Category Archives: CULTURE

Summary

Lilit Sh. Mikaelyan

Key words – Aghtamar; Church of Holy Cross; Kingdom of Artsruni; Armenian medieval sculpture; Early Christian art; Iconography; Prophet Jonah; Jewish sources; Kētos; Sea monster; Vishap; Senmurv; Sasanian culture.

The Church of the Holy Cross (915-921) on the island of Aghtamar is famous for its rich sculptural decoration of facades and for the wideness of the stories, in particular on the Old Testament. There are many studies on this monument, nevertheless the interpretations of several compositions and the iconographic origins of some images of it are still in dispute. Among them the story of Prophet Jonah (Jonah 1-4) is notable, which occupies the entire south-western part of the main sculptural band and is the most extensive narrative composition of Aghtamar. On the left side of the large composition there is the scene of the swallowing of Jonah by the whale and then there is the episode of the release of the prophet from the belly of the sea monster,and his rest under the shadow of the gourd bush, and above it is depicted the scene of preaching in Nineveh. The iconography of scenes and images of the Jonah’s story in Aghtamar has early Christian prototypes: the fragment of a sailboat with the figures,the representation of the prophet’s naked figure, as well as,the image of the sea monster date back to the ancient ketos. The baldness of the prophet in the recreation scene comes from the Jewish sources, according to which he had lost his hair being in the fiery belly of the whale. At the church of Aghtamar we have one of the earliest samples of this type of Jonah’s iconography in Christian art. The scene of preaching in Nineveh is also a very early and unique interpretation of the episode, not known in early Christian art indicating a certain creative approach of the artist. At Aghtamar both sea monsters are done with the head of a dog and the body of a fish, but the whale ejecting the prophet has also wings and paws of the predator. The representation of the whale in two different guises in the church of the Holy Cross is unique for the Christian art. The iconography of the second monster and details of its depiction reveal obvious parallels with the image of the so-called «senmurv» in Sasanian art. According to the latest studies, it was the embodiment of Farn – the deity of fortune, glory and heavenly patronage of Zoroastrian mythology. The use of the iconography of the «senmurv» in the image of the whale on Aghtamar bears out its interpretation in a positive way against the orthodox Christian tradition, but is accordant to the symbol of the whale in Jewish exegesis as the savior and patron of the prophet (Midrash, Haggadah, Philo of Alexandria). In the Sogdian culture, close to Sasanian Iran, sea monsters were the patrons of kings and heroes, as we can see in VIII century frescoes in Panjakent. The influence of Iranian art is quite significant for Aghtamar from the perspective of the cultural contacts of the Kingdom of Artsruni with the Arab Caliphate, which resulted in the revival of Sasanian art. We can find the images of the whale as a sea monster in X century monuments of Transcaucasia, too. The bald Jonah in the mouth of a sea monster is known in the décor of Khakhu Cathedral in Tayk, on the relief of the church in KvaisaJvari in South Ossetia, on the fragment of the templon from the church in Dranda in Abkhazia (all dated to the X century). The latter confirms the existence of a common tradition of the depiction of the story in Armenia and throughout Transcaucasia in this period. Later, in XIII century Cilician miniature, as well as on the relief of the high apse in the Church of the Mother of God (1205) of Makaravank, this story is interpreted according to the Western iconography, where the whale has already the appearance of a real fish.

Summary

Gegham M. Asatryan

Key words – Makravank, 9-11th centuries cross-stones, earlykhachkars, simplicity, Kotayk’s artistic style, “Hrazdan type” of cross stones, “Annie style”.

There are numerous cross-stones in different stages of preservation throughout the territory of the complex of Makaravank located in the north-west ofKotayk’sregional center, Hrazdan. Early cross-stones date back to the 9-11th centuries. They, along with the patterns of general cross-stone art development, still have certain peculiarities and thus, since 9-11th centuries have been the basis for the “Hrazdan type” of cross-stones, which dates back to the twelfth century and is older than the other, i.e., “Geghard type” formed in Kotayk. They have playedunique role in establishing it, as well asin the separation from the early cross-stones,that is, the cross-stone of 959 AD, which is a separate set of crossstone school in two neighboring provincesof Kotayk and Aragatsotn.There are also several other early cross-stones as well as the cross-stone of 1039, which, as we found out is a cross-stone of “Annie style”. The latter clearly allows us to conclude that this style had not gone beyond the central parts of Kotayk.

Summary

Shushanik S. Hambaryan

Key words – Constantinople, Markos Patkerahan, manuscript, miniature painting, portrait, martyrdom, fathers of the church, saints, ornament, ornamental script.

Markos Patkerahan is a miniaturist of the 17th century, one of the outstanding representatives of Constantinopolitan school of miniature. There are eleven extant manuscripts illustrated by Markos Patkerahan. Menologium No. 1502 was copied at the church of Saint Sargis the General and his son Martiros in Constantinople in 1651 by the scribe Christosatur. The Menologium contains six hundred and five marginal and half-page miniatures, eleven elaborate headpieces and one hundred and twenty-seven separate marginal ornaments including birds and temples. Markos Patkerahan was responsible for these illustrations . This manuscript is a rare example of a lavishly decorated Menologium and has particular value for any historian of the seventeenth-century Armenian miniature painting.

Summary

Ruben S. Angaladyan

Key words – Ara Shiraz, exhibition, talent, responsibility, artistic life, artist of the sixties, composition of a sculptural portrait, real beauty, Armenian culture.

The works by sculptor Ara Shiraz that are presented in the National Gallery of Armenia from November 18, 2017 until the end of the year, bear the stamp of an artistic personality. Clay and wax in his works seek and find the power of his mind, the blood of his tribe, the warmth of the soul striving for the future. In his work he puts a higher level of analysis than are just the justice or beauty. Ara Shiraz saw in Armenia not only the old history, not only the greatness of the spirit, but also shortcomings and imperfections. He was true to this artistic logic of development, a stony landscape open before the winds, he could argue until he was almost to death with the Time itself, that is, with Armenia itself. So he passed away, with anxiety for his country, for the future and for his culture!

Therefore, the works of Shiraz, in which contemporaries are represented, convince, inspiring confidence in our souls, that although his creative path was unexpectedly and quite early completed, this difficult path was passed to the end. It’s time for a deep understanding of his multi-layered work. It’s time for Ara Shiraz to take his rightful place in the Armenian culture, beginning from the 60s of the 20th century to the first decade of the 21st century.

Summary

Ruben S. Angaladyan

Key words – Ivan Aivazovsky, Armenian community, Armenian themes, the spiritual and heroic history of Armenia, portraits of outstanding Armenians, Russian sailors, pulse of historical homeland.

The purpose of the work is to show how well the art of Ivan Aivazovsky (1817-1900) fits into the Armenian world and if the great seascapeist can be considered as a Russian as well as Armenian painter.

As a man, he was not alien to his roots, he felt like an Armenian and was proud of his creative and spiritual people. He greatly respected Armenian traditions, in fact, was brought up in a traditional Armenian family, and therefore the Armenian community was always top-priority for the artist. He created more than 40 canvases on Armenian themes. Some of them are dedicated to the spiritual and heroic history of Armenia, others are portraits of his family and friends, as well as portraits of outstanding Armenians – Catholicos of All Armenians Mkrtich Khrimyan, Minister Loris-Melikov, Mayor of Nor Nakhichevan Kh. Khalibyan.

He received encouragement, attention, and then – really high recognition in Russia. He loved Russia’s devotion to the sea, admiring the courage of Russian sailors. But he never moved away from the native Armenian people and wherever he was, he was always feeling the pulse of his historical homeland.

Summary

Sargis G. Petrosyan

Key words – Armenian highland, king, epic hero, leopard, leopard skin, etymology, taboo, anagram, man, morning, the vernal equinox, New Year, offering, arrow, noose, chamois, pictography

The leopard’s mythological image is the famous zoomorphic symbol of the ancient Mideast legendary king which was associated with the leopard and was drawn primarily on the leopard, afterwards in the leopard’s skin. As informed by Movses Khorenatsi, the Midian king Azhdahak, the rival of the Armenian King TigranYervandian (VI c. B.C.), told that he had the following evil dream: in the country of Haykids (i.e. Armenia), on the top of a high mountain (mount Masis – Big Ararat is meant) a beautiful woman (Mother Goddess is meant) gave birth to three godlike heroes, the first of which headed towards the West, riding a lion, the second, on a leopard, headed for the North, and the third attacked Midia, bridling a dragon.

In the Indo-European poetic texts of mythological nature the ancient poets chose the words so as to reproduce the sounds of the heroes’ names or the epithets of the characters the poem (hymn) was dedicated to. In the ancient Armenian poem about the New-year death desire of the Armenian King ArtashesPartev (told by GrigorMagistros) the person of the hero-king as a male-leopard was coded via the anagram. On one of the rock drawings on mount Ukhtasar in Syunik (pic. 3) the hunter is standing on a leopard. He is armed with a bow, arrows and a lasso, that is to say as a neolithic foot hunter – the prototype of the hero-king. His figure/ body is drawn on the central part of the stone and is surrounded by wild she-goats (on the left stone) and he-goats (on the right stone). The drawing represents the motives of the ancient Armenian myth about the ritual new-year hunting of the King-Leopard.

Variant reading and complexity of the definition

Summary

Slavi-Avik M. Harutyunyan

Key words – “the philosophical theory of the value”, the genre, the determination, the term, the Socratic method, the sex, the aspect, the value, the content, the logical schemas of T. Monroe, the extensional approach, the intentional approach, the aesthetic valuations, “the utilitarian” art.

In the given article the problems of the conception and the determination of the genre are examined in philosophy, in the sciences of art, culture, and literature. There are two main approaches of the genre determination which are considered: extensional and intentional.

From one hand, it’s an empiric and inductive approach where the author is relying on already existing multiple types of art and he is looking for signs corresponding to those types. On another hand, it’s a theoretical, deductive and an individualizing method thanks to which certain functions of the genre are regarded as a whole unit. Depending on these approaches, which are intertwined in a certain way, the term of genre is characterized by consistency and content which refer to the unified set of significant signs based on which the group of objects stand out, i.e. the volume.

The classification and the division imply the sequential division of some original notion into its kinds, and the kinds are, in their turn, divided into sub-kinds.

Therefore, the classification begins from the analysis of the logical operation of the division by splitting the volume of the generic notion into the unending volumes of the notions of the kinds. However, the operation is done in a way that, the notions of the kinds end up depleting the entire volume of the generic notion.

While performing such an analysis in a generic aspect on a specific historic and cultural material, it becomes clear that the level of the relative “independence” of the art is different depending on the era and, moreover, that “independence” tends to increase. That process of the increasing “independence” starts from boundary diffuseness in the framework of the syncretic primitive culture, it acquires a certain “independence” in the Ancient world and Middle ages up to the significant independence and recognition of its self-value in the era of Renaissance and Illumination, and finally, it reaches the point of “the art for the art”. Thus, the demand of the splitting the notions in a way other than “classical and generic” is rather related to the science development, it is also caused when a specific type of art, aesthetic and culture sciences push their own boundaries. In a chain of four classification problems, the lowest point, according to the author, is the problem of the genres, and the highest point is the differentiation of the arts and “no arts” (that being said, the forms and the products of the human activity related to the arts). All those problems can be considered productive only in the case of consistent and complex analysis because each of those problems has the boundary issue. Nevertheless, each of those classification problems is relatively self-sufficient and has immanent for its own of reflexion. The problem of correlations between various spheres of culture (including art) is first of all examined in philosophy and cultural studies: in philosophy it is studied due to its connection with more generic problems such as the law of being. In cultural sciences it is studied due to its connection with culture and ongoing studies of synthetic character.

Summary

Shushanik G. Zohrabyan

Key words – Raffy Sarkissian, national roots, sculptures, perception, artistic language, letters, symbols.

To understand Raffi Sarkisian’s art it is important to consider the matters connected with national thinking and expression of artistic language. The titles of his works remind the meaning of thoughts and emotions invested in them. There are key themes in Sarkissian’s artworks: the individual and society, human being and nature, the Armenian Genocide. Bronze sculptures reveal a very spiritual and emotional depth. Branches of trees, plants, roots, leaves, frequently used typical characteristic elements, symbols that help the revelation of image, making an inseparable part of his artistic language. Deeply national sculptures represent the language of the world art, and are a part of this family.

In the manuscript Gospel of the Russian State Library (f. 439.23.5)

Summary

Inesa G. Danielyan

Key words – Momik, Armenian miniature, Illuminated Gospel, Russian State Library, Portraits of the Evengelists, Miniature of Gladzor, Orbelian.

The article is devoted to study of the miniatures of Armenian Four Gospels from Russian State Library (f. 439.23.5). The illustration of the manuscript consists of khorans, portraits of the Evangelists, title pages and marginalia. It is unknown when, where and by whom was created the manuscript, because the last pages where usually are given the main information about the manuscript – lost. Article discusses the question of the author of paintings of the Russian State Library’s manuscript. In 1963, Tatiana Izmailova, a prominent scholar, in unpublished description of that manuscript, which is also stored in Russian State Library, it is noted that the artistic decoration of the Four Gospels is close to Gladzor school of Armenian miniature and to the paintings of master Momik. T. Izmailova dated the manuscript to the beginning of the 14th century. Based on stylistic and iconographic study of the miniatures we can confirm that the artist of the Gospel was the famous Armenian medieval master – miniaturist, sculptor and architect Momik. The compositions of miniatures representing the Evangelists, as well as their images and types indicate the relationship between the paintings of Momik’s manuscript of 1302 (Matenadaran, N 6792) and therefore, the Gospel can be dated to the first decade of the 14th century. If we take into account some additional details, we can make assumptions about the identity of the patron of the manuscript. The abundant use of gold in the illustrations, as well as the parchment, on which the manuscript was written, indicates the material well-being of the donor. It is not excluded that the patron of the manuscript was one of the most important member of the noble family Orbelian as master Momik mostly worked under their patronage. The article is devoted to study of the miniatures of Armenian Four Gospels from Russian State Library (f. 439.23.5). The illustration of the manuscript consists of khorans, portraits of the Evangelists, title pages and marginalia. It is unknown when, where and by whom was created the manuscript, because the last pages where usually are given the main information about the manuscript – lost. Article discusses the question of the author of paintings of the Russian State Library՛s manuscript. In 1963, Tatiana Izmailova, a prominent scholar, in unpublished description of that manuscript, which is also stored in Russian State Library, noted that the artistic decoration of the Four Gospels is close to Gladzor school of Armenian miniature and to the paintings of master Momik. T. Izmailova dated the manuscript to the beginning of the 14th century. Based on stylistic and iconographic study of the miniatures we can confirm that the artist of the Gospel was famous Armenian medieval master – miniaturist, sculptor and architect Momik. The compositions of miniatures representing the Evangelists, as well as their images and types indicate the relationship between the paintings of Momik՛s manuscript of 1302 (Matenadaran, N 6792) and therefore, the Gospel can be dated to the first decade of the 14th century. If we take into account some additional details, we can make assumptions about the identity of the patron of the manuscript. The abundant use of gold in the illustrations, as well as the parchment, on which the manuscript was written, indicate the material well-being of the donor. It is not excluded that the patron of the manuscript was one of the most important member of the noble family Orbelian as master Momik mostly worked under their patronage.

Part two. Text and external context

Summary

Slavi Avik-M. Harutyunyan

Key words – theatre, cinema, performance, recipient, text, external context, Yuri Lotman, text area, imaginary world, reality, pseudo reality, spectator, mysteries, stage.

The types of mutual relations of text and external context are analyzed in the article. The external context is taking part in the forming of text’s gist process and that’s why its features and any changes within it can affect on the perception and evaluation of the artwork. Parallel to this, the opposite phenomenon is analyzed: how the text in its turn affects the context, participates in its forming process. The texts of various forms of art affect the process of forming of “living environment”, as well as they affect each other. While the problem of “text and external context” is researched, the phenomenon in which the creator of the artwork tries to blur the boarders between the artwork and the external context is also analyzed. The research of the penetration method of real life events into the art is made with the examples of the theatre, the cinema and the fiction literature. And finally, it is shown that the wide penetration of the life into the art causes the boarders between the real world and the imaginary word to become even more blurred. And not only the art becomes the reflection and formulation of the real world but the reality also starts to reflect the art which has a huge influence on the life in the modern mass culture by forming a system with particular esthetic statements and also moral, socio-political and similar standards, a system of ideas and assessments.