Artist

Peter ​“Charlie” Attie Besharo

born Syria 1899-died Kittanning, PA 1960
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Also known as
  • Peter Charlie Bochero
  • Peter Charlie Besharo
  • Peter Attie Besharo
  • Peter Besharo
Born
Syria
Died
Kittanning, Pennsylvania, United States
Active in
  • Leechburg, Pennsylvania, United States
Biography

Often called just "Peter Charlie," Besharo was a handyman and house painter in Leechburg, Pennsylvania. He lived a solitary life, and his activities as an artist remained undiscovered until his death. At that time, sixty-nine paintings were found in a garage he had rented behind a hardware store. His work reflects many themes—space, religion, Armenian folk motifs, American history, and demons, as well as other ideas from his subconscious. Here a chained, peasant-dressed version of Lady Liberty blasts across a blue void. [LADY LIBERTY OF 1953 TO 1962? 1986.65.100] A headlamp guides her on a mission that Besharo's inscriptions and images do not clarify. One can speculate, however, that he may have been inspired by events such as the death of Stalin in 1953, the Cuban missile crisis, or John Glenn's orbit of the earth in 1962.

Lynda Roscoe Hartigan Made with Passion: The Hemphill Folk Art Collection in the National Museum of American Art (Washington, D.C. and London: National Museum of American Art with the Smithsonian Institution Press, 1990)

Luce Artist Biography

Peter Besharo, known as "Peter Charlie," immigrated to the United States in 1903. He settled in Pennsylvania and lived a quiet life, only coming into contact with people through his job as a housepainter and handyman. After his death, around seventy paintings were discovered in a garage he rented behind the local hardware store. The paintings showed images and inscriptions inspired by space travel, American history, Eastern mysticism, and Christianity.

Exhibitions

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We Are Made of Stories: Self-Taught Artists in the Robson Family Collection
July 1, 2022–March 26, 2023
Smithsonian American Art Museum
We Are Made of Stories: Self-Taught Artists in the Robson Family Collection traces the rise of self-taught artists in the twentieth century and examines how, despite wide-ranging societal, racial, and gender-based obstacles, their creativity and

Related Books

Cover for the catalogue "We Are Made of Stories: Self-Taught Artists in the Robson Family Collection"
We Are Made of Stories: Self-Taught Artists in the Robson Family Collection
We Are Made of Stories: Self-Taught Artists in the Robson Family Collection traces the rise of self-taught artists in the twentieth century and examines how, despite wide-ranging societal, racial, and gender-based obstacles, their creativity and bold self-definition became major forces in American art. The exhibition features recent gifts to the museum from two generations of collectors, Margaret Z. Robson and her son Douglas O. Robson, and will be on view at the Smithsonian American Art Museum July 1, 2022 through March 26, 2023.