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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:

Jackie Kazarian

Title:

Love Lies Bleeding #5, 1995

Location:

Artist's Collection

Artist: Jackie Kazarian
Title: Love Lies Bleeding #5, 1995
Location: Artist's Collection

In 1996, Kazarian created large-scale wallpapers (not shown) in memory of her grandparents, Elmas, Mariam and Abram, who survived the Armenian Genocide. These are preparatory studies for the larger wallpapers.

Artist:

Seyran Khatlamajyan

Title:

April, 1987

Location:

Modern Art Museum of Yerevan

Artist: Seyran Khatlamajyan
Title: April, 1987
Location: Modern Art Museum of Yerevan

Seyran Khatlamajyan, who is one of the founders of the Armenian abstract art, recreated the month April in his powerful sense of color. (On April 24th of 1915 the arrest of the hundreds of Armenian intelligentsia, the extermination of the national elite, massacre of the Armenian nation started mainly from Constantinople, the capital of the Ottoman Empire).

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:

Hovhannes Aivazovsky

Title:

Night. Armenians Thrown Overboard, 1897

Location:

Armenian School, Beirut

Artist: Hovhannes Aivazovsky
Title: Night. Armenians Thrown Overboard, 1897
Location: Armenian School, Beirut

The Armenians inhabiting in the Ottoman empire have been continuously subjected to violence and massacres before the Armenian Genocide in 1915. Since 1894-96 more than hundred thousand Armenians have been massacred in various regions of the Western Armenia. This horrific and tragic news deeply influenced the world famous Hovhannes Aivazovsky. He expressed his pain and sufferings by creating series of painting such as "Night. Armenians thrown overboard", "The massacre of Trabizon", "Lord Byron visiting the Mekhitarist Congregation of ST Lazzaro", "Farewell" and the "Night. Tragedy at the Sea of Marmara" canvas as well.

Aivazovsky suddenly died in 1900 leaving the "Explosion of a Turkish warship" canvas unfinished on the molbert.

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SHARED ARTS section.
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shared arts

Artist:

Adriana Angolian