Monday, August 13, 2012

Sarkis Diranian (1860-1918)

Portrait by Sarkis Diranian
Sarkis Diranian was born in Constantinople.He studied at Guillemet's academy in 1875. In 1883 he exhibited his work titled "The Sorceress" at the photographic studio of the Abdullah Brothers.Upon its sale, he used the proceeds to finance his studies at the Fine Arts faculty in Paris.Sarkis Diranian participated in the Salons of the Society of French Artists where he received an honorable mention in 1892 and another in 1900.

Source
Peintres et sculpteurs arméniens, du 19eme siècle à nos jours
By Onnik Awetisian

Wednesday, August 8, 2012

Hovhannes Zardaryan (1918-1992)

Hovhannes Zardaryan was colourist Armenian painter, also a member of USSR Academy of Arts , Academician of the USSR Academy of Arts.


Hovhannes Zardaryan was born January 8, 1918, in Kars (now Turkey) in a family of craftsmen. During the Armenian genocide, the family takes refuge Zardaryan first in Armavir, Krasnodar and then finally settled in 1920 in Tiflis, where, at age 15, Hovhannes began his studies at the Georgian Academy of Fine arts. In 1933 he moved to Yerevan, where he continued his studies at the College of Fine Arts (later specialized Terlemezyan School) under the leadership of Armenian painters Vahram Arakelyan and Sedrak Gayfezdjian.

Thursday, August 2, 2012

Rupen Manas (1810-1875)

Sebuh Manas (1816-1889), a brother of Rupen, and another Manas named Jozef (1835-1916) both served as court artists during the reigns of Mahmud II (1808-1839), Abdulmecid I (1839-1861), Abdulaziz (1861-1876) and Abdulhamid ll (1876-1909).

Portrait of Abdulmecid I

Most notably, imperial portraitist Rupen Manas, chief interpreter at the Ottoman Embassy in Paris in 1847, received a Mecidiye medal in 1854, while his brother Sebuh Manas, also an imperial portraitist, received one the following year.The Manas brothers were assigned in the Ottoman embassy in Paris, the portraits made by Rupen Manas (181 0?- 1 875) were distributed to other embassies in Europe. Abdulmecid gave orders for a series of oil portraits of all the Ottoman sultans before him to the artist Portet. These portraits made to be exhibited in the palace are still in the Topkapi Palace.During this period interest in things Western manifested itself also in the art of painting. Mahmut II sent Rupen Manas to Paris for training in art. He had his own portrait done in oils by this artist and then had it displayed at the Sublime Porte.

Sources
Armenian painters in the Ottoman Empire, 1600-1923. by Garo Kurkman
Orientalism and Turkey, Semra Germaner, Zeynep İnankur - 1989

Mkrtum Hovnatanian (1779-1846)

Mkrtum Hovnatanian was born in a family of Hovnatanian ( Famous Armenian artists) . As the son of Ovnatan Hovnatanian, lived and worked in Tbilisi.He painted religious paintings, executed a series of images of the Armenian kings and generals.

Portrait of a priest (unknown)


Photo is from National Gallery of Armenia, Gallery.Am

Sources
"Popular Art Encyclopedia" 2nd book, publishing house "Soviet Encyclopedia", 1986 
 M. Kazarian "Artists Hovnatanian" Moscow, 1969