Grigor khanjyan biography books

The tapestry representing the Battle of Avarair, with Vartan Mamikonian holding the sword tall and many familiar faces of Armenian contemporary culture among the fighters (even William Saroyan is there), is one of painter and illustrator Grigor Khanjian’s best known works, whose original is exhibited in Holy Echmiadzin,

Khanjian was born in Yerevan, on November 29, 1926, the child of genocide survivors.

In 1945, he finished the coursework at the Panos Terlemezian Art College and entered the Academy of Fine Arts at the age of nineteen. He mostly studied under the guidance of painter Eduard Isabekian, a prolific artist, whose influence on the early works by Khanjian was strong.

Khanjian never joined the Communist Party, despite the logical pressure to do so in order to advance a career, opting often for national instead of Soviet subjects.

For example, for his graduation work in 1951, he chose the topic of the 1907 Communist Congress in Lon