Ervand Kochar

Born June 15 (27), 1899, in Tbilisi. Soviet sculptor, graphic artist, and painter. People’s Artist of the Armenian SSR (1965).

Kochar studied under E. M. Tatevosian at the Tbilisi School of Painting and Sculpture from 1915 to 1918 and under P. P. Konchalovskii at the Moscow State Free Art Studios from 1918 to 1919. He began working in Paris in 1923; he has worked in Armenia since 1936. Kochar executes various types of sculptures, including monuments. His works, which are marked by an expression of movement and sometimes by stylization, include the obelisk Eagle (bronze, 1955, on the road to Zvartnots), the monument David Sasunskii (copper, 1959, Yerevan), and the commemorative bust of F. E. Dzerzhinskii (copper, 1969, Yerevan). Kochar’s illustrations for the folk epic David of Sasun (gouache, 1939, Picture Gallery of Armenia, Yerevan) resemble stone bas-reliefs. His paintings include genre scenes, portraits, and still lifes. Kochar was awarded the State Prize of the Armenian SSR in 1967.