Doctor of Arts, Professor. In 1974 L. Chookaszian graduated from the Department of Armenian Language and Literature, Faculty of Philology, Yerevan State University. In 1978 he started working at the Center for Armenian Studies of Yerevan State University. Since 1978, parallel to scientific work, he has taught Armenian and Ancient Art and other disciplines at different universities in Yerevan. From 1996 to present he is the Head of the Chair of History and Theory of Armenian Art at Yerevan State University. He has also taught at Los Angeles (2005) and Fresno (2009) Universities (USA), Budapest Central European University (Hungary, 2012) and Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg (Germany, 2018). In 2015 Chookaszian was elected member of Ambrosian Academy of Milan, Italy, and in 2016 ‒ a Corresponding Member of the Montpellier Academy in France. L. Chookaszian authored about four hundred articles on Armenian miniature painting, silversmithing, wood-carving, sculpture, XVIII-XX century Armenian painters, as well as Armenian-Polish, Armenian-Italian, Armenian-French, Armenian-Romanian artistic relations, which were published in Armenian and European miscellanea and periodicals. He is the author of the books Grigor Tsaghkogh (Yerevan, 1986), Arshak Fetvachyan (Yerevan, 2011) and History of the Medieval Armenian Fine Arts Study (1830s – 1950) (Yerevan, 2016).

KOMITAS AND ARMENIAN ART

Komitas, the outstanding Armenian composer, musicologist, founder of the national composer school, being very respected and loved by the Western Armenian and Eastern Armenian intellectuals was personally connected with many cultural figures, including painters of his time. For many times they have created his portraits. It should be noted that Komitas had personal friendship with prominent Armenian artists Gevorg Bashinjaghyan, Panos Terlemezyan, Yeghishe Tadevosyan and others. After his death Komitas for countless times was portrayed not only by the painters but also by Armenian sculptors who created his sculptures and statues. A number of sketches by Komitas, which have survived and reached to us, testify about his gift of painter.