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:

Tigran Tsitoghdzyan

Title:

Armenian Mirror, 2013

Location:

Private Collection

Artist: Tigran Tsitoghdzyan
Title: Armenian Mirror, 2013
Location: Private Collection

Tigran Tsitoghdzyan: "This painting is the mirror of Armenian society."

Artist:

Eduard Isabekyan

Title:

Western Armenia, 1940

Location:

Artist's Family Collection

Artist: Eduard Isabekyan
Title: Western Armenia, 1940
Location: Artist's Family Collection

Eduard Isabekyan: "Memory is a very important thing. There is no other nation in the world that needs memory more than the Armenian nation. Because there is no other nation in the world that has left its property, its soil, 99% of everything owned to others. If Igdirtsis forget Igdir, Alashkertsis - Alashker, Vanetsis forget Van, Bayazettsis - Bayazets and etc If they forget that the entire nation never forgot where they are from. The Armenian needs our memory, for him to be able to own whatever his has lost, so as always to remember that he has to bring back whatever he has lost."

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:

Krikor Momdjian

Title:

Komidas, 1986

Location:

Private Collection

Artist: Krikor Momdjian
Title: Komidas, 1986
Location: Private Collection

Krikor Momdjian: "This work is one of the series works I did as homage to Komidas. The composer who was also priest, was interested in the authenticity of the Armenian music. He went into Armenian villages to listen and put into music notes that he heard, as an ethno-musicologist avant la lettre. He became famous in Europe because of his concerts with his big choir. He was captured in Constantinople on 24th of April like the other Armenian intelligentsia by the Ottoman Empire. His manuscripts/music notations were destroyed. He was mistreated but saved by diplomats and was sent to Paris. Komidas lost his senses as consequence put in a psychiatric home. The last 20 years of his life he did not talk to anyone, except to his sister. I wanted to honor him inspiring me with his divine music. In my childhood listening to his music intensely in the cathedral of the Armenian cloister - seminary of Jerusalem, where I was a seminarian for three years. He is still my source of inspiration, bringing me to the source of the Armenian soul. His music evokes my admiration for the beauty of the nature and I feel the Divine Light reflected through his music and songs."

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