Bruno Zupan was born in 1939 in Slovenia. Once his studies in Zagreb, Croatia were completed in 1962 he emigrated to Paris where he enjoyed a thoroughly bohemian lifestyle with artists and students from many countries. He traveled to New York and Boston in 1964, and became an American citizen in 1969. He has been honored with over 200 exhibitions in museums and galleries in the United States, Europe, Japan and Kuwait, and has published 50 limited edition serigraphs and lithographs in Pa1s and Mallorca.
In 1976 he was awarded life membership in the Society of French Artists, and in 1981 and 1991 he received special commissions to create First Day Covers for the World Federation of United Nations Associations Philatelic Program. In 1993 the Vallardarez Foundation sponsored an exhibition of his work at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. The Columbus Museum of Art curated his first retrospective exhibition to coincide with his sixtieth birthday in 2000. To accompany this event two books were published. Bruno Zupan, One Artist presents a large selection of his work in oil and watercolor and at the same time describes his unique lifestyle and painting technique. Bruno Zupan, Graphic Work is a complete catalogue of his prints.
With tremendous personal pleasure Zupan accepted the invitation to commemorate the 200th anniversary of the birth of George Sand extended jointly by the Festival Chopin in Valldemossa, Mallorca and the Year of George Sand Committee in France. He prepared two widely acclaimed exhibitions for the Musee du ChJ.teau d'Ars in La ChJ.tre, France, and the Royal Carthusian Monastery of Valldemossa.
The Boston Museum of Fine Art invited Bruno, known for his grands bouquets romantfques, to exhibit his work at their annual Art in Bloom exhibition in 2015.
Bruno has frequently noted that Boston is the smartest city in the world and he knows that the Boston Public Library, alongwith over a hundred prestigious colleges and universities, has had a large hand in cultivating that honor. In 2019, at the occasion of the second retrospective of his work and his twentieth individual exhibition at the Galerie d'Orsay, the Boston Public Library acquired a large scale Zupan painting depicting the iconic Boston Common with Boylston Street leading to Copley Square. This was an exciting event at the Boston Public Library as they had not added to their collection in years. It is also an incredible honor for Bruno's painting to hang alongside such greats as Sargent, Rembrandt, Puvfs de Chavannes, Titian and numerous other masters.
His twenty exhibitions in New York inspired a great deal of critical comment since his style and subject matter were so determinedly out of sync with the times:
"Part of Zupan's appeal is his willingness to take the necessary risks in terms of putting the emotive element back into landscape painting. He possesses the stunning confidence to put aside historical timidity and confront nature directly, and he has the rare painterly ability to translate passionate responses to it into transcendent works of art. His rhapsodic brushwork and singular vision have garnered him a worldwide following among those who still seek beauty in the art of painting. Bruno Zupan is one of the last great romantics and for that alone his work is worth treasuring." Ed McCormack, ArtSpeak, New York.
Cover: Boston, An Evening in May, Oil on canvas, 39 x 39 inches.
Collections, Bruno Zupan
Public Collections
American Family Life Assurance Corporation
American Ballet Theater
Bank of America
The Carter Center, Atlanta, Georgia
Colquitt County Arts Center, Moultrie, Georgia
Columbus Bank and Trust Company
Columbus Museum of Art, Columbus, Georgia
Macon Museum of Art
Greenville County Museum of Art, Greenville, S.C.
Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.
Museo de Arte de la Cartuja, Valldemossa
Museo de Mallorca
Oklahoma City Museum of Art
Philatelic Museum, Palais des Nations, Geneva
Schlumberger Corporation
Synovus Financial Corp.
Total System Services
UN Headquarters, New York
Valladarez Foundation
Morris Museum, Augusta, Georgia
Musee du Chateau d'Ars, La Chatre, France
Maneuver Center of Excellence, Main Headquaarters Building, Ft. Benning Georgia
W.C. Bradley Museum, Columbus, GA.
Millennium Gate Museum, Atlanta, Georgia
Private Collections
S.A.R. Dona Pilar de Borbon
Tom Brokaw
Colleen Dewherst
Margot Fonteyn
Frederick Franklin
Jerry Hermann
Marion Javits
Erica Jong
Prince and Princess Michael of Kent
Bruno Magli
Natasha Makarova
HRH Princess Grace of Monaco
The Perl Collection
United States Senator Robert Corker
The Rockefeller Collection
Condes de Montrico
The Rothschild Collection
Sheikha Alia Mubarak Al Sabah
George C. Scott
Hedrick Smith
The Swarovski Family of Austria
Baron H. H. Thyssen-Bornemiza
Jacques Valenti
Terry Vanderbuilt
Li Xiannian, President of the People's Republic of China
Dr.Simon Suen, Hong Kong
Bruno sitting by our window in VenicePresents recent oils and mixed media paintings by
BRUNO ZUPAN & NATASHA ZUPAN
Saturday, April 27, 2024 from 6 to 8 PM
On view through the month of May, 2024
Galerie d’Orsay
33 Newbury Street, Boston, MA 02116
tel : 617 266 8001
www.galerie-dorsay.com
THE BOSTON PUBLIC LIBRARY
The permanent installation of Bruno’s exquisite “Public Garden at Twilight, Boston Skyline” in the main foyer at the Boston Public Library was a highlight for us all in 2019. Honored with a very prominent placement just inside the main working entrance on Boylston Street, the painting virtually straddles the Boston Marathon finish line a place of pride, emotion, and strength for so many visitors and locals alike. It was Bruno’s long-held dream to be in this collection alongside such greats as John Singer Sargent, Mary Cassatt, and Henri de Toulose-Lautrec. Bruno has frequently noted how Boston is the smartest city in the world, and he knows the Boston Public Library, along with our many prestigious colleges and universities, has a large hand in cultivating that honor.
MUSEUM OF FINE ARTS, BOSTON
The Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, honored Bruno Zupan in association with their Art in Bloom event, an annual celebration during which local floral artists create bouquets inspired by artworks in the permanent MFA collection. Bringing the bloom full circle, Bruno was tasked with choosing one of the bouquets as inspiration for his newest bouquet composition on canvas. Rendering his contribution on-site in the expansive new Shapiro Courtyard, Bruno selected the arrangement of Hokusai’s “The Wave.” In addition to relaying his vision through his painting on view, Bruno spoke beautifully at an exclusive members-only event in front of 600 patrons and collectors, sharing his inspiring story from war-torn Slovenia to meeting his American wife in Paris and his early beginnings at Boston College and beyond.
MILLENNIUM GATE MUSEUM
‘My Friend The Earth’
Bruno Zupan, Atlanta Tribune Interview, 2023
Many locales claim Bruno and Jane Zupan as their own — and for good reason — their unique, international lives bring them annually to Paris (France), Venice (Italy), Mallorca (Spain), and last but certainly not least to Columbus, Georgia (United States). This year, Atlanta’s Millennium Gate Museum honored Bruno Zupan with a large-scale exhibition of nearly sixty oil and watercolor paintings. Also hanging in the show were Zupan artworks on loan from former President Jimmy Carter’s The Carter Center, and other notable private collections. We are thrilled to announce that the bulk of this museum exhibition is traveling directly to Boston, where the artworks will be offered exclusively to Galerie d’Orsay collectors as part of our 2023 show.
“I likle to touch people’s souls. Some of us think with emotion and some with reason...sometimes it’s good to put emotion and reason together, it’s a perfect balance.”
Evening Light in Boston Oil on canvas, 39 x 39 inches
Volupté Oil on canvas with gold leaf, 39 x 32 inches
Bird Carrying My Island Oil on canvas with gold leaf, 18 x 22 inches
Bruno and Natasha in Venice