Background
Arshak Fetvadjian was born on October 1, 1866 in Trabzon, Ottoman Empire, now Turkey.
Արշակ Ֆեթվաճյան
Arshak Fetvadjian was born on October 1, 1866 in Trabzon, Ottoman Empire, now Turkey.
Fetvadjian attended a national art institute in Trabzon, Ottoman Empire, now Turkey. Then he continued his studies at the State Fine Arts School (Imperial Academy of Art) in Constantinople, now Istanbul, Turkey. Fetvadjian graduated from the academy in 1887 and pursued higher learning abroad: he left for Rome and was admitted to the San Luca Art Academy, where he was taken under the wing of Italian painter and sculptor Cesare Maccari.
Fetvadjian's artistic talents were first brought into the public spotlight when he participated in the Italian national art exhibition in 1891.
After 1895 he came to Saint Petersburg where he participated in art exhibitions. Later Fetvadjian traveled to Russian Armenia. He organized several art exhibitions displaying his own works in such major Transcaucasian cities as Batum, Tiflis and Baku. In the early 1900s, Fetvadjian had the opportunity to participate in the excavations led by Russian archaeologist Nicholas Marr of the medieval Armenian capital of Ani.
In addition to the historical monuments of Ani, Fetvadjian's paintings also documented other Armenian cultural monuments of the Caucasus ("Tekor basilica" in Kars), the life and the natural landscape of Armenia ("Oriental Mail", "Mount Aragats," "Lake Sevan"), and portraits of Armenians and other ethnic peoples.
Throughout the early 20th century, he continued to hold exhibitions, and his artwork was seen on displays at the Louvre (1919, 1920) and the Victoria and Albert Museum in London.
Fetvadjian moved to the United States in 1922, continued to paint and lived there for the remainder of his years.
Fetvadjian died on October 7, 1947 in Medford, Massachusetts, United States. His remains were interred in the capital Yerevan.
Fetvadjian joined the Russian Artists' Society and was inducted to the art societies of the universities of Harvard, Columbia and Chicago.