Ara Harutyunyan: From Komitas to Komitas

The Komitas Museum-Institute presented the exhibition "Ara Harutyunyan: From Komitas to Komitas" from January 29 to June 1, 2021. The exhibition explores the artistic journey of Ara Harutyunyan—a monumental sculptor, graphic artist, People's Artist of the Republic of Armenia, Corresponding Member of the Academies of Arts of the USSR and the Russian Federation, and Professor—whose career in monumental art both began and culminated with the figure of Komitas.

 Most of the works on display had never before been presented to the public. Created over several decades, they remained side by side in the sculptor's studio for many years.

The exhibition featured not only completed sculptures but also sketches, drawings inspired by Komitas, and various sculptural studies, revealing the complex and often emotionally demanding creative process behind the formation of the image—from the initial drawing and plaster maquette to the final bronze casting. Visitors were thus offered a rare opportunity to enter the artist's "sanctum sanctorum"—his creative workshop.

The exhibition's primary objective was to present, for the first time, the complete body of Ara Harutyunyan's works dedicated to Komitas within a single exhibition space. His first monumental sculpture devoted to Komitas, created as his graduation project, was installed in 1954 at Komitas's grave in the Komitas Pantheon. The artist's final monumental work dedicated to Komitas was unveiled in 1988 in the park of the Komitas State Conservatory of Yerevan, bringing his lifelong artistic dialogue with the great composer to its symbolic conclusion.

Curator: Marine Haroyan