National Gallery of Armenia

 The collection of West-European unique graphics (drawings, pastels, watercolour and gouache paintings) has developed during decades, since 1921, the establishment of the State Central Museum of Armenia. The latest replenishments refer to 2005. The State Hermitage Museum and the State Museum Fund made an invaluable contribution to the formation of the collection. In 1930 and 1932 drawings were brought from the above-mentioned museums to the State Central Museum of Armenia. Those drawings made the base of the small collection. Numerous drawings gained in that way, come of quite distinguished European and Russian collections, including those of C. Cobenzl, I. Betskoy, A. Beuordeley, V. Argutian-Yerkaynabazuk and others. The donations of Diaspora Armenian collection-holders and art lovers, as well as the museum acquisitions were another source for the replenishment of the collection. A number of artworks were donated to the Gallery by the artists personally. European drawing has a history of about seven hundred years. During that period its essence, technological means, tasks, as well as its relations to other types of fine arts have been repeatedly changed. The term “drawing” used in the study of art is not unequivocal. It may refer both to the artist’s ability to master drawing, i.e. the form, and to a special technique. The use of paper was turning during the development of drawing. Paper appeared in Europe in the XI-XII centuries, and being ten times cheaper, it replaced the parchments used by artists in the XIV century. Paper promoted the creation of experimental, subsidiary paintings and scientific studies. Artists got an opportunity to work more freely and in a specific way, which led to the development of their own style and form of expression. The quantity of drawings also increased: later they were estimated as independent values. People gave these drawings to each other, donated or sold them, which witnessed about their recognition and evaluation. The earliest drawings, as considered now, refer to the XV century. According to the generally accepted opinion, European drawing originated in Italy. It developed and prospered in the period of the Renaissance when new changes appeared in art due to the time achievements. Drawing became a separate type of art and was completely manifested with its diversity. It was especially obvious in artworks of High Renaissance artists, like Leonardo da Vinci in Italy and Albrecht Dürer in Germany. There are no any artworks by the XV century artists in the collection of the Gallery. But there are more than two hundred artworks representing the XVI-XX centuries. The features of graphic art of various European art schools are partly reflected in these artworks. Unfortunately, all the schools are not equally presented in the collection. More completely are represented Italian, Dutch, French, German and Romanian collections. Austria, England, Belgium, Estonia, Latvia, Poland and Switzerland are presented with one or more exhibits.

The Eastern art of the XVII-XIX centuries collection includes forty-four works, thirty-nine of which are exhibited. Most of them are the artworks of Chinese and Iranian masters. Three of the works belong to the Japanese artists; one of them is an Indian miniature and five of them are Tibetan tankas. The collection has mainly been replenished thanks to the donations and exhibited for the first time.(China, Iran, India, Japan).