Poet Onoprios Anopyan 1915

Martiros Sarian made this portrait of Poet Onoprios Anopyan in 1915, just using ink on paper. The lines are so alive. See how they thicken and thin, darting and diving all over the page. I wonder if Sarian made the drawing quickly, trying to capture a likeness of Anopian in just a few minutes? There’s something so vital and fleeting about it. Look at the rapid hatching that suggests the poet's hair. You can almost feel the scratch of the pen on the page, the artist's hand dancing across the surface. The ink creates depth and volume with just a few strokes, which is pretty amazing. And the signature there, scrawled with a flourish – it’s like a final, confident gesture, sealing the work with the artist’s mark. It’s clear to me that Sarian was a master of his craft.