The State Gallery of Armenia kept working Saryan called "Portrait of Joseph Mantashev, where against the backdrop of colorful Oriental rug depicts a burning beefcake. This son of a famous Armenian oil magnate and philanthropist Alexander Mantashev. The history of creating the painting goes back to 1915 when the Moscow Art horizon there were various new rich who have the majority of boundless wealth and interested in art only because it is considered a sign of good taste.
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Among them were famous millionaires - brothers Mantashev. Once one of the "evening" get acquainted with Joseph, Sarian became interested in the colorful kind young man and a proposal to paint a portrait, of course, gave his consent. "In a conditional day I went up to him to get to work. But my sitter was inaccurate. When the servant brought me into the room, he was still asleep. Idler and playboy only in the morning returned home after a night adventures. With difficulty waking up, he stretched, yawned drawl and wore a motley coat, immediately becoming like an Indian Maharaja. Tormented me for a few days, a question to clarify - I decided to write it in this form. Robe approached him more than a European suit. The impression was so strong, and the image so much "velsya in me that I could write a portrait of him even in memory," - later recalled Saryan. Upon completion of Mantashev Jr., rather than relying on personal taste, but he asked the artist: "Well, well turned out?" - And self-confidence with the merchant tried to pay more than agreed.
However, the art interested him little, so little that when he left Moscow, he forgot all about this picture, leaving her apartment removed. Many years later, remembering this long episode, National Artist of the USSR Martiros Saryan writes in his book: "It was very interesting and at the same time, poor people, accustomed to the flattery and hypocrisy. He was accustomed to him were treated as a money-bag. Sometimes he really enjoyed playing the role of benefactor, but mostly he was indignant and chased asylum, and yet people around him to curry favor with him, hoping to snatch something yourself. He had no specialty, although it had been of enormous material capabilities. Money, how awful monster, stood in his way. They did not allow him to become a man. He arranged the evening at the St. Petersburg highway, costing him the 3000 gold rubles, and brought in return only the emptiness and boredom. Usually, after a hearty feast, he showed the guests "dessert" documentary about mantashevskih oil mining. Yes, he was one of the richest. And yet one of the poorest people in the world. " In memory of the great Armenian painter Sarian was so great was the offspring of another Armenian, businessman and philanthropist Alexander Mantashev. "A few years after the book was published - says the artist's granddaughter, Sophie Sarian - my grandfather home phone rang from somewhere overseas. Outraged whether distant relatives, or distant acquaintances of Joseph Mantashev categorically demanded that he withdraw this piece of text or, at worst, rewrote it under their dictation. " But Saryan left to his own opinion in the belief that both the book and the picture is completely transferred to the internal state of Joseph Mantashev lose, unlike his father, a sense of the severity of life, and therefore passively floating on the will of the elements and aimlessly waste along the way mantashevskoe legacy ...
On materials № 6/2010/ArmAvia