A graphic art exhibition to benefit the Hintliyan School in Armenia titled “Celebrating the Armenian World” will take place on Friday, December 2, 2011 at 8 pm at Holy Martyrs in Bayside, NY. This event, sponsored by C.A.R.S. and Hintliyan Alumni, will feature artist Levon Lachikyan as the evening’s guest speaker. For more information and reservations, please see the flyer above.

During his lecture, Dr. Matiossian will explore the definition of the word “Aryan” and how it has historically related to Armenians.

“At the beginning of the twentieth century, there was a strong anti-Armenian, racist current in Germany, which became evident during the Armenian Genocide and its aftermath,” said Dr. Matiossian. “Hitler, who was aware of anti-Armenian writings, first mentioned Armenians in 1922, when he already spoke of them as a mixed race, and maintained such views from time to time.”

He will also touch upon the campaign waged against Armenians that would have categorized them as Semites, if it wasn’t for a strong Armenian lobby that succeeded in ensuring the recognition of Armenians as Aryans.

Dr. Matiossian began his research on this topic almost a decade ago after reading about a German-Armenian scholar who had been involved in the lobby for recognition of Armenians as Aryans in Nazi Germany. After publishing subsequent articles about his findings in Armenian, he found an absence in scholarship on the topic in English and continued his research, which has now evolved into a book-size manuscript.

While he investigated the topic thoroughly he came across unexpected information that fueled his research further. “It was extremely interesting to see how unfavorably Armenians were pictured, particularly in the 1800-1920 period, in the West,” said Dr. Matiossian.

Dr. Matiossian is currently the executive director of the Armenian National Education Committee in New York. He is a native of Montevideo, Uruguay, and earned his Ph.D. in history from the National Academy of Sciences in Armenia. He is the author of five books in Armenian and one in Spanish, and has translated 13 books from Armenian into Spanish.

*Tuesday, November 8 at 6:00 pm — Peter Balakian — Poetry reading at the University of Pennsylvania: Kelly Writers House, Philadelphia, PA

*Thursday, November 10 at 7:30 pm — Peter Balakian — Ziggurat reading at Barnes and Noble, Paramus, NJ

*Tuesday, November 15 at 7:30 pm — George Bournoutian — Presentation of The 1823 Russian Survey of the Karapagh Province at AGBU, New York, NY

*Thursday, December 1 at 7:00 pm — Vartan Matiossian — Lecture on The Aryan Myth, Hitler and the Armenians at the Zohrab Center, New York, NY

*Thursday, December 8 at 7:00 pm — Sahan Arzruni — Presentation of Aram Khachaturian: A Documentary at the Zohrab Center, New York, NY

Please contact Taleen Babayan at (212) 686-0710 or at zohrabcenter@gmail.com for more information. All of the events are free and open to the public. Hope to see you there!

Portugal does not have a sizeable Armenian community or an Armenian Church. But it is here, in Europe’s westernmost country, that the philanthropist Calouste Gulbenkian’s esteemed private art collection accidentally found its home.

Photo by: Taleen Babayan

Surrounded by a vast property featuring stretches of lawn and bamboo gardens, the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation and Museum is a centerpiece of Lisbon’s cultural life. On a warm day last summer, tourists and Lisboans took in the splendor of the peaceful landscape, pausing to appreciate one of the city’s most visited sites.

Inside, schoolchildren and art enthusiasts browsed Gulbenkian’s extensive collection, which is comprised of more than 6,000 pieces dating from antiquity to the early 20th century. These include works by Rubens, Van Dyck, Rembrandt, Renoir, Manet, Degas, and Monet, as well as Persian rugs, Chinese pottery, and jewelry by Rene Lalique.

Photo by: Taleen Babayan

Gulbenkian began acquiring artwork at a young age. Born in Istanbul in 1869, he was the son of a wealthy merchant who had holdings in the oil fields of the Caucuses. After earning a degree in engineering and applied science at King’s College in London, Gulbenkian was encouraged by his father to get involved in the oil business.

Earning British citizenship in the wake of the 1895 massacres of Armenians in the Ottoman Empire, Gulbenkian established valuable networks with leading European and Russian oil businessmen.

In 1907, he helped found the Royal Dutch Shell Group, and  five years later was influential in the development of the Turkish Petroleum Company, of which he owned a five percent share. Gulbenkian’s insistence on securing this fraction with subsequent projects eventually earned him the epithet “Mr. Five Percent.”

During World War II, Gulbenkian planned to emigrate to America. But a brief visit to neutral Portugal—where he found a welcoming and hospitable atmosphere—changed his course. Gulbenkian spent the last 13 years of his life at the fashionable Hotel Aviz in central Lisbon.

During this time, he decided to establish an international foundation to showcase his art collection and to bring together different cultural values and interests. After Gulbenkian passed away in 1955 at the age of 86, his vision was realized with the opening of the Foundation and Museum in Lisbon in 1969.

Building on Gulbenkian’s artistic vision, the foundation added a Modern Art Center to the property in 1983. Dedicated primarily to 20th-century Portuguese artists, the center also serves as a depository for other modern pieces.

Known for its leading efforts in restoration and preservation, the Modern Art Center attracted the attention of Vartoosh Mooradian, the sister of the artist Arshile Gorky, and her son, Karlen. The Mooradians placed their collection of Gorky works here in 1985.

In her will, Mooradian left the artwork to the Eastern Diocese, which has continued the partnership with the Gulbenkian Foundation. The works have been exhibited at various times in Lisbon and thanks to this unique collaboration, the Gorky paintings have been exhibited at museums worldwide. In 2007, the Paris branch of the Gulbenkian Foundation worked with the Centre Georges Pompidou to display Gorky’s works as part of the “Year of Armenia” in France. In addition, Gorky’s works have been shown at the Tate Modern in London, the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles, the Philadelphia Museum of Art and most recently at the Gagosian Gallery in New York City.

Photo by: Taleen Babayan

Note: The Center has a larger collection of dissertations that are available for search through the main catalogue search system, www.zohrabcentercatalog.com. This list is exclusive to materials that do NOT have Library of Congress information.

Mark Mustian, author of the critically acclaimed novel, “The Gendarme,” presented his book on Wednesday evening, October 12, at the Diocesan Center in Manhattan.

The event, hosted by the Armenian Network of America (Greater New York Region), Armenian Students Association and the Zohrab Center, started with an introduction by Talene Kachadourian, President of the Armenian Network of America. She spoke of Mustian’s background as a lawyer and as City Commissioner in Tallahassee, Fla., where he currently lives with his wife and three children.

Mustian also talked about the process of having the book published, which required a lot of perseverance and determination on his part. Seven years after perfecting his manuscript, the reputable Putnam imprint published the book to positive reviews, including in the Sunday Book Review of the New York Times which wrote that Mustian, “tells a story that probes a timeless array of life’s general adversities,” and noted that “Mustian refuses to flinch when describing the grim realities that resurface in Conn’s [the protagonist's] thoughts of the past.”

Following his presentation, Mustian answered questions from the audience and signed copies of his books. A reception followed where
guests had the opportunity to speak with Mustian further. For more information about “The Gendarme” and its author, please visit  www.markmustian.com.

The Armenian Poetry Project has been an essential resource for readers interested in Armenian poetry since its founding five years ago. Formatted as a blog, the site features daily posts with poetry from both nineteenth and twentieth century masters, like Taniel Varoujan and Vahan Tekeyan, and lesser known contemporary poets writing around the world. Although the majority of the poems are written in Armenian, in an attempt to more accurately represent the diasporic nature of the Armenian people, the site also includes a significant number of poems written on Armenian topics, but in languages more familiar to the poets. Additionally, English or French translations occasionally accompany the Armenian text to expand the reach and impact of Armenian poetry beyond Armenian-language readers.

Created and maintained by Lola Koundakjian, the Armenian Poetry Project is the largest compilation of Armenian poems available free of charge online and is the only site to so dramatically span eras, continents and languages. The site also includes audio recordings of select poems, available to download and listen to on your iPod, and a RSS feed that can be activated to deliver a new poem to your inbox each morning.

Koundakjian’s noble efforts are surely making Armenian poetry more relevant and accessible to a younger, more technology-oriented generation of Armenians by allowing them to become better acquainted with another facet of their heritage in a modern way. The shared ideas and human emotions that these Armenian poets convey through their poetry transcend national boundaries and time-periods and foster in their readers a solid connection to their past and a sense of belonging to the vast network of Armenians living and writing throughout the world today.

Click here to visit the Armenian Poetry Project.

On Tuesday evening, September 27, the Zohrab Center welcomed Christopher Atamian, the translator of Nigoghos Sarafian’s 1947 essay The Bois de Vincennes, and close to 30 guests for an edifying evening of Armenian literature.

Taleen Babayan, coordinator of the Zohrab Center, welcomes guests

Jennifer Manoukian gives the introduction to Christopher Atamian's reading

The program began with a short summary of Nigoghos Sarafian’s life and work given by Zohrab Center intern, Jennifer Manoukian. Sarafian, born in 1902 in Varna, lived a fascinating life that took him from his birthplace in Bulgaria to Constantinople, where he studied under Hagop Oshagan until 1923, and finally to Paris where he lived and wrote until his death in 1972. In 1930s Paris, Sarafian belonged to an innovative group of young writers who called themselves the Menk (We) Generation and explored themes of assimilation and exile through their writing. A poet and novelist strongly influenced by the French surrealists of his time, Sarafian has not been translated into English until now. Jennifer ended her introduction with a few remarks about the vital role translation plays in introducing younger generations to the Western Armenian literary canon and expressed her hope that Atamian’s translation will encourage more Armenian-Americans to undertake similar projects.

Christopher Atamian talks about Sarafian's other writings

Christopher then read the first two chapters of his translation to an audience mesmerized by the beauty of Sarafian’s lyrical prose and striking imagery. A lively question and answer session followed the reading where guests learned more about Western Armenian literary history, Sarafian’s other writings and the significance of The Bois de Vincennes for Armenian literature.

Atamian signs his translation for a guest

A book signing and a wine and cheese reception concluded the evening’s event.

Christopher Atamian

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