Akop Karapetovich Kodzhoian

Born Dec. 1 (13), 1883, in Akhaltsikhe, in the present-day Georgian SSR; died Apr. 24, 1959, in Yerevan. Soviet graphic artist and painter. People’s Artist of the Armenian SSR (1935).

Kodzhoian studied in Munich at the studio of A. Azbè from 1903 to 1905 and at the Academy of Arts from 1905 to 1907. Beginning in 1918 he lived in Armenia. His graphic art reveals the influences of medieval Armenian miniature painting, the art of the World of Art movement (Mir iskusstva), and the work of V. A. Favorskii. Works showing these influences include David Sasunskii (watercolor, 1922, Armenian State Picture Gallery, Yerevan) and illustrations for E. Charents’ The Book of Travel (gouache and watercolor, 1933), for the Anthology of Armenian Poetry (gouache, 1936), for a collection of songs by Saiat-Nov (gouache, 1945), and for Armenian Folk Tales (gouache, 1955). Kodzhoian was also a painter. His paintings include A Street in Tebriz (1922), The Shooting of Communists in Zangezur (1930), The Birth of David Sasunskii (1947), and In the Village of Garni (1957)—all are in the Armenian State Picture Gallery.