Հայաստանի ազգային պատկերասրահ | |
 The National Gallery of Armenia inYerevan | |
 | |
| Established | 1921 |
|---|---|
| Location | Yerevan,Armenia |
| Type | art gallery |
| Visitors | 80,300 (2016) |
| Director | Marina Hakobyan |
| Website | www |
TheNational Gallery of Armenia (Armenian:Հայաստանի ազգային պատկերասրահ,Hayastani azgayin patkerasrah) is the largest art museum inArmenia. Located onYerevan'sRepublic Square, the museum has one of the most prominent locations in the Armenian capital. The NGA houses significant collections of Russian and Western European art, and the world's largest collection of Armenian art. The museum had 65,000 visitors in 2005.[1]
The National Gallery of Armenia (NGA) was founded in 1921 under the decree of theArmenian Soviet Socialist Republic (Armenian SSR) and represents the artistic section of the State museum. Upon its establishment the NGA's art section encountered difficulties, largely becauseYerevan lacked state owned and private art collections to form the core of the collection. The first works to enter the collection where the dozens of works purchased from an Armenian painters' exhibition in August 1921.
A decisive factor in the founding of the NGA's art collection was the transfer of the renowned collection of theArmenian Cultural Center (the former Lazarian Seminary, Moscow) and also the donations made by Armenian artists to the NGA. By 1925, 400 pieces by Armenian, Russian and European artists were on display throughout the six halls which compose the museum's art section.
By 1935, the state art section, which had undergone many refurbishments, became a separate Art Museum. In 1947 the gallery was re-dubbed theState Picture Gallery of Armenia and subsequently renamed theNational Gallery of Armenia in 1991. The picture gallery's large collection of works are on display thanks to the efforts of many dedicated compatriots and friendly donations from foreign associates.
The NGA currently houses around 40,000 works of art, many of which are permanently displayed in the museum's 56 galleries and halls.
NGA has also incorporated many examples of "foreign art" (predominantly Western) into their collection, many of which were originally part of the 'Armenian Cultural Center' (the former Lazarian Seminary, Moscow), which was nationalized during the Soviet period and moved to Yerevan.
The ancient collections include examples of ancient art from Egypt (New Kingdom, Greco-Roman, Coptic), Greece (Corinth, Attica), Rome, and Iran. The Decorative Arts department has ceramic and porcelain collections of Chinese, Iranian, Italian, Japan, German, Austrian, Danish, and an extensive collection from the 18th–19th-century Tsarist Imperial Porcelain Factory in Russia. There are also a small collection of bronze items from 18th-century China (Qing dynasty) and 16th–17th-century Western European wooden furniture.
The NGA building also houses the restoration and conservation studios affiliated with the museum. The complex also has a moderately sized library and archive, a small cafeteria, a souvenir and book store, and a hall used for film screenings and lectures.
The NGA also lends to international exhibitions with works from her collection, helping to organizize exhibitions of Armenian art in different countries to see that Armenia's works are appreciated by citizens around the world.
Armenian art makes up a large part of the collection – around 700 pieces.[2] Exposition of classic Armenian art begins with ancient and Medieval art: Urartu frescoes and copies of Garni Temple's mosaics and Medieval wall-paintings and miniatures, including a 7th-century fresco of "Christ Enthroned" from St. Stephanos Church (Lmbatavank), a 10th-century fresco fragment of "The Last Judgment" from St. Poghos-Petros (Tatev), and a 13th-century fresco depicting the Nativity from St. Astvatsatskin (Akhtala).
The museum has an extensive collection of Armenian Apostolic Church-related paintings ranging from the 17th-19th centuries, as well as, silver book-covers of manuscripts, crosses, and 18th-century altar curtains from across Asia.
Collection of Armenian paintings of the 17th century consists mostly of the artistic heritage of theHovnatanian's dynasty. Beside works of Hovnatan Hovnatanian, strong collection of pieces byHakob Hovnatanyan, founder of portrait genre in Armenian painting, is displayed in the Gallery.
The Gallery stores more than 62 canvases ofIvan Aivazovsky, Russian painter of Armenian background, who wrote a lot of paintings on Armenian motifs.[3]
The largest part of the Armenian collection is dedicated to the work of classical Armenian painters of the 19th and 20th century –Vardges Sureniants,Stepan Aghajanian,Yeghishe Tadevosyan,Panos Terlemezian,Gevorg Bashinjaghian,Martiros Saryan,Hakob Kojoyan,Arshak Fetvadjian and others.
There is a particular strength in the field of art by diasporan Armenians, and it includes works by Zakar Zakarian (Paris), Edgar Chahine (Paris), Hovsep Pushman (New York), Jean Carzou (Paris), Jean Jansem (Paris), Gerardo Oragyan (Rome), and Paul Guiragossian (Beirut).[4]
In 2008, a pavilion was opened specifically forHakob Gyurjian's works.
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Western art collection totals around 170 pieces and consists of 4 major sections – Italian, Flemish, Dutch and French art, but also includes works of Spanish, German and other artists.
There are a number of European Old Master works in their holdings, including works by well-known artists from Italy, Holland, Belgium and French art movements, including significant works byDonatello,Tintoretto,Antonio Canova,Joos de Momper,Caspar Netscher,Matthias Stomer,Jan van Goyen,P. Claesz,E. M. Falconet,Carle Vanloo,J. B. Greuze,Joseph Vernet,Robert Hubert,Théodore Rousseau,Adolphe Monticelli.[4]
There are more than 180 sheets of European graphics of the 16th and 17th century.
The Italian collection starts with the works of the 14th century.[5] One of the most remarkable ones is "Christmas", canvas of an unknown artist of the Botticelli circle.[6][7] "Apollo and Pan" by famousTintoretto is a prominent example ofHigh Renaissance.[6] Portrait genre of the 17th century is represented by the work ofBernardo Strozzi "Portrait of Nikola Kuchi" and 2 portraits by Guercino, member of theBolognese School.Pontormo's canvas illustrate earlier period of portrait genre.
The museum has an extensive collection of Biblical art – "The birth of Jesus and Adoration of the Shepherds" byJacopo Bassano (recently the gallery received one more canvas by Bassano),[8] "Good Samaritan" byLeandro Bassano, works ofLuca Giordano,Pietro da Cortona,Sebastiano Ricci,Luca Signorelli,Pompeo Batoni,[9]Bernardino Luini,Paolo Farinati,Giovanni Battista Salvi da Sassoferrato,Alessandro Turchi,Giacomo Cavedone. There are a number of noteworthy Theotokos portraits byBenvenuto Tisi,[10]Sebastiano Conca,Elisabetta Sirani and others.
Landscape art of the 18th century is represented byFrancesco Guardi,[9]Francesco Zuccarelli, Gisolphi and several unknown artists.
The collection includes graphic works ofGiovanni Domenico Tiepolo,Giovanni Paolo Panini,Federico Zuccari,Jacopo da Empoli,Luca Cambiasi,Stefano della Bella.
According to the 1982 survey, around 30 works of Flemish[11] and 60 works of Dutch art[12] were exhibited in the gallery. Most of them belong to the 17th century.[6]
The Flemish art school is represented by remarkable pieces including "Procession of Silenus" byPeter Paul Rubens,[13] "Descent from the Cross" byAnthony van Dyck,[14] outstanding still-life paintings by Verbruggen andJan Fyt and "Mountain landscape" byJoos de Momper. Portrait genre is represented by several canvases,[15] most notable ones are woman portrait byPieter Pourbus and portrait by unknown artist of the 17th century. Two works ofDavid Teniers the Younger disclosegenre painting. Work of comparatively little-known artistJan Cossiers "Faun visiting peasants" is an example of realism art.
The Dutch collection includes works of famous artists of theDutch Golden Age painting. The section contains "Singing lesson" byCaspar Netscher, "Company at the Table" byPieter Codde, "Holiday"Joost Cornelisz Droochsloot, piece byCornelis Dusart, and paintings depicting tavern motifs etc.[6] It is worth mentioning the work "War and Peace" byHendrick Goltzius. "Birth of Christ" byJoos van Cleve is based on the Biblical plot.
Canvases of several landscape artists are exhibited in the gallery including "View of Dordrecht" byJan van Goyen, "Landscape with a Broken Tree" byAllaert van Everdingen[6] and sea landscape byLudolf Bakhuizen. At that time in Holland the so-called "Italianate landscape" became widely popular. In the gallery "Italianate landscape" is represented by the works ofNicolaes Pieterszoon Berchem,Cornelis van Poelenburgh,Karel Dujardin andFrederik de Moucheron. The gallery holds works of such Dutch still life artists asPieter Claesz,[16]Jan Weenix andAbraham van Beijeren.[6] Dutch portrait genre is represented byStom's "The Money-changer" and woman's portrait byCaspar Netscher.
The Dutch collection include works ofmilitary art, for example "Poles in the battle against the Swedes" byPhilips Wouwerman and "Battle" byEsaias van de Velde.[17]
The collection includes graphic works ofAdriaen van Ostade,Jan Lievens,Jan van der Heyden,Maerten van Heemskerck,Godfried Schalcken,Abraham van Diepenbeeck,Adriaen van de Velde,Jan Dirksz Both and others.
The collection of French paintings is the largest in quantity among other western collections.[18] Section starts with works of remarkable artists of the 17th century[18] including "Rinaldo and Armida" byJean-Honoré Fragonard,[13] "Head of a Young Woman" byJean-Baptiste Greuze[6] and works ofJean-Marc Nattier,[8]Nicolas de Largillière,[8]François-Hubert Drouais,[13]Charles-André van Loo,[19]Jacques Courtois etc. Recently the gallery received a canvas "Young woman with a flower" by one of the most prominent representatives ofrococo -François Boucher. There are other works within the same style – "The Italian actors" byNicolas Lancret and "Sleeping child with angels" byFrançois Lemoyne.Sentimentalism andclassicism are represented by portraits ofÉlisabeth Louise Vigée Le Brun.
The development of the landscape genre in French painting can be traced back to the 17th century with the work ofGaspard Dughet. Landscape genre of the 18th century is represented by three pieces ofHubert Robert and three works ofClaude-Joseph Vernet.
The gallery holds works ofBarbizon school artists, which heavily influenced development of realistic traditions in the French art of the 19th century, -Théodore Rousseau "Dusk in a forest", 2 paintings ofNarcisse Virgilio Díaz[14] and seascape byFélix Ziem. The Gallery exhibits "Portrait of a girl" by the leader of the realism movement in 19th-century French paintingGustave Courbet.[13] French collection of that period includes works ofHorace Vernet,Alexandre-Gabriel Decamps,Théodore Gudin and others.
Works ofEugène Boudin,Louis Anquetin,Bernard Buffet andAdolphe Monticelli give a brief overview of the later development of the French art.
The collection includes graphic works ofJean-Antoine Watteau,[20]Jean-Baptiste Greuze,Jacques Bellange,Jules Pascin,Auguste Rodin and others, sculptures ofAntonio Canova andÉtienne Maurice Falconet.
The Spanish art school is represented by several works, one of them isThe Descent from the Cross,[19] painting of the prominent representative of Spanishmannerism –Luis de Morales.[8] The collection includes etching "Bulls" by the outstanding master of romantic period -Francisco Goya, "The Moment of Lecture" byMarià Fortuny, one of the leaders of romanticorientalism. Recently the Gallery received 4 graphic works ofSalvador Dalí.[21] German art is represented by landscape paintersJacob Philipp Hackert,Johann Heinrich Roos and others. Collection also includes 9 graphics of the outstanding German painterAlbrecht Dürer, engraining "Christ presented to the people" bySebald Beham, graphic work ofFranz Stuck and others.
Beside works of Spanish and German artists, the Gallery owns paintings of Swiss artistsAlexandre Calame,Louis Léopold Robert, paintings ofDaniel Chodowiecki,January Suchodolski,Ion Andreescu,Ștefan Dimitrescu and others.
Russian art is also extensively present in the NPGA's collection. Around 230 works of art are exhibited in the gallery.[22] Russian secular art is represented from the middle of the 18th century. Collection of the gallery encompasses portraits and sculptures from the end of XVIII – beginning of XIX centuries including works ofIvan Argunov,Dmytro Levytsky,Fyodor Rokotov,Vladimir Borovikovsky,Ivan Martos andFedot Shubin.[22][23]Russian landscape art of the 18th century is represented by several canvases byFyodor Matveyev and Mikhail Ivanov.[24]
Russian painting of the first half of the 19th century is represented by works ofOrest Kiprensky, 4 canvases ofVasily Tropinin, 3 works ofSylvester Shchedrin, works ofKarl Bryullov,Pyotr Basin and others. Art works ofHenryk Siemiradzki,Sergey Zaryanko,Ivan Khrutsky and Vasily Serebryakov depict the second half of the 19th century.
The turn of the XIX-XX centuries is presented by works ofAlexandre Benois, artists of the symbolism movementBoris Anisfeld andVictor Borisov-Musatov, and works of Russian avangard. Collection of that period includes such masterpieces as "Summer residence" byMarc Chagall and 2 works ofWassily Kandinsky. There are also 5 works ofIvan Shishkin, 10 works ofIsaac Levitan, multiple works ofVasily Surikov,Ilya Repin,Valentin Serov,Arkhip Kuindzhi,Vasily Vereshchagin,Konstantin Makovsky,Vladimir Makovsky,Vasily Polenov,Mikhail Vrubel,Mikhail Nesterov,Kuzma Petrov-Vodkin and others.[23] The museum holds the most complete collection of paintings ofIvan Aivazovsky - around 60 paintings.[3]
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In the years prior the gallery was directed by:[25]
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