Paintings

The gallery's paintings include the famous 19th century Armenian painter of seascapes, Ivan (Hovhannes) Aivazovsky. When he died in 1900, he left more than 6,000 pieces of art in different genres; and his paintings are located in major museums. The gallery also includes a landscape painting by Armenia's first major landscape artist Kevork Pashingchagian (1857-1925); and a magnificent portrait by Hovsep Pushman (1877-1966) [original name is Pushminian]. His works can be found in museums throughout the USA and in Yerevan, Armenia.

Armenian artists adopted easel painting only in the early nineteenth century as Western influence in the region increased. Armenian easel painting has its roots in a two-thousand-year-old tradition that encompasses murals, miniatures painted for medieval manuscripts, khach'k'ars (carved cross-stones), and the colorful hues and restrained patterns of Armenian woven rugs.

The diaspora of surviving Armenians after the Genocide of 1915-1923 resulted in the growth of expatriate artist communities around the world - in Paris, Cairo, Beirut, and Boston.