Ervand Kochar (1899–1979)

Ervand Kochar was a likeable and many-sided personality, equally talented as a painter and as a sculptor. His equestrian statue of the legendary Armenian hero David of Sassoun rears up in front of Yerevan railway station.

An immensely gifted artist, he had lived and worked in Paris from 1923 until 1936 but then, although highly successful  there, he returned to Soviet Armenia. After his return he was accused of the Soviet crime of formalism and suffered periods of imprisonment.

Sources
The Armenians:a people in exile by David Marshall Lang
Armenia with Nagorno Karabagh by By Nicholas Holding, Deirdre Holding