Currently living in the Dutch city of Utrecht, I’ve become curious about the connection between the city and the well-known chain of art supply stores.
As far as I can tell, the company (originally Utrecht Linens?) is said to have been founded in 1949 by a (non-Dutch?) artist. What was his name, and why did he name his company after the city of Utrecht?
Perhaps out of admiration for the “Utrecht school” of Italian-influenced Dutch artists?
From what little I can glean off Google, the canvas and linen business branched out into one art supply store in New York in 1966, and grew from there.
(A total WAG is that the founder might have been from the New Utrecht neighborhood in Brooklyn.)
His name was Norman Gulamerian. From the name, he would be of Armenian ancestry.
He started the canvas shop because good art canvas was hard to get in the NYC area at the time. He and a brother expanded the company to oil paints in 1957 as Utrecht Manufacturing.
I love the Straight Dope, and especially Beware of Doug. Thanks!
Do you have a cite for biographical info on Norman Gulamerian? Pretty much all I could find was that he’s been a member of the College Art Association for 54 years (as of 2003).
Awwww. T’weren’t nuthin’…
Nope. He’s apparently written a few books on art though.