YEREVAN
VIEW FROM THE FUTURE
Cafesjian Center for the Arts Yerevan 2012
This catalog is published on the occasion of the exhibition Yerevan: View From The Future. The exhibition presents selected works of Armenian art from the Yerevan History Museum, depicting Yerevan in the first half of the 20th century, together with photographs presenting the modern city. Curator: Astghik Marabyan, art historian Associate Director for Public Programs, Cafesjian Center for the Arts Editor of the catalog: Armen Yesayants, Curatorial Assistant to the Associate Director for Public Programs, Guide, Cafesjian Center for the Arts Catalog text: Foreword: Vahagn Marabyan, Acting Executive Director, Cafesjian Center for the Arts Armine Sargsyan, Director, Yerevan History Museum Art history review: Astghik Marabyan, art historian, Associate Director for Public Programs, Cafesjian Center for the Arts Photography: Photographs of modern Yerevan by Asatur Yesayants Photographs of the works of art by Sargis Adamyan Copyright by the Cafesjian Center for the Arts Design and layout: Renata S. Š 2012, Cafesjian Center for the Arts All rights reserved. No part of the content of this publication may be reproduced without prior written permission from the Cafesjian Center for the Arts. ISBN 978-9939-9068-3-6
YEREVAN
VIEW FROM THE FUTURE
With the Yerevan: View From The Future exhibition, launched on October 11, 2012, the Cafesjian Center for the Arts continues its inter-museum cooperation project through organizing joint exhibitions with sister museums. The first exhibition in this program was Spring Motifs: A Selection from the Collection of the Museum of Russian Art, organized in partnership with the Museum of Russian Art. This second exhibition was organized in partnership with the Yerevan History Museum, marking the launch of 2012 ErebuniYerevan celebrations. The exhibition on view at the Cafesjian Center for the Arts presents fine and graphic artworks by renowned Armenian artists, portraying various scenes of Yerevan in the first half of the 20th century, as well as photographs of modern-day Yerevan, symbolizing the progress of the city in retrospect to old Yerevan. Loyal to its mission of bringing the best of the contemporary art to Armenia and presenting the best of Armenian culture to the world, the Cafesjian Center for the Arts, through such joint exhibitions presented in the Center’s state-of-the-art galleries, will encourage the public to rediscover its cultural heritage and provide its sister museums with added visibility in the international community. I am confident that this presentation from the Yerevan History Museum at the Cafesjian Center for the Arts will make the museum more accessible for the art-loving community – both during this exhibition and after its closure. I extend my sincere gratitude to all those, whose dedication and determined efforts made the opening of Yerevan: View From The Future at the Cafesjian Center for the Arts a reality. 5
We are grateful to Mr. Gerard L. Cafesjian, the founder of the Cafesjian Center for the Arts, whose vision and endless inspiration have become the guiding light for many people, both in Armenia and the Diaspora. We express our deepest gratitude to the Mayor of Yerevan, Mr. Taron Margaryan, for supporting the realization of the exhibition. We congratulate and express profound gratitude to the Director of the Yerevan History Museum, Mrs. Armine Sargsyan and her staff for their effective collaboration. We also thank photographer Asatur Yesayants for the great contribution to the exhibition with his photographs of modern Yerevan. The beautiful photo-cards are attached to this catalog in an envelope. I would also like to thank the entire staff of the Cafesjian Center for the Arts for their dedication to the Cafesjian legacy and for realizing the exhibition. We are confident that the Yerevan: View From The Future exhibition will provide you with unforgettable moments and an opportunity to reconsider our beloved capital with its not-long-distant past and present, at the same time offering inspiration and hope for its promising future.
Vahagn Marabyan, Acting Executive Director, Cafesjian Center for the Arts 6
Yerevan has been a source of inspiration for many artists, past and present. More than one hundred songs and poems have been devoted to the 2794 year-old capital, embodied on canvas with various works of fine art. Each of those creations voiced the words their authors had cherished for the old and new, the everlasting city. The Yerevan History Museum currently hosts more than 150 works of fine and graphic arts that depict Yerevan with its narrow and cozy streets, yards and parks. Looking at those artworks one may start a journey to the Yerevan of the early 20th century, linger in its welcoming yards, find refuge from the scorching sun and chill in the shade of centenarian trees, refresh oneself with icy water from drinking fountains, admire blooming apple and peach trees, inhale the sweet odor of Russian olive. These works are valuable not only from an artistic but also from a historical perspective, for they represent a city that has now become history. Owing to M. Saryan, P. Terlemezian, H. Kojoyan, S. Arakelyan and other celebrated artists, the younger generation today enjoys the opportunity to form a true idea of the Yerevan they have never seen. The Yerevan of that epoch is presented in Yerevan: View From The Future, a joint exhibition by the Yerevan History Museum and the Cafesjian Center for the Arts, dedicated to the 2794th anniversary of our capital. Armine Sargsyan, Director, Yerevan History Museum 7
Yerevan: View From The Future Yerevan: View From The Future is the second initiative of the inter-museum cooperation project by the Cafesjian Center for the Arts, organized in partnership with the Yerevan History Museum. The exhibition that marks the 2794th anniversary of Yerevan, the 12th capital of Armenia, presents 23 paintings and 13 graphic works by renowned Armenian artists from the collection of the Yerevan History Museum, portraying Yerevan of the first half of the 20th century in contrast to 14 photographs of the modern-day city. The establishment of the Soviet regime in Armenia was crucial in the history of the nearly 3000-year-old city. Yerevan became not only the economic and political center of Armenia, but also developed into a cultural hearth for the whole Armenian nation, uniting under its shelter both renowned masters and young artists. Creative efforts by Martiros Saryan, Panos Terlemezian, Sedrak Arakelyan, Gabriel Gyurjyan, Vahram Gayfejian, Hakob Kojoyan and other artists paved new paths for the development of Armenian culture. Despite ideological oppression and limitations to creative expression reigning all-around, national art continued conquering new heights, owing to dedicated followers of Armenian culture, who captured for posterity in their artworks the image of the reviving capital with Ararat in the background. Early in 1937 an exhibition devoted to Yerevan was organized through joint efforts of M. Saryan, P. Terlemezian, S. Arakelyan and G. Gyurjyan. 8
Yerevan: View From The Future passes on the initiative of these ambassadors of Armenian culture, presenting in a new light a selection of artworks devoted to Yerevan, reconsidering their artistic and historical role. Spring in Yerevan, Autumn in Yerevan, A Yard in Yerevan, Dzoragyugh, Yerevan Under Construction, Old Yerevan, A Street in Yerevan and other city scenes are crystallized in works by M. Saryan, P. Terlemezian, S. Arakelyan, G. Gyurjyan, V. Gayfejian, T. Ter-Vardanyan, Kh. Yesayan, A. Mamajanyan, H. Kojoyan, S. Taryan and others. Artworks created by the brush strokes of the greatest Armenian artists constitute unique artistic documentaries of Yerevan in the early 20th century, where the old city presents itself to the modern-day spectator with its clay houses, cozy yards and neighborhoods, autumn and spring scenes. The selection of photographs portraying Yerevan today adds new hues and interpretation to the odelike landscapes that immortalize our longstanding city. Architectural monuments, cultural structures and photographs of sites that have become Yerevan’s calling card to symbolize the city of the future, reflecting the flight of the ancient city, while the gleaming eyes smiling at us from photographs radiate the light of hope, extending a view, confident with the strength of millennia, toward the future. Yerevan: View From The Future offers a century-long journey from the historical city to the Yerevan of the future, where the 2794-year-old capital appears to the observer as everlasting on the crossroads of time. Astghik Marabyan, art historian Associate Director for Public Programs, Cafesjian Center for the Arts 9
Works in the Exhibition
Martiros Saryan (1880-1972) Spring in Yerevan, 1928
Oil on canvas 66 x 70 cm
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Martiros Saryan (1880-1972) Yerevan After Rain, 1942
12
Oil on canvas 81 x 116 cm
Panos Terlemezian (1865-1941) Autumn in Yerevan, 1935
Oil on cardboard 60 x 80 cm
13
Panos Terlemezian (1865-1941) Spring in Yerevan, 1936
14
Oil on canvas 65 x 80 cm
Panos Terlemezian (1865-1941) Spring in Yerevan, 1937
Oil on canvas 43 x 56 cm
15
Gabriel Gyurjyan (1892-1987) A Street in Yerevan, 1923
16
Oil on canvas 54 x 67 cm
Gabriel Gyurjyan (1892-1987) A View from the Old Yerevan, 1925
Oil on canvas 44 x 68 cm
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Gabriel Gyurjyan (1892-1987) Kond (Tapabash), 1924
18
Oil on canvas 40 x 49.5 cm
Sedrak Arakelyan (1884-1942) A Yard in Yerevan, 1922
Oil on canvas 25 x 31 cm
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Sedrak Arakelyan (1884-1942) Khorun Bulagh, 1925
20
Oil on canvas 39 x 59 cm
Sedrak Arakelyan (1884-1942) Dzoragyugh, 1922
Oil on cardboard 30 x 22 cm
21
Sedrak Arakelyan (1884-1942) A View from Kond, 1926
22
Oil on cardboard 22 x 29 cm
Vahram Gayfejian (1879-1960) A Yard in Yerevan, 1920s
Oil on canvas 50 x 60 cm
23
Vahram Gayfejian (1879-1960) View of Old Yerevan, 1927
24
Oil on canvas 34 x 52 cm
Taragros (Taragros Ter-Vardanyan) (1878-1953) Spring in Yerevan, 1927
Oil on canvas 33 x 103 cm
Taragros (Taragros Ter-Vardanyan) (1878-1953) Autumn in Yerevan, 1935
Oil on canvas 36 x 110 cm
Levon Tonakanyan (1908-1943) Yerevan Under Construction, 1935
26
Oil on canvas 75 x 95 cm
Khachatur Yesayan (1909-1977) A Yard in Yerevan, 1940s
Oil on cardboard 17 x 22 cm
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Khachatur Yesayan (1909-1977) Old Yerevan, 1940s
28
Oil on cardboard 16 x 20 cm
Stepan Aghajanyan (1863-1940) Winter in Yerevan, 1930s
Oil on canvas 45 x 55 cm
29
Stepan Taryan (1899-1954) A Street in Old Yerevan, 1940s
30
Oil on canvas 35 x 45 cm
Parsam Simonyan (1911-1985) Old Yerevan
Oil on canvas 41 x 54 cm
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Guros (Gurgen Paronyan-Hovsepyan) (1905-1981) A View from Kond Mosque, 1937
32
Oil on cardboard 35 x 51 cm
Ashot Mamajanyan (1908-1994) Old Yerevan, 1949
Etching 20 x 28 cm
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Ashot Mamajanyan (1908-1994) Old Yerevan: On the Bank of Getar, 1945
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Linocut 25 x 20 cm
Ashot Mamajanyan (1908-1994) Yerevan: The Building of Philharmony, 1945
Linocut 20 x 17 cm
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Ashot Mamajanyan (1908-1994) The Old Bridge of Yerevan and the “Ararat” Trest, 1945
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Etching 22 x 29.5 cm
Gabriel Gyurjyan (1892-1987) Watermills on the Bank of Hrazdan, 1923
Pencil on paper 24 x 31 cm
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Gabriel Gyurjyan (1892-1987) A Yerevan Motif, 1923
38
Pencil on paper 23 x 17 cm
Gevorg Hovsepyan (1880-1937) The Right Bank of Hrazdan, 1925
Mixed media 24 x 46 cm
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Gevorg Hovsepyan (1880-1937) Houses on the Way to Hydro Station, 1934
Mixed media 29 x 48 cm
Hakob Kojoyan (1883-1959) Dzoragyugh, 1929
Woodcut 17.5 x 20.5 cm
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Taragros (Taragros Ter-Vardanyan) (1878-1953) The Old Bridge of Nork, 1928
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Pencil on paper 26 x 35 cm
Ararat Gharibyan (1903-1952) Construction of Lenin Square Pool, 1950
Pencil on paper 36 x 54 cm
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Ararat Gharibyan (1903-1952) Kond: Sayat-Nova Street, 1935
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Pencil on paper 25 x 37 cm
Ararat Gharibyan (1903-1952) The Shariatskaya Street, 1935
Watercolor on paper 22 x 30 cm
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Aghajanyan, Stepan (1863-1940) Winter in Yerevan, 1930s, oil on canvas, 45x55cm Arakelyan, Sedrak (1884-1942) A Yard in Yerevan, 1922, oil on canvas, 25x31cm Dzoragyugh, 1922, oil on cardboard, 30x22cm Khorun Bulagh, 1925, oil on canvas, 39x59cm A View from Kond, 1926, oil on cardboard, 22x29cm Gayfejian, Vahram (1879-1960) A Yard in Yerevan, 1920s, oil on canvas, 50x60cm View of Old Yerevan, 1927, oil on canvas, 34x52cm Gharibyan, Ararat (1903-1952) Construction of Lenin Square Pool, 1950, pencil on paper, 36x54cm Kond: Sayat-Nova Street, 1935, pencil on paper, 25x37cm The Shariatskaya Street, 1935, watercolor on paper, 22x30cm Guros (Gurgen Paronyan-Hovsepyan) (1905-1981) A View from Kond Mosque, 1937, oil on cardboard, 35x51cm 46
Gyurjyan, Gabriel (1892-1987) A Street in Yerevan, 1923, oil on canvas, 54x67cm Kond (Tapabash), 1924, oil on canvas, 40x49.5cm A View from the Old Yerevan, 1925, oil on canvas, 44x68 cm Watermills on the Bank of Hrazdan, 1923, pencil on paper, 24x31cm Yerevan Motif, 1923, pencil on paper, 23x17cm Hovsepyan, Gevorg (1880-1937) The Right Bank of Hrazdan, 1925, mixed media, 24x46cm Houses on the Way to Hydro Station, 1934, mixed media, 29x48cm Kojoyan, Hakob (1883-1959) Dzoragyugh, 1929, Woodcut, 17.5x20.5cm Mamajanyan, Ashot (1908-1994) Old Yerevan: On the Bank of Getar, 1945, linocut, 25x20cm Yerevan: The Building of Philharmony, 1945, linocut, 20x17cm The Old Bridge of Yerevan and the “Ararat� Trest, 1945, etching, 22x29.5cm Old Yerevan, 1949, etching, 20x28cm Saryan, Martiros (1880-1972) Spring in Yerevan, 1928, oil on canvas, 66x70cm Yerevan After Rain, 1942, oil on canvas, 81x116cm 47
Simonyan, Parsam (1911-1985) Old Yerevan, oil on canvas, 41x54cm Taragros (Taragros Ter-Vardanyan) (1878-1953) Spring in Yerevan, 1927, oil on canvas, 33x103 cm Autumn in Yerevan, 1935, oil on canvas, 36x110 cm The Old Bridge of Nork, 1928, pencil on paper, 26x35cm Taryan, Stepan (1899-1954) A Street in Old Yerevan, 1940s, oil on canvas, 35x45cm Terlemezian, Panos (1865-1941) Autumn in Yerevan, 1935, oil on cardboard, 60x80cm Spring in Yerevan, 1936, oil on canvas, 65x80cm Spring in Yerevan, 1937, oil on canvas, 43x56cm Tonakanyan, Levon (1908-1943) Yerevan Under Construction, 1935, oil on canvas, 75x95cm Yesayan, Khachatur (1909-1977) A Yard in Yerevan, 1940s, oil on cardboard, 17x22cm Old Yerevan, 1940s, oil on cardboard, 16x20cm
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