2002_05 Hye Sharzhoom Newspaper May 2002

              May 2002
Hye Sharzhoom
5
GENOCIDE
FROM PAGE 1
L to R: Dikran Chekian, Ani Cardoux, Michael Harutinian,
Judge Debra Kazanjian, Sevag Tateosian, and Barlow Der
Mugrdechian.
nians who died, but also to remind
the world of its duty" Kazanjian
commented.
Also taking part in the program were Fresno State Armenian
Student Organization members Ani
Cardoux, Dikran Chekian, and
Sevag Tateosian who each expressed their emotions,
s        Ani read an eloquent poem in
13 Armenian by Daniel Varoujan.
"2 Sevag read the declaration by the
:f California Legislature marking
|j April 24th as Armenian Genocide
s Remembrance Day. Dikran ex-
"§ pressed his devotion and dedica-
- tion by speaking about the facts of
^ the Genocide.
Former Fresno County Sheriff and current
Fresno State professor Hal McKinney.
Prof. Kouymjian's Spring Activities
(This article is a continuation
ofthe March 2002 Hye Sharzhoom
report on Professor Dickran
Kouymjian's sabbatical leave activities.)
Later in the month he traveled
to southern Italy, where the University of Lecce organized an international conference entitled "San
Gregorio armeno e il suo culto
nell' italia meridionale" (Saint Gregory the Armenian and His Cult in
Southern Italy). He presented a
paper entitled "The Armekian Iconography of St. Gregory the illuminator," discussing in detail with
the aid of some 60 slides the different ways Gregory was depicted in
Armenian art and how we are to
interpret the great variety of images. During his stay in the Apulia
region he was able to visit other
sites devoted to St. Gregory, including the church of St. Gregory
in the city of Nardo, where he was
allowed to photograph a hitherto
unknown right hand relic of St.
Gregory the Illuminator preserved
in the treasury. According to him,
there are now four right hand relics
of the founder of the Armenian
church, on which he is preparing a
separate study. Professor Giusto
Traina, one of Italy's foremost
young classical scholars and an
authority on early Armenian history and texts, organized the conference. Dr. Kouymjian had invited Traina to participate in the
international symposium on the father of Armenian history, Movses
of Khoren, that he had organized in
Paris ten years ago, the proceedings of which were published last
year.
At the end of October, Prof.
Kouymjian was invited to present a
paper entitled "Art in Exile: Armenian Artists of the Nineteenth &
Twentieth Centuries," in Leiden,
The Netherlands, at an international
symposium titled "Armenia Beyond Territory. The Evolution of
the Individual Living in the
Diaspora." The one-day conference held on October 30th was part
of the inauguration of three separate exhibits on Armenian art as
part of Holland's celebration of the
1700th anniversary of Armenian
Christianity. The exhibitions were
held in Leiden and in Utrecht and
comprised ancient, medieval and
modern Armenian art. Dr.
Kouymjian in his paper discussed
in detail the question "What is Armenian Art?" He asked the audience to reflect on the possible answers to the question and on the
arbitrary nature ofthe term "Armenian Art."
Currently, the Professor
Kouymjian is deep into the correction ofthe proofs ofthe major publication on the history and analysis
of Armenian writing from the invention of the Armenian alphabet
in the fifth century to our time. The
book, to be published by Aarhus
University Press in Denmark, is
entitled Album of Armenian Paleography and is the fruit of eleven
years of research he carried out in
libraries and archives throughout
the world with Prof. Michael Stone,
head of the Armenian Program at
the Hebrew University in Jerusalem and Dr. Henning, a classical
Armenian scholar and for the past
15 years president of Denmark's
second largest university in Aarhus.
The folio volume, scheduled to
appear in the first half of 2002, will
be more than 500 pages and contain over 200 full-page color plates
and a very dense text and many
comparative alphabet tables illustrating the various forms of Armenian manuscript writing.
To conclude the ceremonies,
Professor Barlow Der Mugrdechian
made brief comments about the importance of remembrance as part of
the Genocide commemoration. He
said that the large number of students present at the ceremony attested to their continued commit-
;! ment.
~        Along with distinguished com-
<*j munity members Der Mugrdechian
u initiated the laying of flowers on a
| model of the Armenian Genocide
*« Memorial Monument. While musicians Jim and Edward Karagozian
played solemn Armenian music,
the rest ofthe crowd followed Prof.
Der Mugrdechian's lead.
And at the conclusion of the
ceremony, the monument stood as
a proud reminder of the Genocide,
just as the Martyrs' Monument in
Armenia does.
Turkish wartime leader Talat
Pasha once told a German Ambassador, "What on earth do you want?
The question is settled. There are
no more Armenians." Talat Pasha
couldn't have been more wrong.
The Armenian community in
Fresno, along With all ofthe Armenian communities around the world,
with their commemorations and
respect for the 1.5 million massacred in 1915 demonstrates that the
Armenians will never forget what
happened 87 years ago, and that the
Genocide will never be forgotten*
Above: L to R- Dikran Chekian, Rami Gabriel, and Charles
Sislian honoring Genocide victims by placing carnations at
the Genocide Monument.
Shahen Khatchatryan Speaks on
Armenian Art of the 20th Century
Barlow Der Mugrdechian
hye sharzhoom advisor
Shahen Khatchatryan, Director ofthe National Gallery of Art of
Armenia and the Martiros Saryan
Musem in Yerevan, Armenia, presented an illustrated lecture on "20th
Century Armenian Art" on Friday,
April 5, 2002.
Khatchatryan's lecture, part of
the Armenian Studies Program
Spring Lecture Series, was held in
the Alice Peters Auditorium of the
University Business Center on campus.
Barlow Der Mugrdechian of
the Armenian Studies Program introduced Mr. Khachatryan, who
was in California to give a series of
Shahen Khatchatryan
talks on Armenian Art.
Khatchatryan is the author of
numerous monographs on famous
Armenian artists of the 20th century: Martiros Saryan, Minas,
Hovhannes Aivazovsky, Hagop
Hagopian, and Rafael Atoyan,
among others. He is an art historian
and critic who was bom in Aleppo,
Syria, and returned to Yerevan with
his family in 1946. He later graduated from the Leningrad Academy
of Art.
Mr. Khatchatryan's illustrated
talk began with a discussion ofthe
founder of "modem" Armenian art,
Hagop Hovnatanian, a portrait
painter of the 19th century.
Hovnatanian was the last of a great
line of Hovnatanian painters and
his portraits of the Armenian gentry of Tiflis are evocative of Armenian life ofthe period. Hovnatanian
drew on the history of medieval
Armenian manuscript painting and
folk art to paint his masterpieces.
Hovahannes Aivazovsky, the
great Armenian seascape artist of
the nineteenth century, was the next
artist discussed. Bom in the Crimea,
his seascapes have an originality
based on the Armenian national
temperment. His portrayal of
stormy seas reflects the Armenian
national optimism and determination against all odds.
Khatchatryan then moved to
the 20th century with the works of
Vartkes Soureniants, an artist
whose works reflected Armenian
national life, including the 1895-
1896 massacres of Armenians in
Ottoman Turkey. His paintings
have a patriotic spirit to them.
Martiros Saryan is considered
by art critics as the finest of 20th
century Armenian artists. He was
the first Armenian artist to recognize the need to form an individual
style founded on ancient national
traditions. His rich compositions
were imbued with light, color, and
contrasting harmonious combinations of colors. He devoted his life
to Armenia which was the canvas
for his works.
Gevorg Bashinjaghyan, Edgar
Chahine, Egishe Tadevosyan,
Carzou, and several other artists
were discussed by Mr.
Khatchatryan.
The evening concluded with a
lively question and answer period.