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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:

Sarkis Mooradyan

Title:

Komitas. Last Night, 1956

Location:

National Gallery of Armenian, Yerevan

Artist: Sarkis Mooradyan
Title: Komitas. Last Night, 1956
Location: National Gallery of Armenian, Yerevan

The Armenian composer, singer, ethno musician, musicologist, archimandrite and teacher Komitas suffered a lot seeing the anguish of the Armenian nation. This characters is stamped as the symbol of the Armenian Genocide and many Armenian artists emphasized that symbol painting Komitas. Sarkis Muradyan’s Komitas dressed in red, the color of blood and the entrance of the Turkish officers with swords symbolize the upcoming bloody crime.

Artist:

Hovhannes Zardarian

Title:

Armenians Exiled Towards Ararat, 1975

Location:

Artist's Family Collection

Artist: Hovhannes Zardarian
Title: Armenians Exiled Towards Ararat, 1975
Location: Artist's Family Collection

Hovhannes Zardayan was born in 1918 in kars (Western Armenia). During the Genocide, the Zardaryans takes the exile path as well and the emotions connected to the lost motherland was reflected in the "The Exile of the Armenians to Ararat" canvas. Hovhannes Zardaryan was an artists of free soul. He used to say "Everybody has his own dream. The dream begins with the birth and something makes the human say something. The most important thing is get the word heard. It’s a big happiness when you are able to express your feeling on a canvas."

Artist:

Krikor Momdjian

Title:

Open Diary, 1996

Location:

Artist's Collection

Artist: Krikor Momdjian
Title: Open Diary, 1996
Location: Artist's Collection

Krikor Momdjian: "Like an open book, we see on one side a photo-document in which we witness how in a barbaric way Armenians were slaughtered in 1915. I did not want to paint the image but used it as it is - an horrible evidence. When I saw this picture for the first time as a little boy, I was choked that human beings are capable of such acts. History seems repeating itself as we think about what is happening now in the middle east, not far from Anatolia, where the massacres of Christian Armenians and deportations occurred. But I believe we can change this, for the sake of future generations, by education and information in healthy thinking. showing empathy for other people and cultures to create a better world."

Artist:

Hakob Hakobian

Title:

Sorrow, 1961

Location:

National Gallery of Armenian, Yerevan

Artist: Hakob Hakobian
Title: Sorrow, 1961
Location: National Gallery of Armenian, Yerevan

Hakob Hakobyan created series of canvases, where the feelings of sadness and loneliness are emphasized. The "Sorrow" is one of these works that belongs to the artist's series of art dedicated to the miserable. suffering human-character who is powerless to fight the destiny. This is the sorrow of the human without homeland living far from his motherland shrouding the pain of Genocide in himself and in other generations.

share your arts

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SHARED ARTS section.
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shared arts

Artist:

Adriana Angolian