Ivan
(Hovhannes) Aivazovsky is the premier seascape painter in Armenian art, but his
younger contemporary, Vartan Makhokhian (also spelled Mahokian), comes to a
close second.
Makhokhian
was born on May 31, 1869, in Trebizond (Trabzon). His father was a merchant who
made sure that his six children had a good education. Makhokhian took an
interest in drawing at the local Armenian school, and learned to paint when he
continued his studies at the Sanasarian College in Erzerum (1882-1887), before
returning to his hometown after five years of study. His artistic interests were
not limited to painting, since he also learned to play violin and studied music
theory.
His
uncle persuaded Makhokhian to pursue an artistic career. At the age of
twenty-two, he began studies at the Berlin Academy of Arts under the guidance of
Eugen Bracht and Hans Gude. After graduating in 1894, he traveled to Crimea,
where he met Aivazovsky and painted various sea scenes. He went back to
Trebizond in 1895 and became a witness of the Hamidian massacres.
He
fled to the port of Batum, in Georgia, and then to Europe. He held one of his
first exhibitions in 1900 in Berlin. For the next two decades, he would be the
subject of many articles in the European press. In 1904 he was accepted into the
Berlin Artists' Association. He traveled to Egypt, where he had exhibitions in
Alexandria and Cairo, then to Denmark, and finally settled in the island of
Capri, in Italy, a place chosen as residence by well-known artists and
intellectuals. Makhokhian returned to Germany in 1907 and participated in
various exhibitions in Berlin, Düsseldorf, and Munich.
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| "Seaside scene. Norway" (Vartan Makhokhian) |
The
painter returned once again to his hometown in 1908, after the Ottoman
Constitution was restored. He continued working there for the next six years,
and after the beginning of World War I, Makhokhian moved again to Europe and
this time he settled in Nice, France, where he would remain until the end of his
life. He composed the symphony “The Sobbing of Armenia” from 1915-1917, reacting
to the loss of his family in Trebizonda during the genocide, which was first
performed in Monte Carlo (1918). He participated in the Paris Salon in 1921,
1922, 1923, and 1927, and had solo exhibitions in Nice (1918, 1931, 1936),
Marseilles (1923), Paris (1925), and Monte Carlo (1932). The painter was awarded
the Legion of Honor in 1925 and became a French citizen two years
later.
From
1927-1930 Makhokhian also participated in the collective exhibitions of the
“Ani” Artistic Society in Paris, and thus became better known in Armenian
circles.
After
a long illness, the painter passed away in Nice on February 10, 1937, at the age
of 67. His works are found in the National Gallery of Armenia, the Art Museum of
Nice, the museum of the Mekhitarist Congregation in Venice, and other places, as
well as in many private collections.
