Lori 1936

Martiros Sarian made this drawing, Lori, with what looks like graphite or charcoal. There is something deeply satisfying in looking at an image and understanding the process through which it came to be. Here, the smudged, textural, mark-making gives the sense of a vast landscape, full of people and animals. If you look closely you’ll notice how the mountains in the background are rendered with tight, angular strokes, while the plains below are expressed through looser, horizontal lines. The animals in the foreground are somewhere in-between. Each mark seems to convey the essence of form and depth. The light and shadow make the land feel both immediate and distant. Sarian’s expressive, almost fauvist use of colour is what he is best known for. You can really see these stylistic tendencies in his later landscapes, in which form is often subordinate to vibrant hues and expressive brushwork. Lori is a more subdued work, but it displays a similarly unique and personal language. It reminds me of some drawings by Marsden Hartley. His works often have an understated quality, embracing simplicity and an almost childlike sensibility.