Gevork Bashindjagyan
The artistic career of Gevork Bashindjagyan, the patriarch of landscape painting in Armenia, spans more than four decades. It began in the 1880s, when his native land was a part of the Russian Empire, and ended with his death in 1925, eight years after the establishment of Soviet power. He became a recognized master at the turn of the century, a notable period in the development of Armenian culture. For the Armenians, it was a time of a tremendous spiritual uplift and bright hopes for national renascence and far-reaching social transformations.
Having imbibed the lofty democratic and patriotic ideas of Abovyan, Nalbandyan and other great en-lighteners of the first half of the 19th century, the young artistic generation significantly enriched Armenian art culture and brought it up to the standards of the new period. Although Romanticism was still holding the field, critical realism had come into its own, especially in literature. Epic and philosophical poetry reached unprecedented heights in the work of Tumanyan and Isaakyan. Alongside with literature, marked progress was made in the theatre, music and other arts which were increasingly concerned with the psychological, philosophical and moral issues of the day. They also reflected the growing interest of broad democratic circles in the history and social ideals of the Armenian people.
These tendencies were strikingly manifest in painting which had reached a point where continued progress called for new subjects and new styles, and for assimilating the achievements of Russian and European art.
The late 19th century was a tine when a few talented Armenian youths, mostly of modest origin, left home for art schools in St Petersburg, Moscow, Paris, and Munich. Needless to say that their life abroad was often far from easy, yet many of them successfully completed their studies. They brought back home the latest trends and styles in art and introduced their countrymen to contemporary portraiture, as well as genre, historical and landscape painting.
One of those youths was Gevork Bashindjagyan, Armenia's first major landscapist. In point of fact, to say that Bashindjagyan was a landscape painter is to say very little or nothings for his canvases not only depicted the picturesque scenery of his homeland, but were also consonant with the growing national and social awareness of his democratically-minded compatriots. Apart from
their great artistic value, his landscapes appealed to the soul of his people and ennobled their spirit. "My generation adored him. My friends and myself never missed an exhibition of his works," recalled the poet Avetik Isaakyan.
Gevork Bashindjagyan won recognition at a time when painting began to arouse keen public interest. As one of the first professional painters in the Cau- I casus, he did very much to raise the prestige of artists and make the public aware of the great social import of their work.
Bashindjagyan was born and raised in Georgia. He studied art and became an accomplished painter in Russia. He spent the rest of his life in Armenia. All the three he loved dearly and cherished their spiritual and cultural legacies, but his inspiration always came from Armenia, the land of his people. In her valleys, mountains and lakes, he saw infinitely more than a subject matter and a perfect vehicle for his talent. Communicating the emotional and spiritual impact of Armenia's scenery to the viewer enabled him to fulfil himself as an artist and find a solution to a number of challenging philosophical and aesthetic problems.
The history of art has known periods when landscape painting acquired a special significance which set it apart from the work of artists concerned with other subjects. Turner's impassioned romantic marines and Delacroix's landscapes are a good case in point. This is equally true of the work of Russian landscapists between the 1870s and 1880s, a period which was also marked by a growing interest in the portrayal on nature on the part of the young national schools of painting that had emerged in various parts of the Russian Empire.
Landscape painting played an important role in the cultural development of numerous ethnic minorities inhabiting tsarist Russia. Lucid and straightforward, it strongly appealed to the national consciousness and could be more meaningful than other art forms. In Armenia, landscape painting as such only emerged in the 1890s. Before that, landscapes merely served as a decorative background in genre paintings and portraits. Bashindjagyan raised the landscape to the level of a mature and fully independent form of artistic expression. With his profound knowledge of old and contemporary art, he clearly saw the tremendous potentialities of landscape painting. He was a true pioneer and introduced many bold innovations into Armenian painting. One of his most spectacular achievements, which took many years of hard work, is what can best be described as a "panoramic landscape". It is a broad view of an enormous and beautiful stretch of land, taken from the top of a high hill or a mountain. Bathed in the sunlight and suffused with a multitude of intricately interwoven shades and hues, the hilly land fades into a pale haze in the distance and merges with the infinity of the sky. The boundless and seemingly expanding space imbues the observer with an envigorating sense of physical and spiritual freedom. Bashindjagyan never accepted the idea of a landscape as merely a pleasing view of a "picturesque nook". In his opinion, a portrayal of nature, however skilful and true to life it might be, was of little worth unless it conveyed the artist's attitudes and feelings. He closely studied masterpieces of world landscape painting with all their epic, lyrical, or dramatic connotations, and skilfully blended the experience of great masters with the Armenian artistic tradition in his own work. Like many of his renowned predecessors, he was preoccupied with light and colour and the volatile modes of nature. A chilly day of early spring. A balmy day of late summer. A fiery sunset foreboding a storm. A serene moonlit night. Skies gloomy and overcast. Skies radiant with sunshine.... Nature's innumerable patterns and colours invariably spelled harmony and beauty. Bashindjagyan was always fascinated by Armenia's epic grandeur which found a vivid expression even in his early paintings. He saw Mount Ararat with I its two lofty peaks and the blue mirror of Lake Sevan as symbols of his homeland lost and regained. The majestic mountains, Kazbek and Haragatz, and the wild gorges of Daryal, Sanahin and Dilijan captivated him and stimulated his creative powers. With a wealth of magnificent and awe-inspiring vistas all around, he was averse to squandering his talent on trivial subjects. At the same time he was absorbed in watching the never-ending play of light and shade, and of colours, and hues without number. He tried to paint light itself and convey the fleeting glory of scintillating air, wet earth steaming under the sun, shimmering waters, and evanescent clouds. Viewing nature as a continuously changing and yet inherently harmonious and eternal whole imparted an epic character to his art and eventually enabled him to create a typified pictorial image of Armenia. Today, his painterly achievements seem less important than his vision of the world reflected in his paintings, which clearly points to the continuity of the Armenian artistic tradition. Fellow painters, including proponents of Impressionism and advocates of the predominantly decorative
function of art, all spoke highly of Bashindjagyan's work. So do many present-day Soviet landscapists, although their styles are more often than not totally dissimilar to that of the famous master. In evaluating his legacy, they, too, are unanimous in noting his impeccable technique; yet their attention is primarily drawn to the profound philosophical content and rare integrity of his work, which is part and parcel of the Armenian artistic tradition and which in this century found a striking expression in the vibrant landscapes of Saryan and "the landscape saga" of the Armenian countryside by Avetisyan. This tradition is pervaded with the idea of Man's basic affinity with nature. It calls for a realistic portrayal of nature, although it is not averse to a poetic or expressionist aloofness. It also means a faithful depiction of the immediately recognizable, ordinary things and objects, and a down-to-earth attitude towards the physical world, which mingles with the deep-felt sense of life's beauty and epic grandeur. Present-day art critics point out that Bashindjagyan ushered in "a new phase in the development of Armenian painting".1 They are also aware that he upheld the great painterly tradition which today brings thousands of viewers to exhibitions of Armenian art.2 An artist's work is best examined and judged in retrospect. Bashindjagyan's art was oriented also to the future. Martiros Saryan wrote in 1957: "Gevork Bashindjagyan is a great portrayer of the Caucasus. He was keenly responsive to the grandeur and beauty of its mountains, canyons, and valleys, and left us many unforgettable canvases."3 Bashindjagyan was a dedicated patriot and humanist. His noble and inspired work will live on for many years to come and bring joy to art lovers.
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