Biography

Hovhannes   Avetisian is an Armenian painter .He was born on 12 July, 1939 in Gyumri  (Leninakan) the Republic of Armenia.

Hovhannes`s  father  went  to  the  war  and  didn`t  return.  When  he  was  only  one  year  old  his  mother  died.  He and his  four  sisters  remained  without  parents.  He had a grandmother and she brought them up.  They had a very hard life. In 1946  Hovhannes  Avetisian  entered  the  school  and  he left  it  in  1956.  Meanwhile  he studied  at  the  art  school  after  Merkurov.

So  Hovhannes  had  to  earn  a  living  for  himself.  In  his  early  years  he  began  to  work  at  the  furniture  factory.  He  worked  from  early morning  till  late  at  night  to  help  his  family. In 1957 he went  to  Yerevan and entered Terlemezyan  College  of  Fine  Arts,but he didn’t go to study  there thinking about his sisters and old grandmother.In 1964 Hovhannes Avetisian began to work at school N 29fter M.Mashtots as an art teacher.In 1970-1972 he founded the art gallery at school which was the first art centre in his native town at that time.

1. Avetissyan took part in many USSR exhibitions and was often awarded diplomas.

His first  exhibition took place in 1974, however, he got to be famous and known after his second individual exhibition which was held in 1977 in Yerevan.    Numerous specialists and visitors to the exhibition appreciated greatly the well-established artist of bright individuality and his works.He was fond of painting Shirak’s landscapes, its mountains and fields, he liked to paint ‘’small’’ peoples portraits. His Large composition canvasses make a great impression. Hovhannes was one

of the first artists who dedicted the Great Genocide -‘’Der Zor’’, ‘’Komitas’’, ‘’Antuni’’, etc. his series of still life which is full of as if  materialized feeling and melody is worth seeing.

Hovhannes was also good at doing joiner’s work. The furniture made by him is of various shapes with delicate and luxurious carvings.

Unfortunately,artist’s art gallery was destroyed and many of his paintings were stolen, and spoilt during the earthquake 1988, in Gyumri-Leninakan.In spite of the difficulties after earthquake,he was continuing creating in his new gallery from 1988 to 1997.

He was a man of hard destiny, but a winner, who was equally talented both as an artist and a poet.Besides paintings Hovhannes Avetisian was writing poems as well as and his collection of poems was published posthumous in 2002. He committed his whole life to Fine Arts.

He died in 2000.

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