Yervand Kochar | |
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| Born | (1899-06-15)June 15, 1899 |
| Died | January 22, 1979(1979-01-22) (aged 79) |
| Resting place | Komitas Pantheon |
| Nationality | Armenian |
| Other names | Ervand Kochar, Yervand Kocharyan |
| Education | Nersisian SchoolArts School of the Caucasus Association for Promotion of Fine Arts |
| Known for | Painting,sculpture,drawing,inventing,writing |
| Movement | Futurism,cubism,surrealism,Impressionism,avant-garde |
| Spouse | Vardeni Kochar (m. 1923, d.1928) Meline Kochar (m. 1929-1936, d. 1967) Manik Mkrtchyan-Kochar (m. 1944-1979, d.1984) |
| Children | 2 |
Yervand "Kochar" Kocharyan, also known asErvand Kochar (Armenian:Երվանդ Սիմոնի "Քոչար" Քոչարյան; 1899 – 1979) was a prominent sculptor and modern artist of the twentieth century and a founder ofPainting in Space art movement. The Ervand Kochar Museum is located inYerevan,Armenia and showcases much of his work.[1][2]
Kochar was born inTiflis,Russian Empire on June 15, 1899, to Simon Kocharian ofShushi and Pheocia Martirosian.[3] He graduated in 1918 fromNersisian School, and, between 1915 and 1918, also studied at the Arts School of the Caucasus Association for Promotion of Fine Arts (known as O. Schmerling School) in Tbilisi.[citation needed] From 1918 to 1919 he studied at the State Free Art Studio of Moscow. He returned to Tbilisi, where he was granted a certificate of professor of Fine Arts and Technical Studies by the People's Commissariat of the Georgian SSR.[citation needed]
In 1921–1922, Kochar was elected to the exhibition commission of the Union of Armenian Artists and became a member of the "HAYARTUN" (House of Armenian Art).[citation needed] By April 1922, he left from Batum and traveled abroad toConstantinople, then toVenice,Rome,Florence andParis.[citation needed] Kochar's works were first exhibited in Tbilisi in 1921 and the following year in Allied-controlledConstantinople (Istanbul) and inVenice.[citation needed]
By 1923 Kochar had settled down in Paris, where his art was well received.[citation needed] In 1928 there were reported cases of vandalism towards two sculpture-paintings by Kochar in the exhibition at theSalon des Indépendants. Those works were the first heralds of "Painting in Space".
In February Dr. Alendi delivered a lecture inSorbonne on Kochar's "new painting". Kochar's Painting in Space one-man show opened in "Van Leer" Gallery. The 15 works presented were new plastic and artistic means of expression which sought to involve time as an additional fourth dimension. The author of the catalogue was French-Polish art criticWaldemar George (1893-1970). In 1929 the international exhibition, "Panorama de L`art contemporain"("Panorama of Contemporary Art") organized in the halls of the "BONAPART" Publishers, Kochar presented the works of "Painting in Space". Among the participants of the exhibition wereGeorges Braque,Marc Chagall,Robert Delaunay,Henri Matisse,Francis Picabia,Pablo Picasso, Liursa,Joan Miró, Survage, Utrillo, Vlamink, and others. Kochar metLéonce Rosenberg, the well-known patron and connoisseur of modern art, who became a fan of Kochar's art. In 1936, while at the peak of his artistic fame, to the surprise of many, Kochar repatriated to theArmenian SSR, without the least bit of doubt that he was leaving Paris for good.
Between 1941 and 1943 Kochar was imprisoned on politically motivated charges, but was eventually freed due to the intervention of his friends from Nersissian School, Karo Halabian andAnastas Mikoyan.
Yervand Kochar continued working in Yerevan, earning award recognition as People's Artist of Armenian SSR in 1965, State Prize of the Armenian SSR in 1967,Order of the Red Banner of Labour in 1971 andPeople's Artist of the Soviet Union in 1976.[2]
His most recognized works include the statues ofDavid of Sassoun (1959) which has become the symbol of Yerevan, the capital of Armenia; ofVardan Mamikonian (1975); ofKomitas (1969) inEchmiadzin. One of his masterpieces in painting is "Disasters of War".
In 1963 The National Museum of Modern ArtCentre Georges Pompidou in Paris acquired one of Kochar's works of "Painting in the Space" (1934).
In 1999UNESCO marked Kochar's centennial as one of the "outstanding dates" in world art. In 2010Armenia's Union of Artists opened an exhibit dedicated to Yervand Kochar's artistic legacy marking 110 years since the artist's birth.
He was married tophilologist Manik Mkrtchyan (1913–1984), with whom he had two sons, Haykaz Kochar (1946) andRuben Kochar (1953).[4]
He died January 22, 1979, Yerevan,Soviet Armenia. In 1984, a museum in his name was dedicated to his art and opened nearYerevan Cascade, in Yerevan, Armenia.
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