Thursday, March 3, 2011

Arman Manookian-Magic and Inspiration in Hana

Arman Manookian "Hawaiian Boy and Girl" Collection of John and Patsy Dilks


When traveling to Hana, Maui one of the most beautiful peaceful places on earth I had the opportunity to view such breath-taking Art work at Hotel Hana. It was a special moment... for many reasons and later I would find out more about this amazing artist and his life. I also found out later after my stay at Hotel Hana that these paintings were removed from public display at Hotel Hana to be placed in loan to the Honolulu Academy of Arts. I feel lucky to have seen "Hawaiian Boy and Girl" in this beautiful boutique hotel in magical Hana.
"Hawaiian Boy and Girl" is one of the most brilliant paintings I have seen in a really long time. Artist Arman Manookian is as talented as Gauguin and Van Gogh I want more people to know of his work and life story.

Arman created such quality work for such a short lifetime...here are a few facts in his brief life that are fascinating.

Arman Tateos Manookian (1904–1931) was an Armenian-American painter.
As a teenager, he survived the Armenian Genocide. Manookian immigrated to the United States in 1920,
at the age of 16, and studied illustration at the Rhode Island School of Design. He also took classes at the Art Students League of New York before enlisting in the United States Marine Corps in 1923. While serving in the U. S. Marine Corps he was assigned as a clerk to the author and historian, Major Edwin North McClellan. In 1925, McClellan and Manookian were transferred to Pearl Harbor.[2] The latter supplied illustrations for Leatherneck Magazine and produced about 75 ink drawings for McClellan’s history of the United States Marine Corps, which was never published. These drawings are now in the collection of the Honolulu Academy of Arts.

In 1927, Manookian was discharged from the marines, but remained in Hawaii. He worked for the Honolulu Star-Bulletin and for Paradise of the Pacific.

His paintings are rare and highly valued due to his early death, by suicide, in 1931, and fewer than 30 are in existence. The Honolulu Academy of Arts held a memorial exhibition shortly after Manookian’s death and a retrospective exhibition titled Meaning in Color/Expression in Line: Arman Manookian’s Modernism Nov. 4, 2010 through April 24, 2011. The Bishop Museum and the Honolulu Academy of Arts are among the public collections holding works by Arman Manookian. According to the State of Hawaii's House of Representatives, he is "known as Hawaii's Van Gogh".[4]

Information sourced From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia on Arman Manookian's life.