{"id":1362,"date":"2015-03-14T12:00:00","date_gmt":"2015-03-14T08:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/arvestagir.am\/haytni-arvestagetneric-minchev-hasarak-hay-geghjukner-lavinia-bazhbeuk-melikhyani-dimankarnereh\/"},"modified":"2026-10-21T11:22:27","modified_gmt":"2026-10-21T07:22:27","slug":"haytni-arvestagetneric-minchev-hasarak-hay-geghjukner-lavinia-bazhbeuk-melikhyani-dimankarnereh","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/arvestagir.am\/en\/haytni-arvestagetneric-minchev-hasarak-hay-geghjukner-lavinia-bazhbeuk-melikhyani-dimankarnereh\/","title":{"rendered":"From Well-Known Artists to Simple Armenian Villagers.The Portraits of Lavinia Bazhbeuk-Melikyan"},"content":{"rendered":"

Armenian paintress Lavinia Bazhbeuk-Melikyan (1922-2005), daughter of the famous talented representative of \u201dTbilisi School\u201d, artist Alexander Bazhbeuk-Melikyan, got her professional education in College of Fine-Arts after Panos Terlemezyan and in the Institute after V. Surikov in Moscow. During her sixty-year creative life Lavinia painted landscapes, Still life, but the most interesting among Lavinia\u2019s works are the portraits, as they show her talent at best. Portrait painting had always attracted the paintress.<\/p>\n

\"\u053c\u0561\u057e\u056b\u0576\u056b\u0561<\/a>
Lavinia Bazhbeuk-Melikyan,
Self-portrait<\/strong>, 1978<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In her works she used to portray those people whom she loved, who impressed her with their peculiar personality, dignity and inner beauty.<\/p>\n

\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Some artists concentrate on the resemblance of the portrait with the sitter, forgetting about his inner world. While the others create generalized\u00a0 portrait without paying attention to appearance.\u00a0 For Lavinia it is basic to retain the resemblance of the portrait with the sitter, conveying all the features in details, thus individualizing the image. She said\u201d If there is no resemblance, then I didn\u2019t like the sitter\u201d. Lavinia views the sitter as a unity of inner and outer qualities. She penetrates into his soul and finds contact with his inside world.\u00a0 Lavinia used to examine the person she was going to portray in every detail. She fully perceived the sitter\u2019s inside world and succeeded to expose both the inner and outer peculiarities of the very person.<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0From canvases painted by Lavinia look at us persons with their natural simple characters, full of sincerity and directions, they attract the looker with their inner harmony[1, p.7]. They seem to easily come into contact with the viewer telling about their life in a silent dialogue. All portraits of Lavinia are full of inner dynamics. There is no idealization in the portraits of Lavinia.<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0Being close with the prominent representations of Armenian and Russian artists of her time Lavinia created their portraits. She also painted her family members as well as her own self \u2013portrait.<\/p>\n

\"\u053c\u0561\u057e\u056b\u0576\u056b\u0561<\/a>
Lavinia Bazhbeuk-Melikyan,
The portrait of Minas Avetisyan<\/strong>,1965 <\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"\u053c\u0561\u057e\u056b\u0576\u056b\u0561<\/a>
Lavinia Bazhbeuk-Melikyan,
The portrait of Martiros Saryan<\/strong>, 1972<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Lavinia\u2019s professionalism is best seen in the portraits of artists Minas Avetisyan (1965), Ara Shiraz (1970), Martiros Saryan (1972), Robert Elibekyan (1979), the paintress Nana Gyuliqekhvyan(1972) and many others. All these portraits of famous artists convey the inner\u00a0pride and dignity of person\u00a0 she painted.\u00a0 Lavinia could bring out the typical features of these people.In the portraits of her father, brother, sister, husband, daughter and granddaughters \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0she expressed all her love she had towards them. Amongst the abovementioned canvases stands out her father\u2019s portrait, where the well-known painter despite of his age, looks full of life.<\/p>\n

\"\u053c\u0561\u057e\u056b\u0576\u056b\u0561<\/a>
Lavinia Bazhbeuk-Melikyan,
The portrait of Alexander Bazhbeuk-Melikyan<\/strong>, 1960<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"\u053c\u0561\u057e\u056b\u0576\u056b\u0561<\/a>
Lavinia Bazhbeuk-Melikyan,
The portrait of Zuleika<\/strong>,1971<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Lavinia made several portraits of her sister Zuleika which look very feminine, graceful and full of tenderness. As compared with the womanly portraits of Zuleika the self \u2013portraits of Lavinia look manly and stern, where she introduces herself as she is-full of energy and resolution, with no idealization.<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Among her works are also significant the portraits of Armenian villagers. She said\u201d I like villagers with their simplicity, directness, liveliness and sunburnt faces. You can\u2019t stay indifferent to such people, and it is happiness to portray them\u201d.<\/p>\n

\"\u053c\u0561\u057e\u056b\u0576\u056b\u0561<\/a>
Lavinia Bazhbeuk-Melikyan,
The grandmother and her grandchild<\/strong>,1968\u00a0<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"\u053c\u0561\u057e\u056b\u0576\u056b\u0561<\/a>
Lavinia Bazhbeuk-Melikyan,
The old women of Quchak<\/strong>, 1960<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u00a0In her portraits of Armenian villagers the viewer sees people with sunburnt faces, sweaty foreheads, tough callous working hands and deep, sad Armenian eyes. The village women whom she painted are ordinary and humble with no face powder or lipstick. They are simple and beautiful like the nature itself. The paintress sees their real beauty in their headkerchiefs and shawls. A curious\u00a0 example is the group portrait named \u201d The old women of Quchak\u201d.<\/p>\n

\"\u053c\u0561\u057e\u056b\u0576\u056b\u0561<\/a>
Lavinia Bazhbeuk-Melikyan ,
A Girl from Lousagyugh<\/strong>,1972<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Here Lavinia expressed her love to people with a subtle and pleasant humor. In this portrait women with faces burnt from severe sun and highland winds look at the viewer with their kind and calm eyes.<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0Other portraits of this group are \u201dThe grandmother and her grandchild\u201d, \u201d The portrait of a Girl from Lousagyugh\u201d, with her innocent and naive face\u00a0 expression, \u201d The Blanket sewing woman\u201d with her hand veins moving, \u201d Lavash baking woman\u201d with a newly baked bread fragrance on her face, and many others.<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Thus, we see that in her portraits Lavinia Bazhbeuk-Melikyan tends to present the sitter in a simple and explicit manner disclosing the peculiar traits of the person\u2019s character.<\/p>\n

Sources:<\/span><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

1. \u053c\u0561\u057e\u056b\u0576\u056b\u0561 \u0532\u0561\u056a\u0562\u0565\u0578\u0582\u056f-\u0544\u0565\u056c\u056b\u0584\u0575\u0561\u0576\u056b \u057d\u057f\u0565\u0572\u056e\u0561\u0563\u0578\u0580\u056e\u0578\u0582\u0569\u0575\u0578\u0582\u0576\u0576\u0565\u0580\u056b \u056f\u0561\u057f\u0561\u056c\u0578\u0563, \u0535\u0580\u0587\u0561\u0576, 1978.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

2.Graduation Paper of Silvia Manucharyan.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Armenian paintress Lavinia Bazhbeuk-Melikyan (1922-2005), daughter of the famous talented representative of \u201dTbilisi School\u201d, artist Alexander Bazhbeuk-Melikyan, got her professional education in College of Fine-Arts after Panos Terlemezyan and in the Institute after V. Surikov in Moscow. During her sixty-year creative life Lavinia painted landscapes, Still life, but the most interesting among Lavinia\u2019s works \u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":27,"featured_media":23,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34,38],"tags":[86,95,101,337],"class_list":["post-1362","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-features","category-fine_arts","tag-armenian-fine-art","tag-art","tag-artist","tag-portrait"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/arvestagir.am\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1362","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/arvestagir.am\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/arvestagir.am\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arvestagir.am\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/27"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arvestagir.am\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1362"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/arvestagir.am\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1362\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1398,"href":"https:\/\/arvestagir.am\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1362\/revisions\/1398"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arvestagir.am\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/23"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/arvestagir.am\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1362"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arvestagir.am\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1362"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arvestagir.am\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1362"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}