ART & STYLE MAGAZINE  

ART HISTORY AND CIVILIZATION

 

ENTERING THE 13th CENTURY WITH TOROS ROSLIN

Each page of the manuscripts was decorated and illustrated with birds, floral pattern, delicate circular and rectangular patterns and constructions, green branches, trees, flowers, roses, plants, vines, all kinds of lines, from the straight to the curved and from the circular to the rectangular. The margins of the page began to look like a rich fabric with multi-colors and ornamental presentations. Those ornamentations incorporated a wide and a rich variety of motifs and  creative forms of decoration, floral circular illustrations with gentle curves, branches of trees painted carefully with delicate precision and attention to details. The dark and somber colors of the old and aging style  were replaced by vibrant, sunny and brighter colors. Even the thickness of paint applied to the parchments , papers, pages, covers and media got thicker, deeper, heavier and richer. The artists began to paint “generously” not worrying about how much paint and colors should they use, apply or spend in their creative work. The Cilician style was rich in color and multi-varied in motifs and figures. Its ornamental design was  richer and more varied than the Byzantine style. It had an elegant flair to it, an austere simplicity with complex compositions without becoming heavily over-ornamental as it was the case with the Byzantine art which incorporated a dense  profusion of Islamic decoration, illustrations, figurines and ornamental geometrical and curved constructional patterns. In addition, the Cilician style brought to light some very new and innovative features such imaginary creatures , human figures and  animal heads replacing the  Byzantine leaves in floral scrolls. This artistic innovation and novelty are evident in the paintings of the leader and pioneer Toros Roslin (More on him, later)  At the beginning, Armenians used Byzantine art motifs, figures, drawings, illustrations and Byzantine painting techniques as source for their new style and as a model for their manuscripts,  however, they added  traits, figures, features and illustrations of their own creativity and innovation.

 For instance,  by the mid of the 11^th  century, canon tables and canon pages were framed  and illustrated by drawings of trees and branches, griffins and fantastic animals with human heads around the canon tables; those are additions and a purely Armenian novelty which did not exist in Byzantine art. By the end of the 12^th  century the Armenian manuscripts have acquired their own ethnic/national identity and artistic characteristics and consequently became free of foreign influences, thus they were no longer dependent on Byzantine style models to paint and illustrate their illuminated manuscripts and miniatures. Thousands of  Cilician manuscripts were produced  and re-copied during  medieval Armenia. A very few number  of illuminated manuscripts survived. Fortunately, some of the best works of the ancient masters are well-preserved and well-kept in the MATENADARAN which is the official Armenian Collection-Archives of Manuscripts in the capital Erevan (Yerevan), Armenia. Armenian artists  and particularly Cilician artists worked with several media, mixed media and elements such as: stone, wood, metal, lace, textiles, fabrics, linens, clothes,  books, printing, books bindings, parchments,  figures embossing, papers, jewelry, icons, relics, figurines, glasses, pottery, ceramics, titles, silver, gold, bronze, iron, numerous metals, tafta, terra cotta,  manuscripts, illustrations, miniatures, portraitures, painting, mosaic, etc. But,  the predominant art form was painting which was considered more than art; a necessity and a duty for the decoration  of  Armenian churches and cathedrals. Painting art was blessed by the Armenian church and honored by the natives.  Decorating a church was considered a sacred art and illustrating/painting a holly manuscript was considered as a sacred duty. Religion dominated all aspects and facets of Armenian life.

THE CILICIAN STYLE

FROM ITS GLORIOUS DAYS, ITS ORIGIN, ITS RISE, ITS GLORY TO ITS FALL AND DEATH ON THE HAND OF THE MAMLUKS!  

Even copying a manuscript was considered as praise worthy as building a church. Upon fleeing their monasteries during foreign invasions by hostile armies and greedy monarchs. Armenian monks would carry with them the  most valuable possessions; possessions they could carry by hand or be placed on the back of their donkeys or chariots if they were available. The most precious possession was the illuminated manuscripts.

ENTERING THE 14^th CENTURY AND THE END OF A GOLDEN ERA

By the 14^th  century,  a major artistic event occurred, a sort of a U-Turn; the return of Armenian painting to its roots and to the dawn of its origin. Looking upon the paintings of the pioneer and leader  Sarkis Pidzak , we observe a complete divergence and an opposite/contradictory style, far away and so different from the Cilician style of the 12^th and 13^th centuries. Pidzak’s paintings incorporated simple and simplistic geometrical patterns, free of complicated and richly designed  figures and ornamental forms. His figures were not elegant and refined. They were heavy, short and sort of tough. A sense of repetitious conformity and a disciplined consistency order followed rigorously on all the pages of his illuminated manuscripts. Unfortunately, we do sense the absence of elegance and variety in forms, ornaments, patterns, designs, figurations and configurations. A style so different from the illuminated manuscripts paintings of previous centuries where each page was illustrated and painted differently. Each single page had its own design, colors, patterns, width and size of margins, particular rich and warm textiles colors quality to each single page, sometimes, each single section of the page. All this magnificent artistic rich display of varied visions, colors, creativity, beauty vanished in a way in the 14^th century.

THE END: THE DISASTROUS FALL AND THE END OF THE GREAT CILICIAN ART

The Mamlooks (also Mamlukes) are here. It means disastrous events of an apocalyptic proportions, decay and death of the arts and humanities! And this is what exactly happened to the Cilician art on the hand of the conquerors. A cataclysmic horror! Catastrophe and paroxysm ad infinitum. The Mamelukes conquered the kingdom of Cilicia, thus  ending the Cilician art for good. But, the great and noble spirit of the Armenian continued to shine and produce in Greater Armenia until the 17^th century. Other disastrous events  in forthcoming centuries will follow soon. And the Armenian art will suffer again! This shall constitute our future topics in many parts to come.

FROM THE EARLY ICONS ERA TO THE PRE-MODERN ART PERIOD: HAKOP HOVNATANIAN.

The Armenian modern painting era commenced with Hakop Hovnatanian (1806-1881) favorite son of the Hovnatanian family masters and monopolists of the Armenian miniaturists dynasty in the nineteenth century.  Called in the West and in the East “The Raphael of Tiflis”. Miniature is one of those primordial forms of medieval way of thinking in art with  universal, human and artistic values and upon which canons were  extensively elaborated for numerous centuries. Referring to Hakop Hovnatanian is simultaneously  referring to  the members of the Hovnatanian as a whole. An illustrious family which produced splendid frescoes that occupy a place of honor and pride in eastern Armenia churches and majestic cathedrals and painted portraits of well to do Armenians  displayed in museums in Yerevan and Tiflis. The illustrious Hovnatanyan family was under the auspices of Naghash Hovnatan (1661-1722), the venerated and well-known poet, illustrator and painter. He was the patriarch of the family by all means. While his grandson Hovnatan Hovnatanian (1730-1801) was in charge of the immense panel paintings of Etchmiadzin, Hakob Hovnatanian , his son was responsible for pioneering and perfecting the art of portraiture.  A craft the family practiced for years and passed it on to its grand children. Their clientele consisted of the wealthy and the upper class Armenian families including the bourgeoisie of cosmopolitan Tiflis in the second half of the nineteenth century. During all the nineteenth century, the majority of Armenian artists, with the exception of Hakob Hovnathanian received their training and learn the trade on the hand of Russian artists and teachers in St. Petersburg, Paris, Munich and other European art academies.