in Bucharest during the first half of the twentieth century. He amassed an impressive collection of Romanian and French art, which he eventually bequeathed to the Romanian state.

In 1907, Zambaccian was sent by his father, who worked in the textile trade, to complete his studies at the Institut supérieur de commerce in Antwerp, Belgium. Zambaccian became fascinated by Flemish art, especially the work of Peter Paul Rubens, sometimes neglecting his classes to spend time at the Royal Museum of Fine Arts. It was during one of these visits that he encountered an impressionist painting for the first time and had, as he described it, “the revelation of modern art.” On his return to Romania, Zambaccian continued to be involved in the family business but devoted the rest of his time to learning about art and frequenting artistic circles. In 1923, he moved to Bucharest. This marked the beginning of his most prolific collecting period. In Romania, he purchased works from auctions, dealers, and fellow collectors. He also bought works directly from artists during studio visits or exhibitions, sometimes offering money in advance to support young artists in whom he saw potential. He was well known for the extravagant amount of money he was willing to spend, paying the equivalent cost of an apartment in 1927 for the painting Winter in Barbizon (1881) by Ion Andreescu. Zambaccian collected the works of many prominent figures of nineteenth- and twentieth-century Romanian modern art, though eschewing the local Bucharest interwar avant-garde. His collection contained numerous pieces by Nicolae Grigorescu, Iosif Iser, Ștefan Luchian, Theodor Pallady, Gheorghe Petrașcu, Camil Ressu, and Nicolae Tonitza. Zambaccian also collected a small number of sculptures, among them an early bronze by Constantin Brancusi entitled Head of a Child(ca. 1906).

Zambaccian frequently traveled to France to indulge his love of French art and to purchase works for his collection. These included the paintings Odalisque (1825) by Eugène Delacroix, Nude in the Studio (1899) by Henri Matisse, Bridge on the Seine (1877) by Alfred Sisley, Two Bathers (1896) by Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Head of a Girl (1892) by Camille Pissarro, Nude (ca. 1920–25) by André Derain, View of Montmagny (ca. 1908–20) by Maurice Utrillo, and The Bullfight (ca. 1889–1901) by Pablo Picasso. Zambaccian encountered many artists personally, visiting the studios of Matisse, Bonnard, Derain, Albert Marquet, and Raoul Dufy, among others. In 1933, he first met Matisse in Nice, where the painter was working on the panels destined for the collection of Albert C. Barnes, and returned for other studio visits with Matisse throughout the years. In 1931, Zambaccian made the acquaintance of French painter Raoul Dufy, purchasing several works from him: a watercolor of horse racing at the Ascot Racecourse, a gouache study of the artist’s studio, and a large ink drawing of a nude. During one trip in the 1920s, Zambaccian visited the French dealer Ambroise Vollard at his house on rue Martignac 28. According to Zambaccian’s memoirs, they discussed French art and its perception in Romania, and the collector purchased several illustrated books, including Balzac’s Le Chef d’oeuvre inconnu (1931), which included illustrations by Picasso. Zambaccian had hoped to purchase an artwork by Cézanne from Vollard, but could not afford the ones on offer. He did eventually realize his dream, purchasing Portrait de fillette (ca. 1896) from Vollard probably in the early 1930s.

Zambaccian was often asked to lend works to international exhibitions during this period, and Portrait de fillette was shown in a 1936 Cézanne retrospective at the Kunsthalle Basel. He frequently lent works by Romanian artists to exhibitions abroad, such as the Exhibition of Romanian Art in Belgium and the Netherlands in 1930, and the Romanian pavilion at the 1937 Paris International Exposition. Zambaccian also presented his collection of French works to the public in an exhibition titled Expoziția de artă franceză modernă (The Exhibition of French Modern Art) organized in Bucharest at Sala Dalles in 1935. He established a reputation not just as a collector but also as an authority on modern art, publishing articles in Romanian and French cultural publications such as Rampa and Les Arts à Paris, the latter following an invitation from the French art collector and dealer Paul Guillaume. In the 1940s and 1950s, he also published several monographs on Romanian artists.

Zambaccian’s ultimate goal was to turn his collection into a museum. During the interwar period, he displayed his artworks at his house on Str. Vasile Lascăr 48. By 1933, Zambaccian’s collection was large and prestigious enough that he could offer the Bucharest city authorities more than one hundred art pieces to create a modern art museum bearing his name in a purpose-made building. The two parties did not come to an agreement, and Zambaccian eventually commissioned the architect C. D. Galin to build him a new home on Str. Ing. Al. Davidescu 21 to accommodate his growing collection. This was completed in 1943, and Zambaccian began to hold weekly visiting days for the public to view his collection. His desire to create a museum eventually came to fruition a few years later, though in rather different circumstances than he might have expected. Under the Communist regime of post–World War II Romania, private property was nationalized. Zambaccian leveraged his collection and his knowledge of art to negotiate with the regime. In March 1947, he donated 310 works (205 paintings and graphic art items, 38 sculptures, and 8 pieces of furniture) to the Romanian state and requested that he and his family continue to live in the building and that the full collection would also remain there, ensuring its integrity. The building was further expanded in 1957, when Zambaccian also made a second donation. After Zambaccian’s death in 1962, the rest of the collection became state property, including the French artworks (among them nineteen paintings), which had not appealed to the earlier Communist authorities.

As Zambaccian desired, his collection remained in situ at the Spanish-style villa created by Galin (except from 1978 to 1996, when it was moved to the Museum of Art Collections, Bucharest) and can still be visited today. It is now one of the satellite institutions of the Romanian National Art Museum.