A. T. Manoukian

[Arpa]

Famous Armenians

Well, maybe, not so famous.

I can’t find any mention of him.

Arman Manoukian, painter, Hawaii.

Has anyone known or heard about him?

How about you Ruben Malayan and Armat?

A few days ago I was flipping channels and I had to stopped at the PBS’ Antique Road Show. Yes, I do watch the show selectively. This time the show was at Honolulu, Hawaii, and .. The opening item, had zoomed at a water color(?), a small (20x30 cm.) rather impressionistic painting depicting in bright apricot colors was what was meant to be a Hawaiian king and queen. At that enlargement one could easily see the artist’s signature- A. R. Manoukian.

The appraiser had apparently done his homework. He seemed to recognize the painting and the artist. “Oh yes! Arman(Armen?) Manoukian, born in Armenia(no qulifications like Sivas, Turkey etc.) in 1904, a survivor of the Genocide (no qualifications), arrived in America at a young age, settled in Hawaii and produced quite a few memorable works. Comitted suicide at the age of 27”.

The verdict. It would probably fetch about $ 4-5,000 at an auction.

Edited February 11, 2007 by Arpa

[Arpa]

Famous Armenians

Well, maybe, not so famous.

I can’t find any mention of him.

Arman Manoukian, painter, Hawaii.

No!

Wait!

I found him.

ManOOkian, not ManOUkian

http://www.frazerfineart.com/SearchE2.asp?At=ArmanTManookian

 

Arman T. Manookian

Arman Tateos Manookian is one of Hawaii's most celebrated modern artists, even though he worked there for only five years and eleven months before taking his own life at the age of 27. His works are celebrated for their bold, high-key coloring, and for his idealized portrayals of Hawaiian life and history. He is considered a pioneering Modernist even though the artist himself always insisted that his art was derived from Western Classical and Renaissance values. Manookian, the eldest of three children, was born on May 15, 1904 in Constantinople, the troubled heart of the collapsed former Ottoman Empire. His given name, which he used until joining the U.S. Marine Corps was Tateos (Tady to his family), which is the name of one the two apostles who brought Christianity to Armenia in 35 A. D. He came from a family of Armenian Christians, and his father Arshag owned a successful printing business. The Manookian family was one of the Europeanized Armenian families that had held on to their status and affluence despite crippling taxation and the political dominance of the Islamic Turkish *****s, and despite major massacres in 1894-6, and in 1909 at Adana. As a boy, Tateos was fascinated by the ships, and used to watch them coming into port for hours. As a five year old, he must have been impressed by the four great battleships, including the Maine and the Missouri that visited Constantinople during the tour of Teddy Roosevelt's "Great White Fleet." His family still has detailed drawings of military ships that he did as a seven year old. Manookian's childhood fascination with ships may also help explain his decision to join the Marines later in life. He received an excellent early education at the School of "St. Gregory the Illustrator" administered by the Mekhitarist Order of Venice. The principal of his school, Daniel Varoujan, was a key figure in the "Mehian" movement, an Armenian cultural renaissance, until he was imprisoned and executed by Turkish authorities in 1915. On April 24, 1915, just shy of Manookian's 11th birthday, 600 Armenian intellectuals writers, poets, politicians and others were gathered up and murdered. Manookian's father, the publisher of an Armenian newspaper, managed to hide himself and his brother-in-law in the family print shop. Within weeks perhaps 5,000 more men were dead, some forced to die on death marches into the desert. Although Manookian's father survived the first wave of terror in Constantinople, he fled to France where he died in 1917 after contracting the Spanish flu. Tateos, along with a younger brother and sister remained with their mother, enduring years of fear and hardship as the growing Armenian genocide claimed over a million victims. In April 1920, Tateos came to live with relatives of his mother in New York City and then in Providence, Rhode Island. Always gifted in art, he won a state scholarship to attend the Rhode Island School of Design, where he took night classes from 1920 to 1922. He specialized in commercial Illustration at RISD and worked as a lithographer. On October 8, 1923, he enlisted in the US Marine Corps, and within a few years was contributing decorations and eventually cover art for the Marine magazine, "Leatherneck." Manookian's work caught the attention of a Major Edwin McClellan, who began asking Manookian to illustrate a 2,000 page history of the Marine Corps that he was writing. Manookian completed over a hundred illustrations for McClellan's book although the text was never published, except in a microfilm record for the New York Public library. He followed McClellan to take an assignment at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii in 1925. Upon discharge from the Marines in 1927, Manookian opted to stay in Hawaii, where, living in Honolulu, he provided illustrations for "Paradise of the Pacific" Magazine, to which McClellan was contributing articles. Many of the artist's sketches from this period are at the Marine Historical Center in Washington DC. Manookian also was hired to do illustrations for the "Honolulu Star-Bulletin" and began an active career as a fine artist, joining the Honolulu Artist's Association. Trading work for meals, Manookian created a series of oils that depicted Hawaii in the era of Captain Cook for the "Green Mill Grill" Restaurant. Many of the restaurants patrons came in late after leaving the Hawaii theatre. They would have just watched a show beneath Hawaii's most ambitious mural, the 35 foot wide "Glorification of Drama" completed by Lionel Walden in 1922. What a shock the Manookian paintings must have been when compared with the pastel, Neo-Classical composure of Walden's work. Manookian's color, applied in broad, bold patches reflected his memories of Byzantine colors, as well as his attraction of the brilliant colors of Paul Gauguin's work. To the Honolulu public, the Marine from Constantinople had remade himself as an exotic and a true Hawaiian artist. In truth, the nostalgic aura of Manookian's work was a sign of his personal sense of displacement. If the alternation between manic highs and dismal lows that Manookian's friends observed were an indication, the broken bond with his family, and a longing for the past may have colored his moods. If he was indeed homesick, it was for a Constantinople that he could never return to: history had seen to that. It has often been said that Modernism was the creation of exiles, and Manookian's life sadly fits this profile. His instantaneous and miraculous bond with Hawaii suggests a deep longing to be connected to a place and culture, perhaps as a replacement for what had been lost. Ultimately, Manookian's portrayal of Hawaii, like Gauguin's of Tahiti, is an idealized fantasy of a place that had never existed except in the Colonial imagination. That of course, was a fantasy of Eden that the world and its travel agents needed badly in the in the late 20's, and which it still needs now In the last four years of his life, Manookian could hardly have been more productive. He exhibited at the Honolulu Academy, had a show at Gump's Waikiki and completed a mural cycle, now lost, for the Waipahu Theater. Reviews and reproductions of his work appeared in magazines including "The Argus" and "Art Digest". He experimented with a style portraying contemporary life in Hawaii, but he was often not satisfied with his own work, and once destroyed several of his works in front of astonished friends. Whether it was caused by the growing economic gloom of the depression or the haunting memories of atrocities in Turkey, his behavior became increasingly puzzling to friends, and he gained a reputation as being erratic and troubled. His career was cut short by a decline into despondency, and on May 10, 1931, he took his own life with poison at the home of friends where he had been living for several months. His work was featured in a Memorial Show at the Honolulu Academy of the Arts in August and September of 1933. Manookian's early death has made his work both unfortunately rare and sought after by collectors. McClellan was away from Hawaii at the time of his friend's death, and no article or mention of Manookian's death was ever to appear in "Leatherneck" where his career had started. Had Manookian lived he would have had to cope with the disappointment of knowing that the massive history he illustrated for McClellan was never published. The Depression made publication of such a large book unfeasible, and McClellan resorted to mimeographing sections, chapter by chapter. The only complete record of the "History of U. S. Marines and Origin of Sea Soldiers" by Edwin North McClellan, illustrated by A. T. Manookian exists on microfilm as recorded by the New York Public Library in 1954. Excerpted from a monograph on the artist published by John Seed for 2001 issue of Honolulu Magazine; Published here with the kind permission of the author.



SOLD

Arman T. Manookian

Hawaiians

 

 

[Arpa]

Here is more.

===

http://www.geringerart.com/h1.html

 

MANOOKIAN, A. T (Armenian American ), b. 1904). Arrived in Hawaii 1925, died May, 1931.

Born in Constantinople in 1904, Tateos Manookian grew up fascinated with the military ships he often sketched from age 7 on. He studied at the school of St. Gregory the Illustrator in Constantinople until his life was disrupted by the terror unleased by Turks on Armenians in 1915. He left in 1919 to study art in the United States, and attended the Rhode Island School of Design on a state scholarship.

He joined the U. S. Marines in 1923 and became a clerk to Major Edwin McClellan who assigned him to illustrate a book of Marine history. Manookian also contribued illustrations to "Leatherneck" the magazine of the U. S. Marines.

Upon leaving the Marines in 1927 he created illustrations for "Paradise of the Pacific" magazine and also created murals in the Honolulu area. His was becoming recognized as an outstanding Modernist when he took his own life, by poison, in a fit of despondency.

As a result of his early death, his original illustrations and paintings are rare and sought after.

Manookian in 1927 Anyone having information about works by Manookian should contact John Seed, Geringer Art researcher

===

And more. Please use Manookian hawaii to see more.

http://www.hotelhanamaui.com/main_dining_room.shtml

 

http://www.netarmenie.com/culture/art/hawai/hawai2.php

 

 

 

Edited February 11, 2007 by Arpa

[phantom22]

Manoukian's suicide was predicated by his falling in love with a married woman. He was an artist-in-residence at one of the mansions of the elite when he became involved with a close friend of his patrons. She wasn't going to leave her wealthy husband for a man with whom she had a fling.

[phantom22]

Another Armenian who let his "dakh irun" control him. We must use our intellect to control our emotions. I have perfected this to a "T." If I had been ruled by my emotions, I would have been long dead. Discipline, discipline, discipline. Manoukian would have become one of the world's greats had he lived. He would have found another love and had a pleasing life. Too much hot blood among our people, controlling their intellect! The shock when I turned on the TV in an international hotel in 1999 and saw what had transpired in Yerevan.

 

Manoukian's suicide was predicated by his falling in love with a married woman. He was an artist-in-residence at one of the mansions of the elite when he became involved with a close friend of his patrons. She wasn't going to leave her wealthy husband for a man with whom she had a fling.

 

[MosJan]

ArpaJan thank you for the post

 

 

KHodja and you know this how ???

 

haw did you find this info

if you cant find a soled info or a sours by the end of the day fine, but if not - i'm taking your posts out and giving you a waring

 

i have been looking at his work & info since this morning never found a single sentence that your saying

 

so unless you have a direct link to reputably source - my word is in effect immediately

[phantom22]

http://www.askart.com/AskART/artists/bulle...p;artist=103734

 

Mr. John Seed sent me his article that he published after he did extensive research on Arman Tateos Manookian. Unfortunately that article disappeared when my hard drive blew Labor Day 2004.

 

Mr. Seed will be glad to send you the article and the information he has.

 

E-mail him at john @johnseed.com.

 

His article appeared in the November 2001 edition of Honolulu Magazine.

 

ArpaJan thank you for the post

KHodja and you know this how ???

 

haw did you find this info

if you cant find a soled info or a sours by the end of the day fine, but if not - i'm taking your posts out and giving you a waring

 

i have been looking at his work & info since this morning never found a single sentence that your saying

 

so unless you have a direct link to reputably source - my word is in effect immediately

 

[phantom22]

OK Mosjan,

 

Here is the whole article on-line.

 

http://www.johnseed.com/atm/

 

You have too keep hitting "continued" to see the passage that he was in love with a "Belinda."

 

 

ArpaJan thank you for the post

KHodja and you know this how ???

 

haw did you find this info

if you cant find a soled info or a sours by the end of the day fine, but if not - i'm taking your posts out and giving you a waring

 

i have been looking at his work & info since this morning never found a single sentence that your saying

 

so unless you have a direct link to reputably source - my word is in effect immediately

 

[MosJan]

On the evening of Sunday, May 10, the Lemmons and a few friends were playing the parlor game "Murder," while Manookian, who had been depressed for days, sulked in his room. It is hard to believe that the artist had told his friends many of the details of his early life, or they might never have played "Murder" so lightly.

 

Members of the Lemmon family have stated that he was in love with Belinda, the flirtatious first wife of his friend Cyril. It will never be known for certain if this was true, or whether there were any other personal complications that drove him over the edge. Admirers of his Hawaiian figures have noticed his sensual treatment of men's bodies and suggested that he might have been gay or bisexual, but there are no anecdotes to substantiate this idea. The records of a police inquest into the death by Detective John Cluney vanished years ago.

 

While the game went on in the living room, the distraught artist drank poison. He may have taken arsenic, but more likely he took cyanide. Cyanide had been in the news a few months before, as the agent of death in the suicide of Lewers and Cooke heir Will Lewers. Manookian's friends heard him cry out as he stumbled into Lemmon's kitchen, never to regain consciousness.

 

 

 

It will never be known for certain if this was true

 

and you take this as granted to talk after him ?

you "had" all that info and all you could of contribute to his topic was negative ??

 

for a person who has 1/1000 of Armenian Blood in him You have no RIGHT to judge my NATIONS BLOOD - get lost men you have no idea what a word pride stands for ...... just like a &^%^ parasite

[phantom22]

I had not seen the article for many years and FORGOT the exact particulars. My brain is human and not a computer.

 

I have stated many positive things about Armenians in this Forum. We are not 100% PERFECT. Without self-reflection no nation improves.

 

Centuries of abuse by the Turks has made us sensitive to any kind of constructive criticism. I am only proud of our POSITIVE attributes, not our negative ones. The same goes for myself individually. As for your assertion that I am not Armenian, I may not be Arpa's or Skhara's type of Armenian but I am nevertheless approximately 7/8 Armenian by blood, if NOT by perception.

 

 

It will never be known for certain if this was true

 

and you take this as granted to talk after him ?

you "had" all that info and all you could of contribute to his topic was negative ??

 

for a person who has 1/1000 of Armenian Blood in him You have no RIGHT to judge my NATIONS BLOOD - get lost men you have no idea what a word pride stands for ...... just like a &^%^ parasite

 

[MosJan]

your a lost case

[Arpa]

Manoukian's suicide was predicated by his falling in love with a married woman. He was an artist-in-residence at one of the mansions of the elite when he became involved with a close friend of his patrons. She wasn't going to leave her wealthy husband for a man with whom she had a fling.

Oh! Shut the hell up!

See what PTSD, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder is. You should know. You are the poster child.

Add his name to the roster of our Honor Roll, in addition to the likes of Komitas, Arshile Gorky, Tehlirian, Arshavir Shiragian….

======

Original Article:

http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/post-trau...isorder/DS00246

 

Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)

Introduction

Post-traumatic stress disorder is an anxiety disorder that's triggered by your memories of a traumatic event — an event that directly affected you or an event that you witnessed.

The disorder commonly affects survivors of traumatic events, such as sexual assault, physical assault, war, torture, a natural disaster, an automobile accident, an airplane crash, a hostage situation or a death camp. Post-traumatic stress disorder also can affect rescue workers at the site of an airplane crash or a mass shooting. It can affect someone who witnessed a tragic accident.

Not everyone involved in a traumatic event experiences post-traumatic stress disorder. However, the disorder affects more than 5 million adults each year in the United States. Post-traumatic stress disorder is twice as common in women as it is in men.

Treatment may involve a combined approach including medications and behavior therapy designed to help you gain control of your anxiety.

Edited February 13, 2007 by Arpa