The Three Armenian Caricaturists

Vahe H. Apelian

 

Were those depicted in the picture above cartoonists or caricaturists? I am not so sure what to call them. But I read that a caricature is a powerful tool for a political cartoonist. The three Armenian cartoonists surely portrayed politics. Hence, I opted to title my blog the way I did. I have met two of them, Ajemian and Araratian.  Saroukhan was widely known.

They are towering figures in the Armenian Diaspora culture. Their art represented the resilience of our culture and its acculturation with the host country’s culture. Just imagine that some three decades after the genocide, the Armenians in the Diaspora had not only overcome adversity but felt secure enough to enjoy the caricaturing not only the denizens of their community but also of the host country’s. In short, they could make light of not only the Armenian community’s but also the greater society’s shortcomings an d also of its prominent denizens. Let me point out that during the seventy years of Soviet rule in Armenia, while the Diaspora Armenian community enjoyed the caricatures, there was no caricaturist in Soviet Armenia who dared to bring forth the system’s shortcomings in a pleasant way. 

Saroukhan humoring Armenian Sayings

I claim no expertise to render an expert’s opinion of the art.  That is why I used and will be using the term caricaturist. Surely there are subtle but important distinctions between a caricaturist and a cartoonist. Saroukhan Diran Ajemian and Massis Araratian are caricaturists to me and hence it’s my layman’s observations that I convey when I note that a caricaturist is a rare combination of a person who has honed his or her innate raw talent for drawing and who possesses a powerful intellect for observing and synthesizing. Instead of words, a caricaturist resorts to drawing to present to viewers or readers events or persons in a pleasant and constructive way. Without their artful drawing capturing the essence of such acute observations, a person’s drawing would come across as a ridicule. Readers or viewers instinctively know the difference. The three Armenian caricaturists I noted enjoy the reverence of the Armenian community and of the greater society of their host countries because their art is genuine and devoid of malice but surely revealing if not daring.

The eldest among them is Alexander Saroukhan. According to the Wikipedia: “He is considered one of the best and most famous caricaturists in the Arab world.” I know of him more through his drawings caricaturing the many Armenian sayings by depicting the saying literally, such as “Khloukhs Gerav” (literally “ate my head”) or “Khloukhs Darav” (literally “took my head”).  Both used in mundane conversation in reference to continuing listening to someone out of being courtesy. And many more such expressions.

Wikipedia claims that Alexander Saroukhan was born in “Russian Empire” on October 1, 1898. In 1908 the family moved and settled in the Ottoman Empire from where he moved to Egypt in 1924 where he continued his art until his death in 1977.

Diana Ajemian 

I have known of Diran Ajemian’s art mostly through his caricatures in Tourigs’s (Mihran Tourikian) book titled “Tzizagh”, (“Laughter”). I remain under the impression that his caricatures are mostly confined to Lebanon be it depicting the Armenian community and of the greater society of Lebanon as a whole.  He has also directed plays and acted in them as well. He used to be a frequent quest of Hotel Lux in Lebanon.

Diran Ajemian was born in Aleppo on July 21, 1902 and has moved to Lebanon in 1925 where he continued his art until his death on September 10, 1981. I am not sure if his caricatures were collected in a book.

Much like the larger peak of Mount Ararat, the Great Massis (Medz Massis), Massis Araratian remains the towering figure of the Armenian caricaturing. I quote from the article I wrote in my blog: “Massis was born in Aleppo on December 29, 1929. As a young boy he found out that not only could he draw but also had an uncanny ability to observe and distill a person’s character and the essence of events and present them with his agile pen. He started drawing on the margins of his textbooks, to the chagrin of his teachers who noticed they were often the subject of his acute pencil. His well-meaning parents were no less concerned by their son’s obsession with drawing, almost to his total disinterest in learning a trade.

But Massis found encouragement too. During the Second World War, when paper was scarce, his family and relatives collected the 3 by 4-inch daily sheets of their calendars that were blank at the back and gave them to Massis to draw on. Thus, was born his habit of drawing on similar size pads, he notes, while standing, sitting and kneeling.” 

Massis Araratian moved to Beirut in 1953 and in 1976 to Los Angeles where he is been living with his family. His caricatures can be viewed on his website. The caricature below depicts Saroukhan and Diran Ajemian. Massis drew it in 1947 and placed it as his first caricature in the collection of his drawing he published in 1947 titled “The Smile is Light” (Jbede Louys Eh).