Surb Khach 1914

Martiros Sarian made this drawing, Surb Khach, using graphite on paper. The composition strikes you with its stark contrast between the imposing, sketched mountain range and the delicate structures of the village below. The lines are economic, yet they capture the essence of a rugged landscape. Sarian uses line to delineate form and space. Notice how the mountains in the background are rendered with lighter, almost ethereal lines, suggesting distance and the scale of the natural world. The houses and trees, on the other hand, are drawn with more defined strokes, anchoring them to the foreground. This approach is reminiscent of structuralist thought, where each element, whether mountain or house, functions as a sign within a larger system. The drawing destabilizes traditional landscape art by focusing on the symbolic importance of natural and man-made structures, and not necessarily on a picturesque representation. The drawing becomes a study of how cultural and natural forms interact.