The Armenian miniature: the love of the book, the power of the image
Very early on, Armenians sought to give more strength to the revealed word by resorting to images. Their love for books was affirmed by the need to illustrate them with a profusion of miniatures and illuminations, which are to Armenian pictorial art what icons are to Orthodox Christianity. The works that have come down to us tell the history of Armenian painting, from the first specimen dating from the 6th century to the later examples of the 17th-18th centuries. In addition to the pictorial dimension, these manuscripts designed by medieval copyists are a valuable source of information on the period.
The oldest known fragment consists of four miniatures relating episodes from the Gospel, sewn at the bottom of the Etchmiadzin Gospel Book (preserved in the Matenadaran), a manuscript copied in 989 and renowned for its beautiful 6th-century binding. During the period of Arab domination, the art of manuscript making took a break, the resumption of pictorial activity being masterfully announced by the so-called Evangeliary of Queen Mlk'ê dating from 850-860, which anticipates the characteristics at work in the illuminated manuscripts of the 10th and 11th centuries. The figures with precise and expressive features are depicted in vivid colours, still bearing the influence of Byzantium. The illustrations consist of frames with double and triple arcatures of the concordance canons (xoran), meticulously illuminated with floral and vegetal motifs, in which peacocks and other birds blend in.From Ani's school to rebirth
It was in the 11th century that Armenian miniature painting asserted itself as a national art form, under the impetus of the Bagratid dynasty. Alongside the Byzantine influences, a more original style was born, known as "courtly", of which Ani is the centre of influence. Two major manuscripts bear witness to the richness of this school of Ani, the Trebizond (St Lazarus) and the so-called Gaguik (Jerusalem) manuscripts. The vivid tones of the illustrations and the audacity of the chromatic combinations betray the oriental influence.
In the 13th and 14th centuries, the miniature reached its full development, taking advantage of the rebirth of Armenian sovereignty in the north and the cultural and political influence of the Armenian state that was created in 1080 in Cilicia. A parallel development, however, as these two centres were subject to very diverse influences. The pictorial production of Greater Armenia is composite, due to the heterogeneity of a territory where several influences, particularly Georgian, can be seen on the interior walls of some churches. In the 14th century, the Gladzor school in the province of Siunik, in the south of present-day Armenia, was the most famous, as attested by the Gospel of 1323 (Matenadaran) by the famous Toros Taronetsi. The school of Cilicia, where Byzantine and Western influences were grafted onto national traditions to produce a sumptuous ornamental art, bears witness to a greater homogeneity, due to the very nature of the new Armenian state. Its greatest representative is Toros Roslin (1210-1270). Although he himself bequeathed only a small number of signed works, the aristocratic scriptoria of Hromkla and Sis became a breeding ground for talent thanks to him. These manuscripts abound with large, refined illustrations, attesting to a sense of theatricality in the arrangement of the characters within detailed settings. The fall of the kingdom of Cilicia in 1375 and the Mongol invasions in Asia Minor marked the end of this golden age of the miniature, which was later practised only in a few centres of Vaspourakan or in the diasporic colonies.From modern painting to contemporary art
What remains of this art of miniature in modern Armenian painting? Few things, apart from the sense of the sacred that inspired it, and the will to produce a deeply national art. From the end of the 18th century, Armenian painters sacrificed to Western aesthetic canons, without denying Persian and Ottoman influences. The works of the Hovnatanian, a dynasty of Armenian painters of the late 18th century, who executed the frescoes of the Etchmiadzin Cathedral and left behind a whole gallery of portraits on canvas of important figures of the time, bear witness to this. They thus laid the foundations of modern Armenian painting, whose Western influences were confirmed when the Yerevan region joined the Russian Empire, while preserving national traditions. The Yerevan National Gallery of Painting provides a comprehensive overview of the works of the time, which not only depict Mount Ararat in infinite variations, but also offer a valuable testimony to a changing Armenian society.
At the beginning of the 1920s, the country was propelled into a new world under the influence of the USSR, and the canons of Soviet art gradually imposed themselves. The painter Mardiros Sarian (1880-1972) thus sought to reconcile Soviet norms and Armenian identity, a delicate mission carried out with a clear sense of compromise in his landscapes, portraits and scenes of daily life. In contrast to Sarian, Arshile Gorky (1904-1948) followed a completely different path, exploring the new currents of New York avant-garde art. Later, in the 1970s, Minas Avétissian (1928-1975), a disciple of Sarian, emancipated his art from the canons of socialist realism, which led him to be classed as a non-conformist and to be confronted with censorship. Similarly, Sergueï Paradjanov (1924-1990), a filmmaker, but also a painter and collage-maker, paid for his refusal to bend to the norm in the 1980s from prison. Disappeared when Armenia gained independence, he is now considered a national celebrity.
Subsequently, a number of artists have focused on the memory of the genocide, such as Grigor Khandjian (1926-2000) or the French-Armenian Jean Jansem (1920-2013), who express in their works morbid impulses sublimated in a vital impulse drawn from national myths. Today, a new generation of artists has come to renew the Armenian scene, enjoying increasing international attention. In May 2015, the Golden Lion thus rewarded the Armenian pavilion, represented by a dozen artists from the diaspora, including the not-to-be-missed Sarkis (1938 -), originally from Istanbul and living in France, or the young Istanbul artist Hera Büyüktaşçıyan (1984 -).Sculpture, an art above all decorative
Archaeological excavations have brought to light bronze and stone statuettes and figurines showing that carving was carried out in Armenia from the earliest antiquity. During the Hellenistic period, the Greco-Roman aesthetic canons were used by Greek sculptors, as evidenced by the bas-reliefs at the base of the Temple of Garni or the beautiful bronze statue of the goddess Anahit, now on display in the British Museum in London.
With the advent of Christianity, sculpture had above all an ornamental vocation, as the Armenian Church refused to reproduce the image of Christ and the saints except in richly illuminated manuscripts. These dogmatic reservations limited the use of frescoes and, to a lesser extent, statuary to decorate places of worship. The façades and interior walls of churches are thus carved with blind arcatures and other pediments emphasizing porches and windows, while the figurative sculptures consist mainly of a few bas-reliefs. The thousands of khatchkars, these stelae inlaid with crosses embroidered in stone, bear witness to an early ability to chisel stone with the precision of lacemakers. These decorations later evolved towards high relief, but never the round-hump, which was banned as among the Byzantines. The church of Aghtamar, on an island in Lake Van, now in Turkey, is a perfect example.
In the 13th-14th centuries, Armenian sculptors showed an unprecedented audacity, multiplying their free interventions on the tympanums of monumental portals. Armenian sculpture was then influenced by ornamental themes belonging to the Muslim world. In the 17th-19th centuries, this repertoire was enriched by Persian, Ottoman and European motifs, thus responding to the eclectic tastes of the clients, mainly merchants. The Western influence, initially discreet and reduced to certain floral motifs, was accentuated in the 19th century under the influence of Russia in architecture, towards an almost Baroque exuberance.
During the Soviet era, Armenian sculpture followed the canons of proletarian art, exalting in bronze the new heroes, workers and peasants, represented alongside national, local and Soviet glories, starting with Lenin - whose statue was enthroned in Yerevan Republic Square until 1991. The powerful statues of Ervand Kotchar (1899-1979), illustrating this trend, still adorn the squares of Yerevan. Far from denying Kotchar, present-day Armenia gives him credit for expressing Armenian genius and glorifying national heroes in the constraining context of socialist realism. His house-museum in Yerevan can be admired today. Since independence, the squares, parks and streets of the capital have been adorned with numerous sculptures, some of which came from abroad, such as the Botero at the foot of the famous Cascade, not far from a sculpture by Rodin.Armenians, pioneers of photography in the Ottoman world
When photography developed in the 19th century, the Armenians immediately took up the technique, becoming its pioneers and main protagonists throughout the Ottoman Empire. It all began with the Abdullah brothers, the first official photographers of His Imperial Majesty the Sultan, who settled in the Pera district of Istanbul and gradually turned it into the photographic centre of the Levant. For many other members of the Eastern Armenian diaspora, this art became a privileged means of subsistence. While Western visitors were mainly interested in landscape, Armenian photographers focused on portrait and studio work - becoming indispensable as the practice became more popular. Whether in Istanbul, Beirut, Damascus or Cairo, their works represent precious archives, testimonies and memories of a changing Eastern society. Today, this tradition continues with new generations of artists, whose works can be admired at the Armenian International Photofest held in Yerevan every summer.
Street Art, a growing practice
Without invading the streets of Armenian cities, street art begins to express itself timidly but surely. The Velvet Revolution in 2018 has stimulated a surge of creativity among Armenian youth, who are expressing themselves more freely and have made street art one of their favourite mediums. It is in the capital that this movement is most noticeable, testifying to the reappropriation of public space by citizens. Little by little, the walls of former Soviet buildings are being adorned with colours, committed or poetic messages. Various events support this creative fervour throughout the year, such as the Urvakan festival which takes place every autumn. To admire the nuggets of street art in Erevan, go to the Kond gallery, an open-air space created by Sereg Navasardyan aka Yerevantropics, or to the many arcades that punctuate the city. You will undoubtedly come across the works of one of the masters of the genre, Robert Nikoghossian, whose career reflects that of many other taggers who have become institutionalized after years of working in the shadows and illegality. His works have thus had the privilege of decorating the platforms of the capital's metro in 2017.
