Saroyan in black and white
By Felicia Cousart Matlosz / The Fresno Bee
January 20, 2008

For all his fame as a writer, William Saroyan also cut a compelling
figure on film. In photographs, to be exact.

The dashingly handsome face of his youthful days aged into the
countenance that many Fresnans remember from the writer’s later years
in his native city. The longish hair. The drooping, walruslike
mustache. The long, wide sideburns. The deep, piercing eyes. The
serious look of an artist.

It’s that familiarity that makes a photo exhibit of Saroyan in Armenia
an interesting insightful slice of the writer’s life. The 40-plus
black-and-white photos, displayed on the first and second floors at
City Hall, were taken by Boghos Boghossian.

They are from 1976 and 1978, when Saroyan visited his ancestors’
homeland. Boghossian, an award-winning photographer who was born and
lives in Armenia, went with him everywhere. Saroyan once wrote to
Boghossian: "For my friend, one of the great poets of the camera in
the world."

But more than just photographs, this exhibit — called "Saroyan As
Captured Through the Lens of Boghos Boghossian" — melds the two
Saroyan treks with the writer’s own words. The curator of this
display is Varoujan Der Simonian, who enjoys photography as a
hobby. He is president of the Armenian Museum of Fresno and is
executive director of the Armenian Technology Group, a Fresno-based
nonprofit group that provides support for Armenian farmers.

Both organizations are presenting this exhibit, one of many events
marking the centennial year of Saroyan’s birth in Fresno. (Art
exhibits on City Hall’s first and second floors are coordinated by the
Fresno Arts Council.)

What does Der Simonian hope that visitors take away from this show?

"The human personality of Saroyan, his character," Der Simonian
says. "While he is in a crowd or away from Fresno, he is able to
recall moments of his life that have touched him and that he has
written stories of. It’s the sensitivity of the man, which probably
has not been so clear."

On the first floor, for example, is a page of short excerpts from the
story "Return to the Pomegranate Trees." Saroyan writes about the
pomegranate trees that a relative planted near Fresno, and that he
helped tend as young teenager in 1919 and 1920. Twenty-five years
later, he takes his 5-year-old son Aram for a drive and searches for
the trees. They are gone: "The whole place was taken over again by the
little burrowing animals, the horned toads, and the jack rabbits."

The two drive to Sanger, where Saroyan shows Aram a pomegranate tree
and hands him a fruit that’s not quite ripe. They return to San
Francisco, and Aram keeps the small fruit. More than a month later,
they visit Fresno, and Aram wants to drive out to the land where his
father tended pomegranate trees. Once there, the boy glances around
and wordlessly and carefully places the fruit on the ground.

Now look at the photo, one of Der Simonian’s favorites in this show,
taken in 1976. Saroyan, dressed in a light-colored jacket and a dark
shirt, is looking upward, his left hand holding a small
pomegranate. "Look at his eyes. His mind is not there," Der Simonian
says. "It’s sad. It’s beautiful. … You can see the feelings in his
eyes. People, hopefully, can relate to it."

Another photo shows a completely different side of Saroyan. Der
Simonian titled it "Sam, the Highest Jumper of Them All." The 1978
shot shows a smiling Saroyan between two other authors, his arms
around their shoulders, his feet gleefully lifted off the ground.

Der Simonian says the exhibit will travel to other parts of the state
after Fresno.

The exhibit came about when Der Simonian and Boghossian met last
summer. Der Simonian knew of Boghossian and his work and had been
introduced to him through mutual friends. When Der Simonian saw the
extent of Boghossian’s photos of the Fresno writer, Der Simonian asked
whether he could put together a show. The photographer agreed and also
approved the approach of how each shot would be titled.

The pictures not only present contemplative photos of the writer but
also document how he was followed like a rock star by crowds of
college students and other admirers.

Larry Balakian, chairman of the William Saroyan Centennial Committee,
says it’s interesting how Saroyan is seen interacting with not just
writers but other artists in these photos, taken only a few years
before his death in 1981. He also says the comments he’s heard about
the exhibit have been "absolutely tremendous."

"It certainly takes you back to that period," Balakian says. "It makes
you feel like you’re there."

The reporter can be reached at fmatlosz@fresnobee.com or (559)
441-6428

More information
If you go
What: "Saroyan As Captured Through the Lens of Boghos Boghossian"
Where: Fresno City Hall, Tulare and P streets
When: Through Jan. 31, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Cost: Free
Details: (559) 243-5880
Visit: