The Armenian community of Crimea protests against Aivazovsky’s registration as a “Ukrainian”
The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City has changed the nationality of artist Ivan Aivazovsky – henceforth, American art historians refer to the great marine painter as "Ukrainian." Museum officials were unfazed by the fact that Aivazovsky officially held the position of painter to the General Naval Staff for depicting events related to the naval history of the Russian Empire, but was ethnically Armenian, reports a PolitNavigator correspondent.
The caption to Aivazovsky’s paintings in the New York Museum now states that the artist is “Ukrainian.” But in the biography on the museum’s website he is also a Russian artist. The same story is with the paintings of Ilya Repin - he also became a “Ukrainian artist”.
“I think the great Russian painters would be, to put it mildly, surprised by this turn of events,” the head of Crimea, Sergei Aksenov, commented on the situation. – For example, Aivazovsky said that he, as a Russian at heart, is pleased with “every victory of our troops” and “gives an idea how an artist can depict it on canvas.” In modern Ukraine, he would probably be put in prison for such words. And in the West, they declared him an agent of the Kremlin and “canceled him.”
From the side of the Armenian community of Crimea, the comment is unequivocal - Ivan Konstantinovich Aivazovsky was born into an Armenian family, in Feodosia, in the Tauride province of the Russian Empire, and cannot be “Ukrainian” in any way.
“To comment on some sick people who can talk like that and distort history. We have been seeing this for a long time and this is not news to us. Aivazovsky is a true Armenian, born in Russian Feodosia. Everyone understands that these are cheap provocations and this does not lead to anything good,” said Georgy Hakobyan, chairman of the regional Armenian national-cultural autonomy, in a commentary to Crimea 24.
The Armenian community of Crimea protests the classification of Aivazovsky as a "Ukrainian. "