Object Title:
Untitled (The Mat Weaver)
Date:
1930
Artist:
Arman T. Manookian
Active:
Armenian, 1904 - 1931
Medium:
Oil on canvas
Dimensions:
30 1/8 x 24 1/8 in. (76.5 x 61.3 cm)
Credit Line:
Gift of Sheldon Geringer, 2003 (12703.1)
Object Number:
12703.1
Description:
In 1930, Manookian met the architect Cyril Lemmon and by the end of that year was staying with Lemmon and his wife at their home on Black Point. In the living room hung Diego Rivera's Concha (c. 1927, now in the Academy's collection), whose Cubist aesthetic Manookian studied and emulated in paintings such as this one. At the time, he was also going beyond myth and history to focus on contemporary life. His modern subject here, however, engages in a traditional—even ancient—task; this, together with the flamboyant palette with which she has been rendered, demonstrate that Manookian was actively perfecting the timelessness and intensity that had come to define his work.
