BIRTH OF MHER AMAGHIAN

Mher [Meher] Abeghian was a well-known in Soviet Armenian painting in the 1940s-1980s period.

He was born on January 26, 1909, in the city of Vagharshapat. He was the son of Manuk Abeghian, a renowned Armenian Studies scholar of the twentieth century. He received his professional education at the Yerevan Industrial and Technical School of Fine Arts (1922-1927), the Higher State Art and Technical Institute of Moscow (Vkhutein, 1927-1930), and the Institute of Proletarian Fine Art of Leningrad (nowadays St. Petersburg, 1930-1931).

Abeghian returned to Armenia and was a lecturer at the Panos Terlemezian Art College (1939-1945) and later at the Yerevan State Art and Theatre Institute (1954-1959). He was the president of the Board of the Union of Artists of Armenia in 1939-1945 and 1967-1968. In 1960, he earned the title of People’s Artist of Armenia. A museum dedicated to his works was inaugurated in Vagharshapat in 1990 as a branch of the National Gallery of Armenia, including works about the city. His works were exhibited in Yerevan and various cities of the former Soviet Union, as well as London, Brussels, New York, and other cities.

The painter worked in a variety of genres, including landscape, portraiture, still life, and genre art. His artworks were peculiar for their epic spirit and bright light and colors. He was influenced by Martiros Sarian’s style of national painting. He worked with charcoal and pen point, but his preferred graphic technique was linocut, where his works are characterized by masterly performance, monumental forms, and expressiveness.

Mher Abeghian passed away on November 20, 1994, in Yerevan.