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:

Haroutiun Galentz

Title:

They Killed the Mother, 1960-s

Location:

Galentz Museum, Yerevan

Artist: Haroutiun Galentz
Title: They Killed the Mother, 1960-s
Location: Galentz Museum, Yerevan

Armen Yesayants (PhD in Art History): "In this work we see the identity of the graceless Turk in toxic yellowish-green color and in the redness of the blood a child who was the only one left. Kaneltz considered that the Genocide should not be visualized or presented. As a result, instead of big creations only small graphical works are preserved."

Artist:

Ashot Hovhannisyan

Title:

Escape, 1971

Location:

National Gallery of Armenian, Yerevan

Artist: Ashot Hovhannisyan
Title: Escape, 1971
Location: National Gallery of Armenian, Yerevan

Shahen Khachatryan (Art critic): "Ashot Hovhannisyan’s art is the artistic form of understanding the country’s deepest layers and great power. Looking at the hands, feet, movements of the displaced people, one can see the artist’s inner power. The artist also painted himself on the carriage in the background in white as a part of the struggling power. His speech is about making his land asserted, fostering the progress of the identity of the nation."

Artist:

Shahen Aslanyan

Title:

Der-Zor, 2010

Location:

Artist's Collection

Artist: Shahen Aslanyan
Title: Der-Zor, 2010
Location: Artist's Collection

Shahen Aslanyan created this painting under the impression of real and sensitive survivals. The artist, visiting Der-Zor, where in 1915 the Ottoman Empire implemented the plan of extermination of the Armenian, felt all over again everything that had happened one century ago. Looking at the horizon of the crimson sunset, the artist “saw” the silhouette of the exhausted Armenian women with her starved children. This was a real vision, that got eternally depicted on the canvas of Shahen Aslanyan.

Artist:

Lilit Stepanian

Title:

#1915, 2010

Location:

Private Collection

Artist: Lilit Stepanian
Title: #1915, 2010
Location: Private Collection

Lilit Stepanian: "The face of the Armenian is the reflection of his soul. This reflection, that changes time and again at the crossroads of centuries, contorts with its pain, shines with its triumph, cracks again and trembles, breaks and is born anew."

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 info@100years100arts.am email address.

shared arts

Artist:

Adriana Angolian