Jean Varda (1893 - 1971)

Cityscape (Untitled), c. 1950s, mixed media on board, signed lower left, 13 1/2 x 18 inches, presented in its original frame

$7,500

Jean (Yanko) Varda was a Greek-born multi-media artist who spent much of his life in California where he was characterized “as the last Bohemian.” From the late 1940s through his death in 1971, Varda was best known for using textiles, papers, photographs, and paint to create wonderfully imaginative assemblages and collages. Varda’s mature work shows the influence of Cubism, Dada and Surrealism. The present work is a prime example of Varda’s unique vision which often consisted of brightly colored abstract views of fantastical cities with flying banners and exotic landscapes.  

Varda’s mother, a muralist from Smyrna, Greece, was his first art instructor. After having several other instructors in Alexandria who taught Varda Renaissance painting techniques, he moved to Paris where he was exposed to various forms of modernism which caused the young artist to abandon academic painting. He studied at the Ecole de Beaux Art, shared a studio with Braque, met Matisse and Picasso. By 1914, Varda moved to London. He continued painting in addition to dancing with several ballet companies in England before returning to Paris around 1922. During the 1920s and 1930s, he traveled and showed his art extensively in Europe.

In 1939, Varda moved to the United States, first to New York and then to California, where he began to seriously explore assemblage and collage. Varda lived in Big Sur and Monterey before moving to Sausalito in 1949 where he built a home and studio with Gordon Onslow-Ford on the decommissioned ferryboat, Vallejo. Through the 1950s until his death in 1971, Varda exhibited his collages and assemblages in dozens of solo and group exhibitions across the United States, France and England. Always the showman, Varda also appeared in several television programs, including the $64,000 Question and news and documentary programs in San Francisco.

Varda taught art at university level, including at Black Mountain College, NC, Pratt Institute, NY, and the California School of Fine Art in San Francisco. In the United States, he exhibited at Neumann Willard Gallery, NY, Courvoisier Galleries, CA, "Art in Action" Pavilion at the Golden Gate International Exposition, CA, Walker Art Center, M.H. de Young Memorial Museum, Brand Library Art Gallery, CA, the Oakland Museum, CA, San Francisco Museum of Fine Art, UCLA, among others. His works are in the permanent collections of the Smithsonian American Art Museum, the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art and many others. He is listed in Who Was Who in American Art and all other standard references.