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100

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100

arts

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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:

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:

Armen Atayan

Title:

The Saviour Church, 2015

Location:

Artist's Collection

Artist: Armen Atayan
Title: The Saviour Church, 2015
Location: Artist's Collection

The artist depicted the dilapidated church. which has seen so much pain and sufferings, but still standing in Ani’s devastations an impressionistic spirit.

Ani was the 11th capital of the historic Armenia which used to be famous as "the city of thousand and one churches". The city was founded in the 5th century. Later in centuries, Ani has been subjected to invaders attacks.As a result of the Armenian Genocide by the Ottoman Empire, the inhantends were forced to migrate from their fatherland. The Ani’s devastations remained in the hands of Turks, the invaders who later on tried to wrench the Armenian history by their groundless attempts to present Ani as a part of their history country.

Artist:

Ervand Kochar

Title:

The Disaster of War, 1962

Location:

Ervand Kochar Museum, Yerevan

Artist: Ervand Kochar
Title: The Disaster of War, 1962
Location: Ervand Kochar Museum, Yerevan

In "The Disaster of War" all are condemned… faces distorted in pain and horror, hands stretched out towards the heaven, eyes filled with blood, hands clenched in a fist or throttling each other, here is one scratching the ground in desperation. Even the horses have taken on the anguish of revenge and destruction crunching into each other.

War is a synthesis of all misery and evil, it’s the modernized barbarism, it’s the brand of shame on humanity and all come out as losers out of it.

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…"

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SHARED ARTS section.
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shared arts

Artist:

Adriana Angolian