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100

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100

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mission

The Armenian Genocide has left an irreversible trace in our history and in our spirits and the reflection of grief, yearning, hope is woven in chain in the Armenian fine arts. When human languages is powerless to express what happened in 1915, the language of art does have the power to do so. Different generations of Armenian famous artists have continuously addressed the great iniquity and the artworks dedicated to the Armenian Genocide have always had their unique places in their art. Armenian artists greatly contributed to the global acknowledgement of the Armenian Genocide thought their art. Many of these works have been exhibited to public but even more of them are unknown till today.

100 years

CULTURAL GENOCIDE

Acts and measures undertaken to destroy the culture of a nation or an ethnic group is called "cultural genocide". Many facts prove that simultaneous with the massacres and deportation of Armenians in the Ottoman Empire, the government of the Young Turks masterminded and implemented systematic destruction of the material testimonies of the Armenian civilization.

THE ARMENIAN GENOCIDE

A genocide is the organized extermination of a nation aiming to put an end to their collective existence. The extermination of Armenians in the Ottoman Empire and the surrounding regions during 1915-1923 is called the Armenian Genocide. Those massacres were masterminded and perpetrated by the government of Young Turks and were later finalized by the Kemalist government.

100 arts

The anguish of the Armenian Genocide, which is being reborn with every Armenian, has its own reflection in the Armenian fine arts. Many Armenian well known artists have created artworks both in Armenia and in Diaspora that are the speaking witness of the Armenian great pain, loss and yearning. These artworks are also ode to the Armenian viable genes, will power of giving birth, living and creation. Genocide is the type of crime that does have any expiration date. Human speech is sometimes powerless in expressing those things that are possible to express only through art. These 100 artworks will continuously tell the world about the unhealed wound of the Armenian, millions of innocent victims, demolished heartlands, bowed churches, lost homeland and infinite belief. The power of art is undeniable and artworks are eternal.

Artist:

Haroutiun Gakentz

Title:

The Portrait of a Writer Vivan Tjitejian, 1957

Location:

National Gallery of Armenian, Yerevan

Artist: Haroutiun Gakentz
Title: The Portrait of a Writer Vivan Tjitejian, 1957
Location: National Gallery of Armenian, Yerevan

Armen Yesayants (PhD in Art History): "The anguish of the entire nation is centered in the art of Haurtyun Kalentz. In the artistic heritage of Kalents the theme of Genocide was depicted both directly and indirectly: Kalentz said: There in the foreign country, Armenian faces seem to be a part of the motherland. For me the portrait is also landscape and much more than that. The portraits are my motherland."

Artist:

Vatché Demirdjian

Title:

Massacre, 2014

Location:

Modern Art Museum of Yerevan

Artist: Vatché Demirdjian
Title: Massacre, 2014
Location: Modern Art Museum of Yerevan

MASSACRE on 8 pieces of canvas symbolizes that after the Genocide in 1915 all the Armenians have been scattered to different countries far from home.

Vatché Demirdjian. "I've been working on my painting for many years to bring all the victims of the Armenian Genocide to life. This theme is very painful for me. My grandparents survived the Genocide in Marash, they arrived to Lebanon in 1918 and in 1976 all my family went even further because of the civil war of Lebanon. I've got the same sad destiny as my grandparents. I'm in Paris now and I'm trying to survive by my art. I'm trying not to swim in the RED waters but get my head up... and never drown…"

Artist:

Martiros Sarian

Title:

Portrait of the Poet Aleksandr Tsaturian, 1915

Location:

National Gallery of Armenian, Yerevan

Artist: Martiros Sarian
Title: Portrait of the Poet Aleksandr Tsaturian, 1915
Location: National Gallery of Armenian, Yerevan

Black color that appeared in Sarian’s palette had manifested all the tragic of his feelings. None the less the fragile and emotional soul of the Armenian intelligentsia so deeply shocked and unprotected in this period had to revive the national culture on their native land some years later. Depicted in the background motif of fruit and a blooming branch symbolize the idea of this powerful inner potential.

Artist:

Sarkis Hamalbashian

Title:

Ani is Beyond the Border, 2014

Location:

Artist's Collection

Artist: Sarkis Hamalbashian
Title: Ani is Beyond the Border, 2014
Location: Artist's Collection

Sarkis Hamalbashian: "Since my childhood, as an heir to survivors of the Armenian Genocide, I have heard stories about it and later tried to depict my impressions in my works. Later I realized that those stories were messages that should be passed to future generations through their representation in our works, until the recognition of the Genocide and the fulfillment of justice."

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shared arts

Artist:

Adriana Angolian