Portrait in Oil: The Autobiography of Nubar Gulbenkian

by Nubar S. Gulbenkian

Nubar Sarkis Gulbenkian (1896-1972) was an Armenian business magnate and socialite born in the Ottoman empire. He wore a monocle with aplomb, and a fresh orchid every day - custom-dyed if nature did not already provide a color suitable to the occasion. He was rich beyond anyone's wildest dreams and enjoyed every penny of his fabulous fortune. He was equally at home sipping champagne in Buckingham Palace or riding a camel through a desert sandstorm. Who was he? Nubar Gulbenkian was the son and heir of the legendary Mr. Five Percent (5% was his personal share of all Middle East oil production). A genial man with the sexual mores of a Turkish pasha and the impeccable manners of an Oxford gentleman, Gulbenkian wrote an elegantly self-mocking, vastly entertaining book. It is an inside view of the fantastic world of riches, where oil thickens international politics. It is also the memoir - never the apologia - of a happy man who was never thwarted in matters of love or money. With great charm and urbanity, Mr. Gulbenkian wrote of his idyllic childhood and his gilded youth, his stage-door liaisons and his marriages, his cloak-and-dagger mission to Vichy France, and his maneuverings in Big Oil. His character was summed up by an associate who claimed that "Nubar is so tough that every day he tires out three stockbrokers, three horses and three women".

Hardcover

First published January 1, 1965