MINAS AVETISIAN

Minas Avetisian was born on the 20th of July 1928, in a little Armenian village-Djadjur.

His mother’s name was Sofo, His father, Karapet, was from Mush. His wife was Gayane Mamajanyan.

Avetisian always remembers with gratitude his teachers, Johannson, Zaitsev and Khudiakov: they never hindered the natural expression of his own artistic individuality. 

Minas Avetisyan was impressionist painter.

In his paintings, Avetisyan uses bright colors.

The main theme of his works was Armenian nature, the nature of Jajur, poor people, mountains, fileds etc.

Avetisian is one of those Armenian artists who put the color back into painting.

Some of his pictures are unequaled in contemporary Armenian painting in the intensity of their colors. 

His works can be seen in the museum collections.

Avetisian follows the national traditions in painting, yet he never resorts to slavish imitation or stylization. But he shows great freedom and originality in his use of means of expression found in the work of ancient miniaturists: bright sonorous colors, coordination of pictorial tension throughout the entire surface of the canvas, rhythmic arrangement of lines, the static quality of representation, and the absence of perspective. And this is quite natural: like any artist of great talent, Avetisian has achieved an understanding of reality not so much through the study of the work of other masters, as through his own perception and interpretation of life. 

Minas traveled about Armenia a lot looking for historical monuments, he studied Armenian miniatures and works of the greatest Armenian painters, above all, those of Martiros Saryan. Saryan was the spiritual father of Minas.

In 1972, in the night of the 1st January, while the artist was in DjaDjur with his family, his Yerevan studio was burnt down together with a large portion of his best canvases selected for a one-man show.

Three years later, in 1975, Minas Avetisyan died under the wheels of the car, which stopped off at the sidewalk.

The End