home

100

years

100

arts

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:

Jansem (Hovhannes Semerdjian)

Title:

Funeral of My Grandfather, 1951

Location:

Modern Art Museum of Yerevan

Artist: Jansem (Hovhannes Semerdjian)
Title: Funeral of My Grandfather, 1951
Location: Modern Art Museum of Yerevan

Shahen Khachatryan (Art critic): "The sensitive lines of Jansem are flowing in the canvases like blood vessels and harmonizing the subtle, pale color palette, they create hyperrealistic, visual and music atmosphere. Jansem practices this principle of building the image. Exactly 50 years after the Genocide inspired "Funeral of my grandfather" painting, the master creates the "Genocide" series revealing the curtain of the history truth.

Artist:

Marie Adamian

Title:

Black and White, 2012

Location:

Private Collection

Artist: Marie Adamian
Title: Black and White, 2012
Location: Private Collection

Marie Adamian: "The tree of life, the fruit of which gives eternal life, according to the Bible, is depicted in the symbolic contrast. The “Black and White” title of the artwork symbolizes the void, pressure, depression of the black color on the one hand and the innocence, the idea of unity and wholeness of the white on the other hand, which is typical to the tragic centennial history of the Armenian nation."

Artist:

Sahak Poghosyan

Title:

Silecne of My Grandmother's Eyes, 2015

Location:

Artist's Collection

Artist: Sahak Poghosyan
Title: Silecne of My Grandmother's Eyes, 2015
Location: Artist's Collection

Nazaret Karoyan (Аrt critic): "Genocide and extermination as a crime against humanity and humanism are impossible to tell. It is impossible, not because it is difficult to picture events in fine arts, but since it is impossible to see and comprehend their terrible extent, it is impossible to open their countless and terrifying folds. Sahak Poghosyan in his project, while making substitutions between speech and image, hearing and vision, comes to say: – even if there are no forms to present what is indescribable and unimaginable, even if it is impossible to hear the words told by eyes, then, at least, one can materialize the silence accumulated in them to make visible what is inaudible."

Artist:

Grigor Khandjyan

Title:

Yeghern (Illustration to Paruyr Sevak's), 1963-1965

Location:

National Gallery of Armenian, Yerevan

Artist: Grigor Khandjyan
Title: Yeghern (Illustration to Paruyr Sevak's), 1963-1965
Location: National Gallery of Armenian, Yerevan

Shahen khachatryan (Аrt critic): "Series of Grigor Khanjyan book illustrations are dedicated to the Armenian tragedy. The unique composition of the paintings, linear, impactful sounds enhance the bitter sufferings. In Paruyr Sevak’s “Unsilenceable Belfry” poem Grigor Khanjyan always depicted the genius musician Komitas as an high spirited shepherd with the nation. But when the extermination of Armenian occurs the light extinguishes and the darkness prevails…"

share your arts

Here, you can upload your artwork dedicated to the Armenian Genocide. The uploaded artwork will be published in the
SHARED ARTS section.
Note: the site carries no responsibility over the copyright genuinity issues in the SHARED ARTS section. But still if you come across possible violation of copyrights, please, do not hesitate to contact us via [email protected] email address.

shared arts

Artist:

Adriana Angolian