About the ‘Armenia!’ exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of New York

 Claude Mutafian

A distinguished art historian and well-known specialist of Byzantium, Mrs. Helen Evans has been working at the Metropolitan Museum of Art for many years. Among the exhibitions she has organized, let us mention ‘The Glory of Byzantium (843-1261)’ in 1997 and ‘Byzantium: Faith and Power (1261-1557)’ in 2004. Such topics involved necessarily neighboring Armenia, and Mrs. Evans’ growing interest for Armenian art was finally materialized by the present widely publicized exhibition called ‘Armenia!’, where the curious exclamation mark may reflect some kind of admiration. More important is the absence of any mention of period in the title, contrary to the two abovementioned Byzantine exhibitions. At first glance, it suggests that the exhibition should cover the three millennia of Armenian history, or at least, if one decides to exclude Urartu, the period from 500 B.C. to our days. This is not the case: it begins at the dawn of the 4th century, with the Christianization of Armenia, and ignores totally one millennium of pagan Armenia. As an example, the absence of the name of the most famous of all Armenian kings, Tigranes the Great (1st century B.C.), in an exhibition called ‘Armenia!’ looks strange, if not unacceptable. It would have been fair to call the exhibition ‘Christian Armenia!’, and briefly explain on an introductory panel that Armenia did exist long before, and that Christianization opened a new artistic era. Such was the case of the exhibition properly called ‘Armenia Sacra’ in Paris (musée du Louvre, 2007).

The Prophets, Angels, & Churches of ‘Armenia!’

 Gini Alhadeff

One small display in an exhibition can grab you by the collar. In the case of “Armenia!” at the Metropolitan Museum, it was the image of a spherical wide-eyed crab in a ridged armor swallowing Alexander the Great, along with his ship and retinue, set against a wavy sea that might have been drawn by a child. It is attributed to Zak‘ariay of Gnunik and appears in an illuminated manuscript of the Alexander Romance (1538–1544), the legends surrounding the exploits of Alexander the Great, much loved by Muslims, Orthodox Christians, and Armenians alike. Dr. Helen Evans, the Met’s curator of Byzantine Art, told me, “That crab is too good not to be recognized as the type of art we don’t expect from East Christians.” And it most definitely wasn’t, she added, “the stiff art of the Byzantines that Vasari disapproved of.” Giorgio Vasari, the Italian architect, painter, and historian, author of Lives of the Most Eminent Painters, Sculptors and Architects (1550) Western culture’s first art historian, who coined the use of the term “Renaissance,” unfairly saw in Byzantine abstractions, coming after Greek and Roman art, a decline in skills rather than an artistic choice.

Armenian Art Featured at Monumental Metropolitan Museum Exhibit on Jerusalem

Florence Avakian

 

An Armenian monk from Greater Armenia, in the late 14th century wrote, “Jerusalem is the centre from which all laws, grace and prophecy emanate.”

Today, Jerusalem is a city of continuing and turbulent conflict among the proponents of Judaism, Christianity and Islam. But in the epic years of 1000 to 1400, it was home to many cultures, faiths and people, more so than at any other time in its history. And the Armenian contribution was profound.

Currently, there is a monumental exhibition of Jerusalem during this time period, entitled “Jerusalem 1000-1400: Every People Under Heaven,” showcasing the prominent role that it played in shaping its creative, universal and complex art of great beauty during these centuries.