Arman Tateos Manookian ( hy, Արման Թադէոս Մանուկեան; May 15, 1904 – May 10, 1931) was an Armenian-American painter best known for his works depicting Hawaiian scenes.

Early life

Manookian was the oldest of three children born to a Christian Armenian family in

Istanbul Istanbul ( , ; tr, İstanbul ), formerly known as Constantinople ( grc-gre, Κωνσταντινούπολις; la, Constantinopolis), is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, largest city in Turkey, serving as the country's economic, ...

. As a teenager, he survived the

Armenian genocide The Armenian genocide was the systematic destruction of the Armenians in the Ottoman Empire, Armenian people and identity in the Ottoman Empire during World War I. Spearheaded by the ruling Committee of Union and Progress (CUP), it was ...

. Manookian immigrated to the United States in 1920. At the age of 16 he studied illustration at the

Rhode Island School of Design The Rhode Island School of Design (RISD , pronounced "Riz-D") is a private art and design school in Providence, Rhode Island. The school was founded as a coeducational institution in 1877 by Helen Adelia Rowe Metcalf, who sought to increase the ...

. Later he took classes at the

Art Students League of New York The Art Students League of New York is an art school at 215 West 57th Street in Manhattan, New York City, New York. The League has historically been known for its broad appeal to both amateurs and professional artists. Although artists may stu ...

before enlisting in the

United States Marine Corps The United States Marine Corps (USMC), also referred to as the United States Marines, is the maritime land force service branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for conducting expeditionary and amphibious operations through combi ...

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 Edwin North McClellan (December 5, 1881 – July 25, 1971) was a United States Marine Corps officer, author, and historian. He was the first director of the Historical Section of Headquarters Marine Corps, a historigraphical organization now kno ...

. He ended his life committing suicide, using poison, because of his severe depression.

Career

In 1927, Manookian was honorably discharged from the Marine Corps, but remained in Hawaii. He worked for the

Honolulu Star-Bulletin The ''Honolulu Star-Bulletin'' was a daily newspaper based in Honolulu, Hawaii, United States. At the time publication ceased on June 6, 2010, it was the second largest daily newspaper in the state of Hawaii (after the ''Honolulu Advertiser''). ...

and for ''

Paradise of the Pacific ''Honolulu'' is a city magazine covering Honolulu and the Hawaii region. It dates back to 1888 when it was called ''Paradise of the Pacific.'' It is the oldest magazine in the state of Hawaii and is the longest published magazine west of the Missi ...

''. While in the Marines, Manookian had 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 Museum of Art The Honolulu Museum of Art (formerly the Honolulu Academy of Arts) is an art museum in Honolulu, Hawaii. The museum is the largest of its kind in the state, and was founded in 1922 by Anna Rice Cooke. The museum has one of the largest single col ...

. His oil paintings are rare and highly valued based on their almost iconic status and scarcity due to his early death, by suicide, in 1931. Only 31 of his oil paintings are known to exist. 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 The Bernice Pauahi Bishop Museum, designated the Hawaii State Museum of Natural and Cultural History, is a museum of history and science in the historic Kalihi district of Honolulu on the Hawaiian island of Oʻahu. Founded in 1889, it is the lar ...

and the

are among the public collections holding works by Arman T. Manookian. According to the State of Hawaii's House of Representatives, he is "known as Hawaii's Van Gogh". In early 2010 a group of seven Manookian paintings owned by the Hotel Hana-Maui were removed from public display. They were the only Manookian oil paintings known to be on public display anywhere in the world. Two of the murals, ''Red Sails'' and ''Hawaiian Boy and Girl'', are now on long-term loan to the

.The Other Armenian: Arman Manookian's Short Life, and His Art
/ref> From July 3, 2014, to January 11, 2015, a number of Manookian paintings were on display at the

including ''Red Sails,'' ''Hawaiian Boy and Girl,'' ''Breadfruit,'' ''Pele,'' and ''Weaver.''

References

* Forbes, David W., ''Encounters with Paradise: Views of Hawaii and its People, 1778-1941'', Honolulu Academy of Arts, 1992, 212–256. * Gard, Rowan, “Escape into Color”, ''Innov8'', Mar/April 2011, pp. 36–39. * Papanikolas, Theresa, "Meaning in Color/ Expression in Line: Arman Manookian’s Modernism", ''Honolulu Academy of Arts'', Vol. 82, No. 6, Nov/Dec 2010, pp. 4–5. * Papanikolas, Theresa and DeSoto Brown, ''Art Deco Hawai'i'', Honolulu, Honolulu Museum of Art, 2014, , pp. 86–93 * Sandulli, Justin M., ''Troubled Paradise: Madge Tennent at a Hawaiian Crossroads'', Durham, NC: Duke University, 2016. * Seed, John, * Seed, John * Seed, John A., ''Arman Manookian: An Armenian Artist in Hawai'i'', Published by blurb.com, 2011, 36. * Severson, Don R., ''Finding Paradise, Island Art in Private Collections'', University of Hawaii Press, 2002, 124.

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Manookian, Arman Tateos 1904 births 1931 deaths Armenian painters American muralists American people of Armenian descent Art Students League of New York alumni Artists who committed suicide Armenians from the Ottoman Empire Emigrants from the Ottoman Empire to the United States United States Marines Artists from Istanbul Painters from Hawaii 20th-century American painters American male painters 1931 suicides 20th-century American male artists