So, today is about survivors and not just the dead. So, here are 20 artists who survived the #ArmenianGenocide who went on to make great contributions . First, Arshile Gorky (who needs to intro). His portrait of him and his mother (2 versions) is a touchstone of American art.
Then there's the "van Gogh of Hawaii" Arman Manookian, and @johnalbertseed has a great little book about him. He had a short life, painted idealistic scenes (I wonder why), and killed himself (like many survivors sadly did) at the age of 26, 5 days before his birthday.
An artist many people don't know was a genocide survivor is Raoul Hague. The Abstract Expressionist sculptor was included in MoMA's 12 Americans exhibition (1956) (pics here). He moved to Woodstock in the 1940s and worked exclusively in wood. He lived next door to Philip Guston.
In France, Léon Arthur Tutundjian was a well respected artist who was a well-known Surrealist in the 1920s. In 1930, he co-founded the group Art Concret with fellow abstract artists Theo van Doesburg, Jean Helion, and Otto G. Carlsund.
While Panos Terlemezian wasn't born in the Ottoman Empire, he lived there and fled during the turmoil. An amazing painter I'd comapre to his contemporary Turkish artist Osman Hamdi Bey. They share a lot of commonalities in their work. This is a self portrait & a tomb in Bursa.
Then there's Arshak Fetvadjian, who was a master watercolorist. His paintings of Armenian monuments (esp. of Ani) still circulate today. He also designed the money of the first Armenian Republic (1918–20).
Hovsep Pushman left before the genocide his emigration to the US in 1896 is clearly because of the 1894-96 massacres. He was known for his still-lifes, and he was admitted to at age 11 to Istanbul's Imperial School of Fine Arts, the youngest student ever admitted.
Fun fact: Pushman's copyright lawsuit in 1940 against NY Graphic Society for reproducing a painting without his permission was decided against him. Later reversed & law now states artists retains rights. He protected artists' rights for future generations.
Yousuf Karsh was an important photographer who survived. Originally from Mardin, he was Arabic-speaking & settled in Ottawa, focusing his lens om powerful people. Fave quote by him, "Character, like a photograph, develops in darkness." His self portrait & his most famous photo.
There's also Reuben Nakian, another Ab-Exers, who had a solo show at MoMA in 1966 curated by Frank O'Hara. He has a major public work at the corner of 34th St & Second Ave in Manhattan, on the plaza of the Armenian cathedral. His family came in the late 19thC, like Pushman.
Another fun fact: Gorky, Hague, and Nakian would hang out during lunch at the Art Students League in the 1920s. They were known as "The Armenians."
There are few women on this list (patriachy!) but Zabelle C. Boyajian is one of them. Best known as a writer, her Armenian Legends and Poems (1916) was popular, she also painted and her In Greece with Pen and Palette (1938) was widely read.
Where women do appear in the arts is in the US movie industry. Born in Istanbul, Flora Zabelle was a Broadway actress who appeared in several early silent films, incl. The Red Widow (1916) opposite male lead John Barrymore. She married the actor/producer Raymond Hitchcock.
And Aurora Mardiganian. The survivor whose book was a phenomenon. She acted in Hollywood's version of own story, but we don't have a copy (no one preserved it) though 20 min was accidentally found in Buenos Aires in the 1990s. It's here.
Weird facts about the Hollywood film. They hired genocide survivors to reenact their trauma in the hills outside LA (so gross) and Mardiganian later said the reality was worse than what they were allowed to show. Also, did you know Susan Sontag's mom was an extra in the film?
Then there are the architects, like Mardiros Altounian, (born in Bursa) who designed the Lebanese parliament building, the Abed Clock Tower in Beirut, and the Cathedral of St. Gregory the Illuminator in Antelias, Lebanon.
Or Mihran Mesrobian, the architect who started his career in Smyrna (Izmir), served as the palace architect to the last Ottoman Sultan, Mehmed V, and would go on to design Washington DC landmarks, incl. Dupont Circle Bldg, Sedgwick Gardens, and the St. Regis.
You can follow @hragv.
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