1921-1935 Department of Art of State Museum

The National Gallery of Armenia was founded in 1921 by the decision of the Soviet Armenian Government, as one of the five departments of the State Museum, then known as the Department of Art. Martiros Saryan was appointed Director of the museum, Vrtanes Akhikyan – Head of the Department of Fine Arts. The State Museum was then located on Astafyan (Abovyan) street, in the two-storey tufa building of the boys’ gymnasium (architect V. Simonson).The museum building also housed the public library and concert hall. Besides, the construction served as a shelter for the orphans emigrated from Western Armenia, this being the reason that for the first four years the museum had no room for exhibitions. Quite grounded was A.Lunacharsky’s displeasure, who, at his visit to Armenia in 1924, compared the museum with a big, motley storeroom.

A very noteworthy document, dating back to August 14, 1921, has been preserved. It is the list of the invitees to the opening ceremony of the “Museum of Art”. The range of the participants to this remarkable event is diverse, namely painters, actors, musicians, officials, workers, soldiers, pupils, and students. Among the first visitors of the museum were famous artists Karo Halabyan, Sargis Khachatryan, Taragros, Romanos Melikyan and others. As stated in the document, the opening ceremony attracted 130 people, which in addition to being a statistic fact, also speaks for the people’s enthusiasm for the opening of a new cultural center.

The first portion of exhibits – several dozen objects – was bought by the Government for the museum in the July of 1921 from the 5th exhibition of the “Union of Armenian Painters”, organized in the Central Club of Workers named after S.Shahumyan. These were the works of famous painters Y.Tadevosyan, S.Arakelyan, H.Hakobyan, V.Akhikyan, G.Sharbabchyan, graphic artist E.Chahine, and many others.

In the September of the same year by the decree of Moscow All-Russian Central Executive Committee former Lazarev Institute was renamed Culture House of Soviet Armenia. With this all its material and cultural values passed into state ownership of Armenia. This decision played a decisive role, since all of the Russian and European works of art in this collection passed to the Armenian museum, thus emphasizing its collective policy – to accumulate works of international fine arts and decorative applied art.

The booklet “Brief List” of the Department of Fine Arts of the State Museum published in Yerevan in 1925 presents already ratified 400 works by Armenian, Russian and European authors, exhibited in six halls. Actually, it is the first brief reference book of the museum, which, in addition to other data, also includes names of benefactors such as Moscow-resident, architect and engineer Hakob Ekizler (Ekizyan). His donations of I.Aivazovsky, V.Surenyants, S.Shchedrin, I.Shishkin, V.Polenov, V.Makovsky and others are among the masterpieces of the gallery.

Generally, every museum has a unique history of its foundation. As for our museum, donations have played a significant role in its life, which definitely has its historic motives. Having a narrow escape from the Genocide, Armenian people had to leave the land of their ancestors to find shelter in the Near East, Europe and the USA. They took these countries as their second homeland, formed national communities and got engaged in the political, economic and social life of their new environment. They also got involved in cultural activity that included all the spheres of spiritual life: literature, music, and fine arts. Nevertheless, these people longed for their homeland, lived with its problems and achievements. Hence, it was quite reasonable that Armenian artists got engaged in the cultural life of reviving Armenia, especially in the foundation of the art museum.

When in 1923 People’s Commissar of Education Askanaz Mravyan turned to the French-Armenian painters, asking them to help the museum to the best of their ability. His call for help received an enthusiastic response from V.Makhokhyan, Z.Zardaryan, T.Yesayan, S.Khachatryan, R.Shishmanyan and others, who by 1935 had donated a total of 40 works to the museum. Among grantor-benefactors of the first decade of the museum’s activity are painters M.Saryan, Y.Tadevosyan, P.Terlemezyan, V.Gayfejyan, collectors V.Vahanyan, T. Khan Kelekian, V.Kananian. Donations also include the works of renowned Russian painters A.Benois, A.Ostroumova-Lebedeva, Y.Lansere, who granted their own works to the gallery. Later on, thanks to Isaak Brodsky’s donation to the museum, the collection of Russian art was enriched with the works of world-famous 20th century artists K.Juon, B.Grigoriev, B.Anisfeld and F.Malyavin.

National Gallery of Armenia

The Museum / History

1921-1935 Department of Art of State Museum