The work of the contemporary Chinese artist in the heart of Yerevan, Armenia
Since the year 2012, the Cafesjian Center for the Arts in Armenia, housed in the distinctive “Cascade Complex” in the capital city of Yerevan, has been exhibiting the sculpture of a laughing man (“Untitled,” 20-century, stainless steel, the artist assumably depicted himself) by Yue Minjun (岳敏君, born in 1962), a well-known Chinese artist who became famous for executing human figures in frozen laughter in sculpture, painting, installation, and print. In 2007, a startling canvas by Minjun was sold at Sotheby’s in London for a record-breaking £2.9 million (US$5.9 million), making it the most expensive Chinese contemporary artwork sold on the secondary
Evangelists holding the prototype of the ballpoint pen in an Armenian Cilician twelfth-century manuscript
One of the Armenian manuscripts of the Matenadaran (the Mesrop Mashtots Institute of Ancient Manuscripts, Yerevan, Armenia) displays an intriguing nuance that provides evidence to suggest the theory that Armenians were one of the first who invented ball engravings back in 1166 in Hromkla (Cilicia). In the Gospel book created in the scriptorium of Hromkla Monastery (MS 7347), the evangelists are depicted with a prototype of a ballpoint pen or a tool strongly resembling the ball-point pen in their hands. From the mention of the so-called "Stefanos’s pen," it becomes clear that he wrote 700 letters, about one page, by
The cheap urn a British surgeon bought for his kitchen turned out to be a rare Chinese artifact
In the 1980s, a British surgeon purchased a royal blue vase for a few hundred pounds and displayed it in his kitchen. Little did he know that the object was a rare Chinese artifact—and that it could be worth a thousand times what he paid.How much more, exactly, we may find out soon. The vase is set to hit the block at the Newbury, England-based auction house Dreweatts later this month, where it’s estimated to sell for £100,000–150,000 ($125,000–185,000).
Ida Kar: The mid-twentieth century Bohemian photographer of Armenian descent
The Armenian female photographer Ida Kar or Ida Karamian has made a significant contribution to the recognition of photography as a form of fine art. She was pioneering in terms of capturing in her photos some of the most important artists of her generation – including Henry Moore, Georges Braque, and Jean-Paul Sartre. She was the first photographer to have a major retrospective in a big London gallery. She had the photographs enlarged so they were on the same scale as paintings, which got the critics debating whether photography was art. She was born Ida Karamian or Karamanian at Tambov in
Armenian traditional garments of Karin represented in China
The traditional Armenian garments of Karin/Erzrum (later adopted by Akhaltska/Akhaltsikhe Armenian women) have recently been represented in China by Lilit Antinyan for the cultural fest held at the Beijing International Bilingual Academy.When Armenian parents in the past gave their daughters in marriage, they included several Taraz (costumes) in the dowry. The costumes must have been exquisite, made by masters who followed century-old traditions of patterning (ornaments with the symbols of either fertility or warding off the evil eye, some of the characters referred to the specific family/clan ancestral heritage).The Karin masters were notable for their unique techniques. Various kinds of
