Minas Avetisyan's works exhibition opens in Art Gallery of Armenia April 17

PanARMENIAN.Net - An exhibition of famous Armenian artist Minas Avetisyan's works will open in National Art Gallery of Armenia On April 17. Ministry of Culture, Armenian Culture Development Fund and Fund Minas organized the exhibition in commemoration of the artist's 80th birthday.



"This unique exhibition was planned long time ago. For the first time during the past 10 years, a retrospective exposition organized which includes Minas' works of all periods," said Sona Harutyunan, Advisor to Minister of Culture of Armenia.



A catalogue of paintings was also published.



"Anniversary exhibition and catalogue are perfect example of cooperation between state authorities and private sector," noted Sona Harutyunan.



"It is a big honor for us to participate in this exhibition," Armenian Culture Development Fund President Metso Igitayan said.



"The catalogue is unique with its content. We tried to present Minas in new way. So, in the publication you will find his reproductions of all periods," said Minas' son Arman Avetisyan.



Minas Avetisian was born on the 20th of July 1928, in a little Armenian village-Djadjur. Leningrad, with its Academy of Fine Arts and its Hermitage, played a significant role in Avetisian's becoming an artist. Avetisian always remembers with gratitude his teachers, Johannson, Zaitsev and Khudiakov: they never hindered the natural expression of his own artistic individuality. Both in his student years and after graduating from the Academy, Avetisian traveled widely around Armenia, eagerly seeking out historical monuments; he studied the Armenian miniature and the works of the greatest Armenian artists, above all, Saryan's.



To the most significant canvases of this cycle belongs the picture "The Road: A Recollection of My Parents" (1965-1967). Unfortunately, like many of his other works, it perished in the 1972 fire.



Avetisian belong to those modern Armenian artists who prove that one can be useful to one's people, expressing its hopes, in all sorts of ways, but with one absolute condition- in a language worthy of art.



Minas tragically dies in car accident on February 24 in Yerevan.