Armenian Painter Minas Avetisian

Minas Avetisian was born on the 20th of July 1928, in a little Armenian village-Djadjur. Leningrad, with its Academy of Fine Arts and its Hermitage, played a significant role in Avetisian's becoming an artist. Avetisian always remembers with gratitude his teachers, Johannson, Zaitsev and Khudiakov: they never hindered the natural expression of his own artistic individuality. Both in his student years and after graduating from the Academy, Avetisian traveled widely around Armenia, eagerly seeking out historical monuments; he studied the Armenian miniature and the works of the greatest Armenian artists, above all, Saryan's. 

"Austere and majestic is the beauty of Armenia. Bathed in light and color, pampered and caressed by the sun beneath whose strong rays the whole earth comes to life, this land has given the world not a few talented painters."

Interesting detail (going back to my post on Paradzjanov):  "Vartanov looks back at his friend, the assassinated painter Minas Avetisian, whom he presented for the first time in "The Colour of Armenian Land" (1968), when the Ministry of Culture, Goskino and Armenfilm demanded to delete the scene because Minas was not in favour. Vartanov refused. By the time of his assassination, in 1975, Minas had become an icon..."