Mayda Saris 2005

About the Author

Mayda Saris was born in İstanbul and graduated from Notre Dame de Sion French High School for Girls in 1974. Saris continued her education in the French Philology Department of the Faculty of Literature of İstanbul University and also attended various History of Contemporary Art courses at Mimar Sinan University as a guest student. She graduated from the Fashion Design Department of LCC Culture Centre in 1989. She also attended the seminars on Plastic Arts and Antiquities at the Portakal Art and Culture House held between 1990 and 1995, and she participated in seminars on the Philosophy and History of Art conducted by Yalçın Sadak. She has translated two books from French into Turkish: L’Apatrie, a novel by Jean Kehaian, and Les Armeniens Dans l’Empire Ottoman, a scholarly history by Raimond H. Kevorkian and Paul B. Paboudjian. Art consultant and researcher-writer Mayda Saris is presently the art director of the weekly newspaper Agos.

ABD - France - Ermenia - Beirut

The Winnowed Colours

AGOS Publishing is pleased to announce the publication of a
groundbreaking book by Mayda Saris entitled, Armenian Painting: From the Beginning to the Present, in the English language. This extraordinary book is the first of its kind, exploring Armenian Art from antiquity
to modern times. The author gives a comprehensive but a brief overview
about the origin of the Armenian people, their folklore, lifestyle,
culture, art and faith which have been source of inspiration for the
Armenian artists and architects, in short the men and women of art.

Mayda Saris puts the beginning of Armenian art history several
millennia back to a series of rock carvings, abundant with scenes of daily life of the people, local flora and fauna figures and astrological
symbols. These rock carvings have been brought to light on the Armenian
Highlands: The cradle of ancient civilization. She then outlines countless
monuments of art with very high artistic merit, rare beauty and
profound distinctiveness created by the Armenian artists in the fields of
architecture, sculpture, miniature painting, manuscript illumination,
precious metal processing, which have drawn the attention of the researchers, art historians, artists, architects and art critics .

She analyzes the destructive effects of the successive invasions and
plundering attacks, as a result of which a great number of these artistic
monuments have been destroyed.(In 1170 during the Seljuk invasions 10,000 ancient manuscripts were destroyed in Baghabert which had been collected from various monasteries and brought to Baghabert fortress for safekeeping.)*

(*) Matenadaran, page 6, G.W. Abgarian, Armenian State Publishing
House, -1962

Armenian art has come to the verge of extinction more than once
throughout its history due to social upheaval and devastation of war, but the instinct of the Armenian people toward preserving their cultural
identity, and the diligence, creative spirit and devotion of the Armenian artists to their art, enabled them to reverse the trend and revive
art and culture, as soon as calm and peace was restored in the
country.

In the preface of her book Mayda Saris cites the following colophon_
from a medieval Cilician manuscript which expressly indicates the degree
of devotion of the Armenian artists' to their art.

"Dear readers, as I write these lines the barbarians have arrived in
the city of Sis; they are massacring the defenseless inhabitants. .
.There is wailing and screaming everywhere... My heart is heavy with grief
as women's and children's cries and screams fill my tiny room. I am in a
hurry. . .hastily trying to complete my work. . .In the event that my
work reaches you as an incomplete book, you must assume that I also have
been killed."

What was left behind from the above message was a last page, hastily
illustrated and a touching sentence written with deep emotion: "Please
kindly commemorate this painter. . ."

Shaken by the imploring cry emerging from a 13th century manuscript,
Mayda felt exceedingly sorry for her lack of knowledge about these
worthy and respectable people whose devotion was so genuine that even the
threat of death would not stop them from performing their art. It was
quite sad that these talented masters, mostly of Anatolian origin, were
not known in their own country, even though they had acquired great
reputation abroad. To eliminate this contradiction and fill the historical
gap was indeed the moral obligation of the Armenians from Turkey.”

Let us hear the rest of the story from the author:

"As a researcher in Art History, particularly in Armenian Art, I
took on the challenge with the motivation of reviving the spirit of the
cultural and artistic heritage of the Armenian people from Turkey. Thus
I found myself delving into a pile of books, magazines and documents in
English, French, Russian and Armenian. As I moved forward, I witnessed
the rich artistic heritage of the Armenian people, which showed their
strong ties with the art."

Entering into the mystifying world of Armenian artists, who have been able to keep their ethnic identity while blending their art with the art of the countries they live in, and thus sharing the distinction of Armenian graphic art with AGOS readers, who sent positive reactions in their letters of encouragement and (why not?) letters of complaint about the absence of a reference book on Armenian art in Turkish, it did not take too long for me to decide to compile my articles into a book. This was to be a first and I was anxious about it since certain deficiencies could be inevitable. Nevertheless, mindful of my responsibilities, passion for art prevailed over these anxieties, and the first edition, published in Turkish, was very well received by the public, particularly among art circles.

. . . And now, to make the history of artistic heritage of Armenian people accessible to a wider readership, AGOS Publishing is proud to present Armenian Painting: From the Beginning to the Present, in the English language.