www.byzcath.org Forums Mysteries: The Life of Worship Icons & Iconography Armenian icons

You don't see a lot of Armenian iconography and often what one does see from this tradition is mosaic, rather than painted. From a link posted elsewhere to one specific icon, I happened on a site that presents a range of Armenian icons and thought folks might like to see it.

Armenian Icons [historyarmenia.org]

Many years,

Neil

addendum: I thought this one [historyarmenia.org] was particularly interesting, though I'm unsure why - can't really say if I find it edifying or not - but I was struck by it. After looking at it for a while, I think the iconographer's depiction of the Theotokos reminds me of Impressionist paintings of the same era, Renoir in particular.

addendum 2: And, sure enough, a search for Vardges Surenyants didn't turn up much, except for an ebay copy of a photo of him [ebay.com] with what one presumes is a painting he executed.

It's untitled and difficult to view because of the size. However, though Vardges (for all I know) might well have titled it 'Armenian Girl', it most certainly looks to be another of the many variations on the 'Algerian Girl' themed/titled paintings that I swear were produced by every artist of the Impressionist school. (Amazing, I did learn something in that required Fine Arts 101 course from 40+ years ago. )

Vardges Surenyants is not a religious painter, though he was religious himself, his father was a priest and he loved very much the ancient Armenian art, which is famous for it's church architecture and illuminated manuscripts. But his works are not typical Armenian. This painting is just a fashionable picture of the time(the end of the XIXth cent.- Pre-Rafaelites, Impressionism)... If you are interested in the ancient Armenian art (also what a beautiful enamel they created!) let me give you some links
http://ikona.pp.ua/?p=147
http://ikona.pp.ua/?p=148
http://ikona.pp.ua/?p=149
http://ikona.pp.ua/?p=158

Nataly,

Thank you for those links. I agree with you that Surenyants' painting is indeed a typical religious painting of the era, rather than an icon as we typically think of one. However, such religious paintings are what tend to be considered by Armenians as icons in that particular era of their history - a far cry indeed from the enameled, mosaic, and stone-cut iconography of their earlier history.

Many years,

Neil

Yes, I too found that icon interesting when I first saw it. It is depicted on the altar [farm3.static.flickr.com] of Saint Gregory the_Illuminator Cathedral in Yerevan, Armenia. [en.wikipedia.org]