Harutyun Shamshinian

Armenian painter, graphic artist, teacher. Born in the family of Sahag Shamshinian in the town of Tiflis in Georgia (1856). Studied at the School of Drawing of the Tiflis Art Society (1874–77) and under Vasily Petrovich Vereschagin, Ilya Repin, Pavel Chistyakov and Ivan Pozhalostin at the Imperial Academy of Arts (1877–85). Awarded two minor silver medals (1880, 1881), the fourth category for a collaboration with Mikhail Vrubel (1881) and a major silver medal (1882). Lived and worked in Paris, Munich and Vienna (1883–84). Graduated with the title of third-class artist (1885) and returned to Tiflis, where he lived at 4 Kojori Street (from 1885). Taught drawing at the Nersisian School, Garegin Levonian’s classes and his own school of art (1885–1910). Pioneered the use of xylography in Transcaucasia and the depiction of the Hamidian massacres (1895–96) and Armenian-Tatar massacres (1905–07). Compiled An Elementary Course of Drafting and Perspectives for Students of Drawing in Secondary Schools (1904). Attended the Pan-Russian Congress of Artists in St Petersburg (1911–12). Died in Tiflis and buried at the Armenian Pantheon (Khojivank) in Tiflis (1914). Contributed to exhibitions (from 1880s). Contributed to the exhibitions of the Caucasian Society for the Encouragement of the Fine Arts in Tiflis (1890, 1893, 1897), Forgotten Names in the Sololaki Gallery at the “Caucasian House” Centre for Cultural Relations in Tbilisi (2004) and one-man shows in Tiflis (1913) and Baku (1913).