Ara Migranovich Sarksian
Sarksian, Ara Migranovich
Born Apr. 7, 1902, in Istanbul; died June 14, 1969, in Yerevan. Soviet sculptor. People’s Artist of the USSR (1963); member of the Academy of Arts of the USSR (1958). Member of the CPSU from 1939.
Sarksian graduated from the Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna in 1924. He moved to Soviet Armenia in 1925. Sarksian was one of the organizers of the Armenian branch of the Association of Artists of Revolutionary Russia. In 1945 he joined the faculty of the Yerevan Institute of Theater Arts; he became a professor there in 1947. Sarksian sculpted busts of S. Shaumian (bronze, 1952) and E. Charents (bronze, 1957), both of which are in the Yerevan Art Gallery. His monuments to S. M. Kirov (basalt, 1942, Kirovakan), N. Stepanian (bronze, 1950, Yerevan), and V. I. Lenin (bronze, 1959, Kamo) are noted for their brilliant psychological characterization and strict economy of form. Sarksian also created a number of decorative reliefs.
Sarksian was awarded three orders and various medals.