Vardges Surenyants: 1860-1921

Description

Sureniants, a multitalented artist, was born in the family of a priest. He studied in the Lazarev Institute of Moscow and was formed as a painter in the Munich Academy of Arts. In Moscow and Saint-Petersburg he worked on theater decors and book illustrations, also translating several Shakespeare's plays into Armenian. Under the impression of massacres organized in 1895 by Sultan Abdulhamid II in Western Armenia, Sureniants created his first great historical paintings. The canvas The Trampled Sanctuary concentrates the spectator attention on ancient manuscripts scattered on the ground with a Cross-stone proudly facing them. The spiritual power of the people is symbolized by the picture The Monastery of Hrispsime in which the church towers above a desert and ashy land. Semiramide in front of the Body ofAra the Beautiful is based on an ancient legend. The Armenian king Ara rejected the love of the Assyrian queen, and the enraged Semiramide declared war on Armenia. The body of Ara, killed during the war, was brought to Semiramide's. palace. Linking the face of Ara with the bas-relief of the Babylonian epic hero Gilgamesh through the canvas' light and structure, the artist asserts the immortality of heroes fallen in battles for freedom. Later Sureniants painted canvases on Armenian historical subjects either. Coming to Echmiadzin in 1915, he pictured the survivors of the genocide in Armenian national costumes. Being a member of the Association ""Peredvizhniki"" of Russia painters, Sureniants always participated in exhibitions in Moscow, Saint-Petersburg and European cities where his paintings were highly appreciated. In the 1910s he created also original compositions devoted to Eastern and Persian subjects. They are presented in this little book, too.