10 facts about Mariam Aslamazyan

Mariam Arshaki Aslamazyan (Russian: Асламаз́ян Мариа́м Арша́ковна; Armenian: Մարիամ Ասլամազյան; 20 October 1907 – 16 July 2006) was a Soviet painter, recognized as a People’s Artist of the Armenian SSR (1965) and People’s Artist of the Soviet Union (1990).

Born near Alexandropol (today Gyumri), Aslamazyan has been referred to as the “Armenian Frida Kahlo” due to her depictions of customary Armenian culture, her bright, modernist palette, eclectic personal style, and self-portraits depicting herself in usual Armenian dress. She in addition to enjoyed a flourishing career as an independent girl artist vigorous in a male-dominated profession in the mid-twentieth-century.

Aslamazyan was the student of Stepan Aghajanian and Petrov-Vodkin and is a representative of the Armenian intellectual of decorative-planar still life paintings and portraits, as capably as an skillful ceramicist. The saturated colors, flattened space, and decorative motifs of Aslamazyan’s paintings reflect a variety of influences, including Western modernists Henri Matisse and Paul Cézanne and the earlier Armenian highly developed which included such seminal painters as Martiros Saryan. She furthermore painted overtly Socialist Realist work, which was required of Official artists of the day, most notably The Return of the Hero (1943) for which she was awarded the Medal “For the Defence of the Caucasus.”

Aslamazyan enjoyed a wealthy career in the Soviet system, earning admission through approved channels. She customary funding through the Artists’ Union to travel to numerous countries vis-а-vis the world, including Algeria, Argentina, Belgium, China, German Democratic Republic (today Germany), France, India, Italy, Japan, Madagascar, Spain, Sweden, the Netherlands, United Arab Republic (today Egypt and Syria), and Yugoslavia. In 1957, the Soviet management sent her on an officially sanctioned vacation to India to incite to establish kind diplomatic ties amongst the two countries. An exhibition was mounted at the decrease of her vacation to showcase the paintings she’d created during her period in the country which was attended by Indira Gandhi, who moreover appeared in some of the paintings. This and three subsequent trips in 1970, 1973, and 1975, played a significant role in establishing distinct Indo-Soviet political ties.

The Gallery of Mariam and Eranuhi Aslamazyan Sisters, located in the sisters’ hometown, holds a large deposit of their works in oil and ceramic which are upon permanent display. Her sister, Eranuhi Aslamazyan, was after that an artist. Aslamazyan’s behave is held in the National Gallery of Armenia and in the Derfner Judaica Museum.

Aslamazyan died in Moscow and was buried in Yerevan’s Komitas Pantheon. In recent years, there has been a resurgence of amalgamation in Aslamazyan’s statute and her paintings have been featured in contemporary exhibitions.^{[citation needed]}

The importance of Mariam and Eranuhi Aslamazyan lies not abandoned in their art but after that in their faithfulness to their homeland. Throughout their career, the sisters represented Armenian culture in numerous cities with citation to the world and never stopped praising Armenia as their first and foremost inspiration in art.

In 1976, Indira Gandhi, the Prime Minister of India visited Soviet Russia and Soviet Armenia. Out of the 15 republics of the Soviet Union, Gandhi had prearranged to visit Armenia partially thanks to Mariam Aslamazyan.

Both Mariam and Eranuhi had visited India on several occasions. Prior to Gandhi’s trip to Armenia, Mariam had established the Jawaharlal Nehru Award from the Indian dispensation for a series of paintings devoted to India and had met taking into consideration Gandhi. It was during that meeting following Gandhi established to visit Armenia as well. After a reception organized for Nehru prize laureates, Gandhi approached Mariam and started to examine her conventional Armenian silver accomplice with curiosity.

“‘What is this?’ she asked. I explained that it’s a acknowledged garment that Armenian women pass next to from generation to generation. I suggested giving it to her as a gift but she refused to permit that the portrait [Mariam had painted a portrait of Gandhi’s father, and previous leader of India Jawaharlal Nehru] is a great gift and I should keep my partner in crime as a memory from my ancestors. Then she plus told me that she is planning a vacation to the Soviet Union, and wants to pretense Moscow and our homeland, Armenia, about which she had heard many great things.