Arman T. Manookian (1904 - 1933)
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Arman T. Manookian was born into a Christian-Armenian family in Constantinople in 1904. Christian-Armenians were an ethnic-religious minority in Turkey, and in his childhood Manookian witnessed increasing persecution and violence against his people. In 1915, when Manookian was ten, Turkish extremists rounded up hundreds of Armenian intellectuals, artists, and politicians, and murdered them. Manookian’s father managed to hide, and later, fled to France with his family. After his father’s death in 1920, Manookian moved to the United States where he went to live with a relative in West Providence, Rhode Island. From 1920-1922 Manookian attended the Rhode Island School of Design, and in 1923, he enlisted in the Marine Corps where he was assigned to the office of Edwin North McClellan; a military historian preparing a history of the Marine Corps.
In this post Manookian was able to continue drawing, and would contribute over a hundred illustrations to the McClellan’s book; many of which still survive at the Marine Historical Center in Washington D.C. Manookian’s illustrations also appeared twice on the cover of the Marine Corps publication Leatherneck (1924 and 1925), and in 1925 Manookian was dispatched to Hawaii with McClellan. While stationed in Honolulu Manookian created historical and mythological images of Hawaii to accompany McClellan’s articles which were being published in Paradise of the Pacific. His illustration Maui Snaring the Sun is an excellent example of this style. Yet, more significantly, it was in the islands that Manookian transitioned from an illustrator to a painter.
When he was discharged from the military in 1927 he chose to remain in Hawaii, after which he took a job as an illustrator at the Honolulu Star-Bulletin and attended courses at the Honolulu Academy of the Arts. While attending the academy Manookian became a member of the Honolulu Artists Association and associated with notable Hawaiian artists such as Madge Tennent, Lionel Walden, and others. While spending time in a Bohemian section of the city, Manookian produced some his most famous work called the Green Mill Grill paintings in honor of the cafe where he created them at. These paintings, such as Red Sails, demonstrated his modern style by utilizing vibrant color schemes to depict Hawaii in the time of Captain Cook. Tragically, Manookian likely suffered from manic depression, and committed suicide in 1933. Shortly after his death a memorial exhibition for Manookian which was held at Honolulu Academy, and in 2010, a memorial exhibition called Meaning in Color/Expression in Line: Arman Manookian’s Modernism was opened in his honor. Manookian’s remaining paintings are considered very rare; only thirty-one known to exist. Among the public collections holding his works include the Bishop Museum and the Honolulu Museum of Art.
In this post Manookian was able to continue drawing, and would contribute over a hundred illustrations to the McClellan’s book; many of which still survive at the Marine Historical Center in Washington D.C. Manookian’s illustrations also appeared twice on the cover of the Marine Corps publication Leatherneck (1924 and 1925), and in 1925 Manookian was dispatched to Hawaii with McClellan. While stationed in Honolulu Manookian created historical and mythological images of Hawaii to accompany McClellan’s articles which were being published in Paradise of the Pacific. His illustration Maui Snaring the Sun is an excellent example of this style. Yet, more significantly, it was in the islands that Manookian transitioned from an illustrator to a painter.
When he was discharged from the military in 1927 he chose to remain in Hawaii, after which he took a job as an illustrator at the Honolulu Star-Bulletin and attended courses at the Honolulu Academy of the Arts. While attending the academy Manookian became a member of the Honolulu Artists Association and associated with notable Hawaiian artists such as Madge Tennent, Lionel Walden, and others. While spending time in a Bohemian section of the city, Manookian produced some his most famous work called the Green Mill Grill paintings in honor of the cafe where he created them at. These paintings, such as Red Sails, demonstrated his modern style by utilizing vibrant color schemes to depict Hawaii in the time of Captain Cook. Tragically, Manookian likely suffered from manic depression, and committed suicide in 1933. Shortly after his death a memorial exhibition for Manookian which was held at Honolulu Academy, and in 2010, a memorial exhibition called Meaning in Color/Expression in Line: Arman Manookian’s Modernism was opened in his honor. Manookian’s remaining paintings are considered very rare; only thirty-one known to exist. Among the public collections holding his works include the Bishop Museum and the Honolulu Museum of Art.