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:

Arshile Gorky

Title:

How My Mother's Embroidered Apron Unfolds in My Life, 1944

Location:

Seattle Arts Museum, Washington

Artist: Arshile Gorky
Title: How My Mother's Embroidered Apron Unfolds in My Life, 1944
Location: Seattle Arts Museum, Washington

Seattle Arts Museum. "How My Mother's Embroidered Apron Unfolds in My Life often poses more questions than it answers, serving as an eloquent touchstone for many of the pressing issues that shaped art at the time of its making."

Artist:

Ararat Sarkissian

Title:

Earth (Image III), 2003

Location:

Artist's Collection

Artist: Ararat Sarkissian
Title: Earth (Image III), 2003
Location: Artist's Collection

In Sarkissian’s landscapes, nature, manifesting itself in the mysterious appearance of runes, elicits in the spectator an irrepressible desire to decipher the imagery. What is presented to us is not a puzzle but rather a miracle, at which we gaze in a trance-like state, losing ourselves in the experience and dissolving our ego.

Artist:

Marie Adamian

Title:

Black and White, 2012

Location:

Private Collection

Artist: Marie Adamian
Title: Black and White, 2012
Location: Private Collection

Marie Adamian: "The tree of life, the fruit of which gives eternal life, according to the Bible, is depicted in the symbolic contrast. The “Black and White” title of the artwork symbolizes the void, pressure, depression of the black color on the one hand and the innocence, the idea of unity and wholeness of the white on the other hand, which is typical to the tragic centennial history of the Armenian nation."

Artist:

Edward Arzrunian

Title:

The Refugees in Etjmiatsin, 1968

Location:

National Gallery of Armenian, Yerevan

Artist: Edward Arzrunian
Title: The Refugees in Etjmiatsin, 1968
Location: National Gallery of Armenian, Yerevan

In Soviet Armenia there was a silence about the Armenian Genocide. The authorities of USSR had an agreement with Turkey of not mentioning the Armenian Genocide in Armenia. It was prohibited for the Armenian artists to cover the theme of Genocide in their canvases till the 60-ies. And only in 1965 when the Genocide Memorial monument was built in the memory of the victims of the Armenian Genocide, the ban wall seemed to have vanished. Armenian artists started to create works depicting the historic truth.

This work of Eduard Arzunian is one of those historic facts showing how the Armenian mother, who has escaped from exile, starvation, calamity of death, together with her children and other orphaned children would gather at the church begging for God’s shelter.

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 [email protected] email address.

shared arts

Artist:

Adriana Angolian