Jump to content

Henrik Igityan National Centre for Aesthetics

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Henrik Igityan National Centre for Aesthetics
Map
Former name
Children's Art Museum
EstablishedOctober 18, 1978 (1978-10-18)
LocationYerevan
TypeArts centre
FounderHenrik Igityan
Websitenca.am/en

Henrik Igityan National Centre for Aesthetics (NCA) (Armenian: Գեղագիտության ազգային կենտրոն) is a gallery and museum in Yerevan, Armenia.[1] The NCA was established on 18 October 1978.[2] It was based on, and as of 2024 includes, the Children's Art Museum, which was founded in 1970 by Henrik Igityan (hy) and Zhanna Aghamiryan.[1] The NCA has branches across Armenia, and runs a strong programme for both local and international child artists.

Programming[edit]

Music school of NCA

The NCA has fine and decorative art studios, theatres, an orchestra and dance studio.[1] There are branches of the NCA in cities beyond Yerevan, including in Goris, Gyumri, Meghri and Vanadzor.[1] Each branch has the opportunity to reflect local culture, focusing on materials of the locality or specific folk art practices.[3]

In 2010, the NCA celebrated the 2150th anniversary of Tigranes the Great, exhibiting works of artists from Nagorno-Karabakh.[4] Connection with diasporic communities is important for the centre, and in 2011 works by Armenian-American children were displayed.[5] In 2017, Armenian-Iranian culture was celebrated through an exhibition of works by the Iranian artists Dariush Mohammadkhani, Ali-Mohammad Masiha, Shahriar Hojjati and Fatemeh Rahimi-Yeganeh.[6] In 2020, the centre worked with child refugees from Artsakh,[7] followed by an exhibition of their work in 2021.[8]

Children's Art Museum[edit]

Igityan and Aghamiryan at the Children's Art Museum opening ceremony in 1970

In 1968, Igityan and Aghamiryan opened an exhibition entitled "The World Through Children's Eyes" which included over 800 works by children from Armenia.[9] This led to the establishment of the Children's Art Museum in 1970, which was the world (as well as the Soviet Union's) first children's art museum.[10][11] In it's opening two weeks had 120,000 visitors, establishing childen's art as a genre in its own right.[9] Zhanna Aghamiryan was the first director.[10][11]

The National Centre for Aesthetics was established in 1978 to expand the work of the Children's Art Museum.[12]

Collection[edit]

Work of Ruben Igityan, son of Igityan and Aghamiryan

The children's art collection includes over 150,000 works of art created by children from around the world, from 120 countries.[13][9][14] The collection is divided into national, former USSR states and international.[15] Some works in the collection are considered masterpieces of children's art, for example gouache work by Armen Khachaturya.[15] Works by child artists were exhibited in both group and individual shows. In 1983 the first exhibition of children's metalwork was opened. In 1984 to apply for a solo show, the artist had to be between the ages of 3 and 16.[15] Writing in 1975, Aghamiryan described the impact of the gallery:

Some day future generations will be grateful to the twentieth century not only because it was a time when children’s paintings were studied as psychological documents concerning the development of the personality and creativity but also because they aroused the admiration of contemporaries, who showed a deep appreciation of the unexpected beauty of children’s art.[15]

International collaboration has been historically important for the museum, with partnerships in the late 1970s with the Brooklyn Centre of Children’s Art, as well as a loans program.[15] However, until the 1990s, the work of the institution was undocumented since it fell outside "Soviet guidelines of acceptable artistic expression and educational content".[16] Instead the vision, its policy and processes were passed word-of-mouth between Henrik Igityan and his colleagues.[16]

Legacy[edit]

In 1980 the magazine Soviet Life described the gallery as "the only one of its kind in the world".[17] It was the success of the Children's Art Museum that led to the foundation of the National Aesthetic Centre, demonstrating a desire for art education in the country.[16]

See also[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b c d "Visit Yerevan". web.archive.org. 2023-12-06. Retrieved 2024-06-18.
  2. ^ "History". nca.am. Retrieved 2024-06-18.
  3. ^ Garoian, Charles R. (1994). "Teaching Art as a Matter of Cultural Survival: Aesthetic Education in the Republic of Armenia". Journal of Aesthetic Education. 28 (2): 83–94. doi:10.2307/3333273. ISSN 0021-8510.
  4. ^ "Exhibition of children's works opens in Armenian National Centre of Aesthetics". news.am. 2024-06-18. Retrieved 2024-06-18.
  5. ^ Hambardzumyan, Naira (2011-05-02). "Armenian-American Children's Art Exhibited in Yerevan". FAR. Retrieved 2024-06-20.
  6. ^ "Works by Iranian artists on display at Yerevan National Center of Aesthetics - Tehran Times". web.archive.org. 2017-06-02. Retrieved 2024-06-18.
  7. ^ ""Arstakh's Children" Art Program Underway - Hamazkayin". 2020-12-04. Retrieved 2024-06-20.
  8. ^ LLC, Helix Consulting. "Exhibition-concert "Artshakh children" to take place at Yerevan Modern Art Museum". www.panorama.am. Retrieved 2024-06-20.
  9. ^ a b c Global, AIST. "National Center of Aesthetics. Armenian has always had a hand in art". armeniadiscovery.com. Retrieved 2024-06-18.
  10. ^ a b "Children's Art Gallery - The Caucasus Tours". 2021-10-01. Retrieved 2024-06-11.
  11. ^ a b "Venue[s] • EVN Report". evnmediafest.com. 2020-01-22. Retrieved 2024-06-11.
  12. ^ "Visit Yerevan". web.archive.org. 2023-12-06. Retrieved 2024-06-18.
  13. ^ "National Center of Aesthetics Named After Henrikh Igityan. Museum in Yerevan". henrik-igityan.mus.am. Retrieved 2024-06-18.
  14. ^ "History". nca.am. Retrieved 2024-06-18.
  15. ^ a b c d e Mezhlumyan, Konstantin Sergeevich (1984). "The Children's art centre in Yerevan". The Museum. 36 (4): 199–203 – via UNESCO.
  16. ^ a b c Garoian, Charles R. (1994). "Teaching Art as a Matter of Cultural Survival: Aesthetic Education in the Republic of Armenia". Journal of Aesthetic Education. 28 (2): 83–94. doi:10.2307/3333273. ISSN 0021-8510.
  17. ^ Soviet Life. Embassy of the Union of the Soviet Socialist Republics in the USA. 1980.

Further reading[edit]

  • Tree of Life: Children's Art Museum of Armenia - Movses Herquelian (1995)
Retrieved from "https://en.luquay.com/w/index.php?title=Henrik_Igityan_National_Centre_for_Aesthetics&oldid=1231391601"