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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:

Martiros Sarian

Title:

Egyptian Masks, 1915

Location:

Martiros Sarian House-Museum, Yerevan

Artist: Martiros Sarian
Title: Egyptian Masks, 1915
Location: Martiros Sarian House-Museum, Yerevan

This work is the first response of M.Sarian on hearing about the Gret Genocide committed upon his nation. Viewing the fruits and household items, chaotically scattered on the canvas, the onlooker can discern the painter’s cry from the very heart. The Egyptian masks like history’s judges condemn the massacre of Armenians as universal tragedy.

Artist:

Kaloust Guedel

Title:

Levitation, 2003

Location:

Modern Art Museum of Yerevan

Artist: Kaloust Guedel
Title: Levitation, 2003
Location: Modern Art Museum of Yerevan

Kaloust Guedel: "As an experimental artist throughout the years I have worked in various groups. "Levitation" is part of the Genocide group, of which I had no intention of creating to begin with. For me there are two primary approaches, that can be employed: one is to decide what to do and the other to do and then to figure out what has been created. This group came to life as a free exploration of the subconscious mind. After creating it, I realized, that it was a reference to the Armenian Genocide, which happened to be part of our individual psyche. Only lately I have come to realize, that for me the creation of the Genocide group was a necessary experience and served as a therapy to be able to move forward in life. All figures in "Levitation" are self portraits."

Artist:

Minas Avetisyan

Title:

By the Walls of Aghtamar. Farewell, 1968

Location:

Alex and Marie Manougian Museum, Detroit

Artist: Minas Avetisyan
Title: By the Walls of Aghtamar. Farewell, 1968
Location: Alex and Marie Manougian Museum, Detroit

Minas Avetisyan got acquainted with the art of Archile Gorky in 1968. Deeply inspired by Gorky’s painting, Minas, with his radiant and unique colors, created the wonderful painting "At the walls of Akhtamar, Farewell" depicted Vostanis (Archile Gorky) in the center, who going through the calamity of the Genocide was mentioning the loss and pain of the Armenian land in his paintings.

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."

share your arts

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SHARED ARTS section.
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shared arts

Artist:

Adriana Angolian