Temporary exhibition

How did Grigor Khanjyan work? What stages did his creative process go through? What was it about Komitas that captivated the artist while illustrating Paruyr Sevak's poem The Unsilenceable Belfry? The exhibition "Grigor Khanjyan – 100: The Artist and the Book" has opened at the Komitas Museum-Institute. The illustrations for The Unsilenceable Belfry are far more than ordinary book illustrations. They are independent graphic works that rank among the masterpieces of both the artist's oeuvre and Armenian book art. It is no coincidence that they are now part of the permanent exhibition of the Komitas Museum-Institute.

 

For the first time, the exhibition presents around 40 preparatory sketches and etching plates created for the publication of the poem, alongside archival photographs and documents generously provided by the artist's daughter, Seda Khanjyan.

 

Visitors can also watch a documentary film in which Grigor Khanjyan himself reflects on the creative process behind the book's design and illustration.

 

Throughout the exhibition, linocut printmaking workshops will be held, giving participants the opportunity to make prints using the original printing block created by the artist. The exhibition will remain on view for three months.

(Collection of Komitas Gevorgyan)

The exhibition presents documents and letters relating to the final years of Komitas Vardapet's life. These materials offer the possibility of illuminating lesser‑studied chapters of his biography from a new perspective, while also revealing details concerning his health, his personality, and his activities as reflected in official records.

The collection donated by Komitas Gevorgyan, the Armenian famous conductor, includes publications, postcards, photographs, Komitas's visiting card, and official correspondence. Of particular importance is the set of original documents dated 1913–1943, comprising eleven archival items – letters and telegrams. Among them are the 1938–1939 correspondence between Astvatsatur Harentz and the publishing house Éditions musicales Sénart, the report of the director of the Villejuif psychiatric hospital on the death of Komitas Vardapet, a telegram sent by Catholicos Khoren I Muradbekian, and others.

The collection also contains four documents related to the funeral company Maison Trouvain, which was responsible for all the procedures of Komitas Vardapet's burial, as well as for the transfer of his remains in May 1936 from the basement of the Armenian Apostolic Church of St. John the Baptist in Paris to Soviet Armenia. Of special note are thirteen unpublished letters written between 1922 and 1935 concerning Komitas's health condition and the arrangements for his treatment. These significantly supplement the medical records preserved in the archives of the Ville‑Évrard and Villejuif institutions.

Alongside these archival units, the exhibition also presents publications issued over the years by the Komitas Caretaker Committee, as well as manuscript letters and valuable materials that have enriched the collections of the Komitas Museum‑Institute during the past decade of its activity.

 

As part of the Francophonie Days in Armenia program, the Komitas Museum-Institute will traditionally present an exhibition of French-language music books and vinyl records. This event will provide an opportunity to explore the multifaceted heritage of French musicology and its connection with Armenian musical culture.

The exhibition will feature works on music history, theory, analysis, and pedagogy, published in the 19th and 20th centuries.

The vinyl collection will include recordings of academic and folk music, as well as orchestral and vocal performances.

The exhibition will be open from March 20 to April 20, inviting music lovers and professionals to discover valuable pages of French musicological heritage.

The Komitas Museum-Institute will present the temporary exhibition "Meeting the Komitas National String Quartet", dedicated to the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Komitas National String Quartet.

The exhibition traces the Quartet's century-long artistic journey through photographs documenting its concerts, international tours, and memorable encounters across different periods of its history. These materials offer visitors an opportunity to explore the ensemble's rich legacy, its international presence, and its significant contribution to the development and promotion of Armenian chamber music.

The exhibition pays tribute to one of Armenia's most distinguished musical ensembles, whose work has played an important role in promoting the creative legacy of Komitas and introducing Armenian music to audiences around the world.

Komitas Museum-Institute and the Museum of Literature and Art after Yeghishe Charents have jointly prepared an exhibition dedicated to the 150th anniversary of Armenian pianist, singer, musicologist, pedagogue, and close friend of Komitas Vardapet, Margarit Babayan.
The temporary exhibition, titled “Parisian Encounters,” will open on September 26, the birthday of Komitas Vardapet, at the Komitas Museum-Institute.
As part of the exhibition, approximately 150 archival documents and photographs from the Museum of Literature and Art will be presented, along with three paintings from the collection of the National Gallery of Armenia, as well as documents and photographs from the archives of the Komitas Museum-Institute and the Laloy family.
Different sections of the exhibition will be dedicated to various aspects of Margarit Babayan’s work, with one separate section highlighting the close friendship between Margarit Babayan and Komitas Vardapet, illustrated through their correspondence.

 

Komitas Museum-Institute is pleased to invite you to the opening of the exhibition "Conversations with the Reed". The exhibition explores the strong ties that bind us to the reed (Arundo Donax species) and its territories from the Arax river to the Mediterranean basin. The exhibition engages in dialogue the double reeds used in the wind instruments in Armenian traditional and French baroque music, especially the duduk, the zurna, and oboe, and highlights the historical and modern use of the plant shedding light on contemporary issues faced by the master reed makers and the musicians both in Armenia and France. The exhibition serves as a vibrant platform for encounters between historical sources and contemporary practices, between artists and craftsmen at one with this plant, breathing new life into the "society of the reed " that was long ours.

"Menq" national dance group (artistic director Stepan Toroyan) and "Tagpar" ensemble will join the opening ceremony with performances of Armenian folk dances and folk tunes.

 

''TAGPAR'' ensemble:

Grigor Kartashyan, zurna

Erik Avagyan, zurna

Davit Alikhanyan, zurna

Grigor Davtyan, dhol

Zakar Avoyan, kopal

 

The exhibition was conceived as part of a call for projects entitled "Research in music: collaborations between young researchers and artists”, supported by the Direction générale de la création artistique of the French Ministry of Culture.

Partners and supporters: Ministère de l'éducation, des sciences, de la culture et des sports de l'Arménie, Ministère de la Culture de la France, Ambassade de France en Arménie, Institut Français, Veolia, UGAB, Sorbonne Université, Société française de musicologie, Centre de musique baroque de Versailles, Institut de recherche en Musicologie.

Fine art collection of the Komitas Museum–Institute

Since the Komitas Museum–Institute opening in 2015, many artworks have been donated to the collection of funds of the museum – sculptures, paintings, works implemented by graphics and other techniques, which portray Komitas or depict themes related to him. They are mostly created by contemporary celebrated artists such as Ara Harutyunyan, Arto Chakmakjian, Eduard Artsrunyan, Henry Elibekyan, Paravon Mirzoyan, Aleksey Papovyan, David Yerevantsi and others.
The complete collection of 45 artworks is displayed in the exhibition.

…One of the most unforgettable, most powerful impressions was the one which I had the day I met and heard Komitas Vardapet.
Archag Tchobanian

The “More than a century” temporary exhibition of the Komitas Museum-Institute and the Museum of Literature and Art after Yeghishe Charents is dedicated to the 150th Anniversary of Archag Tchobanian, the writer, critic, philologist, journalist, activist, Knight of the Legion of Honour and good friend of Komitas Vardapet.
While living in Paris for around 60 years, A. Tchobanian worked on representing Armenian literature and art in Europe and the pursuit of justice for Armenian Nation. He translated into French and published works of ancient and modern Armenian poets and had personal connections and correspondence with European writers and activists. The literary and public activities of A. Tchobanian were highly appreciated both by Armenian and European writers: Anatole France, Emile Verhaeren, Romain Rolland, Franz Werfel, Paul Éluard․
He was deservedly called the Ambassador of Armenian Art in Europe.
The Exhibition is about the “friendship more than a century” of two great personalities and the significant role that A. Tchobanian played in Komitas Vardapet’s life, especially in preserving Komitas’s heritage and transferring it to Armenia.
In six thematic parts of the Exhibition, through the combination of graphic images and artefacts we presented various fragments and events, telling about the personal and creative interactions of Komitas and A. Tchobanian.
The transition from graphic image to an artefact and the opposite lets the visitor learn about various moments of the lives of two great people by using graphic creations, as well as archival documents, photographs, manuscripts and rich audiovisual materials.

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