Calouste Gulbenkian
Calouste Gulbenkian St. Sarkis Armenian Church, London | |
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Citizenship |
|
Alma mater | King's College London |
Occupation | Petroleum engineer |
Years active | 1895–1955 |
Organizations |
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Spouse |
Nevarte Essayan
(m. 1892; died 1952) |
Children | 2, including Nubar Sarkis |
Signature | |
Calouste Sarkis Gulbenkian (/kæˈluːst ɡʊlˈbɛŋkiən/, Western Armenian: Գալուստ Կիւլպէնկեան; 23 March 1869 – 20 July 1955), nicknamed "Mr Five Per Cent", was a British-Armenian businessman and philanthropist. He played a major role in making the petroleum reserves of the Middle East available to Western development and is credited with being the first person to exploit Iraqi oil.[1] Gulbenkian travelled extensively and lived in a number of cities including Istanbul, London, Paris, and Lisbon.
Throughout his life, Gulbenkian was involved with many philanthropic activities including the establishment of schools, hospitals, and churches. The Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation, a private foundation based in Portugal, was created in 1956 by his bequest and continues to promote arts, charity, education, and science throughout the world. It is now among the largest foundations in Europe.[2] By the end of his life he had become one of the world's wealthiest people and his art acquisitions one of the greatest private collections.[3][4][5]
Biography
Family background
Gulbenkian's family are believed to be descendants of the
Gulbenkian's family established close relations with the House of Osman. By 1860, his father Sarkis Gulbenkian was an Armenian oil importer and exporter already heavily involved in the oil industry. Sarkis was an owner of several oil fields in the Caucasus, mainly in Baku, and was a representative of Alexander Mantashev's oil company.[8] Sarkis Gulbenkian also provided oil to the Sultan of the Ottoman Empire.[9] During Hagop Pasha's Directorship, and, subsequently, Ministry of the Privy Treasury under Sultan Abdulhamid II in 1879, Sarkis acquired the lucrative collection of taxes for the Privy Purse of Mesopotamia.[10]
Early life
Calouste Sarkis Gulbenkian was born on 23 March 1869 in Scutari (
Oil business
Immediately afterwards his father sent him to be educated at King's College London, where he studied petroleum engineering.[12] He was a brilliant student and graduated in 1887 at the age of 18 with a first-class degree in engineering and applied sciences.[13] A year later, he went to Baku to examine the Russian oil industry and to further his knowledge of the oil industry.[14]
Gulbenkian later wrote an article entitled La Transcaucasie et la péninsule d'Apchéron; souvenirs de voyage ("
After Hagop Pasha's appointment as the
By 1895, he started his oil operation business.
After the royalist
In 1912 Gulbenkian was the driving force behind the creation of the
During the dismantling of the Ottoman Empire after the war, most of
In 1938, before the beginning of World War II, Gulbenkian incorporated a Panamanian company to hold his assets in the oil industry.[20] From this "Participations and Explorations Corporation" came the "Partex Oil and Gas (Holdings) Corporation", now a subsidiary of the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation headquartered in Lisbon.
Art collection
Gulbenkian amassed a huge fortune and an art collection which he kept in a private museum at his Paris house. An art expert said in a 1950 issue of
Throughout his lifetime, Gulbenkian managed to collect over 6,400 pieces of art.[24] From René Lalique alone, Gulbenkian commissioned more than 140 works over nearly 30 years.[25] The collection includes objects from antiquity to the 20th century. Some of the works in the collection were bought during the Soviet sale of Hermitage paintings.[5]
While Gulbenkian's art collection may be found in many museums across the world, most of his art is exhibited at the
Philanthropy
Throughout his life, Gulbenkian donated large sums of money to churches, scholarships, schools, and hospitals. Many of his donations were to Armenian foundations and establishments. He required that proceeds from his 5% share of profits from oil should go to Armenian families. He also demanded that 5% of his workers in his oil production for the Iraq Petroleum Company should be of Armenian descent.[27]
He established and built the
In 1929, he was the chief benefactor to the establishment of an extensive library at the
Among many of his significant donations was to the Surp Pırgiç Armenian Hospital located in Istanbul. A large property called the Selamet Han was donated to the Surp Pırgiç foundation in 1954.[32] The property was confiscated by the state in 1974, but returned to the foundation in 2011.[33] He also helped establish a nurses' home at the hospital after selling his wife's jewellery.[34]
He was president of the
Later life and death
In 1937, Gulbenkian purchased a property near Deauville and called it Les Enclos.[37] It was a place of repose for him. Nobel prize-winning writer and friend Saint-John Perse nicknamed him the Sage of Les Enclos and remarked in a letter to Gulbenkian that Les Enclos was "the cornerstone of your work, because it is the most alive, the most intimate and sensitive, the best guarded secret for your dreams."[38]
By the onset of the Second World War, having acquired diplomatic immunity as the economic adviser of the Persian legation in Paris, he followed the French government when it fled to Vichy, where he became the minister for Iran.[10] In consequence, he was, despite his links to the UK, temporarily declared an enemy alien by the British Government, and his UK oil assets sequestered, though returned with compensation at the end of the war.[39] He left France in late 1942 for Lisbon and lived there until his death, in a suite at the luxurious Aviz Hotel, on 20 July 1955, aged 86.[40]
In 1952 he refused being appointed as
His ashes were buried at
Legacy and fortune
This section needs additional citations for verification. (May 2022) |
At the time of his death, Gulbenkian's fortune was estimated at between US$280 million and US$840 million. Undisclosed sums were willed in trust to his descendants; the remainder of his fortune and art collection were willed to the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation (Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian), with US$400,000[43] to be reserved to restore the Etchmiadzin Cathedral, Armenia's mother church, when relations with the Soviet Union permitted.[44]
The foundation was to act for charitable, educational, artistic, and scientific purposes, and the named trustees were his long-time friend
Funding was provided for an Oakley-class lifeboat for the Royal National Lifeboat Institution. It was christened Calouste Gulbenkian by his daughter at Weston-super-Mare Lifeboat Station on 17 March 1962 where it served until 1969.[45] It was withdrawn from New Quay Lifeboat Station in 1991 and sold for preservation.[46]
William Saroyan wrote a short story about Gulbenkian in his 1971 book, Letters from 74 rue Taitbout or Don't Go But If You Must Say Hello To Everybody.
There are rooms and buildings at the University of Oxford named after Gulbenkian, including the Gulbenkian Reading Room in St Antony's College, Oxford's old library and the Gulbenkian Lecture Theater in the St Cross Building on Manor Road.
Awards
- Order of Christ (Portugal) – 1950[47]
Published works
- La Transcaucasie et la péninsule d'Apchéron; souvenirs de voyage, Éditeur: Paris, Librairie Hachette, 1891. OCLC 3631961.
See also
- Re Gulbenkian's Settlements
- Calouste Gulbenkian Museum
- Centro de Arte Moderna Gulbenkian (CAM)
- Gulbenkian commission
- Gulbenkian Park
- Gulbenkian Orchestra
- Gulbenkian Science Institute
- Museum of the Year, formerly the Gulbenkian Prize
References
Citations
- ISBN 1593394926.
- ^ Anheier, Toepler & List 2010, p. 816.
- ^ a b c "Calouste Gulbenkian Dies at 86. One of the Richest Men in the World. Oil Financier, Art Collector Lived in Obscurity, Drove in Rented Automobile". The New York Times. 21 July 1955.
- ^ "Solid Gold Scrooge". Time. 23 July 1958. Archived from the original on 5 December 2009. Retrieved 7 May 2009.
- ^ a b Chilvers 2005, p. 320.
- ^ Armenian Communities Department 2010, p. 11.
- ^ Armenian Communities Department 2010, p. 12.
- ^ a b Armenian Communities Department 2010, p. 18.
- ^ Black 2004, p. 102.
- ^ ISSN 0024-3019.
- ^ Hewins 1958, p. 13.
- ISBN 978-0300216066.
- ^ Armenian Communities Department 2010, pp. 20–1.
- ^ Armenian Communities Department 2010, pp. 23–24.
- ^ a b Armenian Communities Department 2010, p. 24.
- ^ Campbell 2005, p. 74.
- ^ Armenian Communities Department 2010, pp. 24–5.
- ^ Campbell 2005, p. 75.
- ^ Tugendhat & Hamilton 1975, p. 63.
- ^ ISBN 978-0810862883.
- OCLC 31611185.
- ^ Conlin 2010, p. 282.
- ISBN 9781462067831.
- ^ Armenian Communities Department 2010, p. 44.
- ^ Yager, Jan (1998). "Patrons who make history" (PDF). Art Jewelry Forum. No. 4. Retrieved 26 January 2020.
- ^ "Premises". Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation (official website).
- ^ Armenian Communities Department 2010, p. 49.
- ^ Historic England. "Church of St Sarkis (Armenian Church), Iverna Gardens, W8 (1080556)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 27 October 2015.
- ISBN 0-333-57688-8.
- ^ "St. Sarkis | Armenian Community and Church Council of Great Britain". Accc.org.uk. 11 January 1923.
- ^ "Gulbenkian Library". Armenian Patriarchate of Jerusalem (official website). Archived from the original on 25 July 2015.
- ^ "The State and not the ECHR, Returns Selamet Han". Sabah. 17 February 2011.
- ^ "Turkey returns Selamet Han to Armenian foundation". Zaman. 18 February 2011. Archived from the original on 21 October 2013.
- ^ Conlin 2010, p. 287.
- ^ Conlin 2010, p. 285.
- ^ Armenian Communities Department 2010, p. 57.
- ^ Armenian Communities Department 2010, pp. 41–2.
- ^ Armenian Communities Department 2010, pp. 42–3.
- ^ Kumar 2012, p. 113.
- ^ Azeredo Perdigão 1969, p. 21.
- ^ official government records. news story: "Queen's honours: People who have turned them down named". BBC News. 26 January 2012.
- ^ Lyall, Sarah (26 January 2012). "In Britain, a Partial List of Those Who Declined to Be Called 'Sir'". The New York Times.
- ISSN 0963-7494.
- ^ "Gulbenkian's Will Sets Up Foundation". The New York Times. 23 July 1955. p. 5.
- ^ Morris, Jeff (2000). The story of the Weston-super-Mare lifeboats. Lifeboat Enthusiasts' Society. pp. 6–9.
- ^ Denton, Tony (2010). Handbook. Lifeboat Enthusiasts' Society. pp. 32–36.
- ^ Academia Portuguesa da História (1980). Anais (in Portuguese). Lisbon. p. 373.
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Sources
- Anheier, Helmut K.; Toepler, Stefan; List, Regina, eds. (2010). International encyclopedia of civil society (1. ed.). New York: Springer. ISBN 978-0387939964.
- Armenian Communities Department (2010). Calouste Sarkis Gulbenkian: The Man and His Work. Lisbon: Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation. Archived from the original on 10 April 2016. Retrieved 27 October 2015.
- Azeredo Perdigão, José de (1969). Calouste Gulbenkian: Collector. Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation.
- ISBN 047170895X.
- Campbell, C.J. (2005). Oil crisis (Repr. ed.). Brentwood, Essex, England: Multi-Science Pub. Co. ISBN 0906522390.
- Chilvers, Ian (2005). The Oxford dictionary of art (3rd ed.). Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0198604769.
- Conlin, Jonathan (2010). "Philanthropy without borders: Calouste Gulbenkian's founding vision for the Gulbenkian Foundation" (PDF). JSTOR 41012798.
- Hewins, Ralph (1958). Mr. Five Per Cent: The Story of Calouste Gulbenkian. Rinehart.
- Kumar, Ram Narayan (2012). Martyred but not tamed the politics of resistance in the Middle East. New Delhi: SAGE. ISBN 978-8132111139.
- Tugendhat, Christopher; Hamilton, Adrian (1975). Oil: The Biggest Business. Eyre Methuen. ISBN 9780413332905.
Further reading
Biography
- Conlin, Jonathan. Mr Five Per Cent: The Many Lives of Calouste Gulbenkian. London: Profile Books, 2019.
For detailed background concerning Gulbenkian and the Red Line Agreement controlling Middle East Oil see
- ISBN 0-471-67186-X.
For general background concerning the development of the petroleum industry in the Middle East see
- Blair, John Malcolm. The Control of Oil. New York: Pantheon, 1976. ISBN 0-394-49470-9.
- Okumuş, Ali, Osmanlı Coğrafyası'nda Petrol Mücadesi, Kalust S.Gülbenkyan ve Türk Petrol Şirketi. ORDAF. 2015.
- ISBN 0-671-50248-4.
- ISBN 0-671-50248-4.
For Gulbenkian as a collector see
- Azeredo Perdigão, José de, and Ana Lowndes Marques. Calouste Gulbenkian, Collector. Lisbon: Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation, 1979. OCLC 8196712
Articles
- Manoukian, Jennifer (2016). "GULBENKIAN, CALOUSTE". Encyclopaedia Iranica.
- McClary, Richard Piran (2020). "Calouste Gulbenkian, His Mīnāʾī Ware, and the Changing Islamic Art Market in the Early Twentieth Century". Muqarnas Online. 37 (1): 325–343. S2CID 230663096.
External links
- Videos
- In Memoriam Calouste Sarkis Gulbenkian (Part 1), Part 2, Part 3, Part 4
- Martin Essayan on his great-grandfather: Calouste Sarkis Gulbenkian
- Calouste Sarkis Gulbenkian – recollections of his grandson (by Mikhael Essayan)
- Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation, a foundation in the world
- Books
- Calouste Sarkis Gulbenkian: The Man and His Work by the Gulbenkian Foundation (full view)
- The Gulbenkians in Jerusalem by the Gulbenkian Foundation (full view)
- La Transcaucasie et la péninsule d'Apchéron: souvenirs de voyage by Calouste Gulbenkian (full view; in French)
- Official websites