Arman Manookian

{{Short description|Ottoman Empire-born Armenian and American painter (1904–1931)}}

{{Infobox person

| name = Arman Manookian

| native_name = Արման Թադէոս Մանուկեան

| native_name_lang = hy

| image = Anonymous photograph of Arman Manookian c. 1927.jpg

| caption = Manookian, c. 1927

| birth_name = Tateos Manookian

| birth_date = May 15, 1904

| birth_place = Constantinople, Ottoman Empire (now Istanbul, Turkey)

| death_date = {{death date and age|1931|5|10|1904|5|15}}

| death_place = Honolulu, Territory of Hawaii (now Hawaii, U.S.)

| known_for = Painting, muralist, decorative artist, printmaker

| movement = Art deco

| education = Rhode Island School of Design,
Art Students League of New York

| occupation = Visual artist, illustrator

}}

Arman Tateos Manookian ({{langx|hy|Արման Թադէոս Մանուկեան}}; May 15, 1904 – May 10, 1931), born as Tateos Manookian, was an Ottoman Empire-born Armenian and American painter, printmaker, and illustrator, best known for his works depicting Hawaiian scenes.{{Cite news |date=February 8, 1930 |title=Honolulu Artist Here For Color |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/hawaii-tribune-herald-honolulu-artist-he/175383420/ |access-date=2025-06-27 |work=Hawaii Tribune-Herald |pages=1 |via=Newspapers.com}} He lived in Honolulu for the last years of his life.{{Cite news |date=May 16, 1931 |title=Flight of Flamingos, and An Artist Passes |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/honolulu-star-bulletin-flight-of-flaming/175382543/ |access-date=2025-06-27 |work=Honolulu Star-Bulletin |pages=32 |via=Newspapers.com}}

Early life

Arman Tateos Manookian was the oldest of three children born to a Armenian Christian family in Constantinople, Ottoman Empire (now Istanbul, Turkey).Gard, Rowan, “Escape into Color”, Innov8, Mar/April 2011, pp. 39 As a teenager, he survived the Armenian genocide.{{Cite web |last=Vartanian |first=Hrag |author-link=Hrag Vartanian |date=2014-04-24 |title=The Mysterious Tale of Hawaii's van Gogh |url=http://hyperallergic.com/122380/the-mysterious-tale-of-hawaiis-van-gogh/ |access-date=2025-06-27 |website=Hyperallergic |language=en-US}} Manookian immigrated to the United States in 1920.

At the age of 16 he studied illustration at the Rhode Island School of Design. Later he took classes at the Art Students League of New York, before enlisting in the United States Marine Corps in 1923.

Career

File:A. T. Manookian, mural 'Hawaiian Boy and Girl'.jpg

File:Arman Manookian - 'Men in an Outrigger Canoe Headed for Shore', oil on canvas, c. 1929.jpg

While serving in the United States Marine Corps he was assigned as a clerk to the author and historian, Major Edwin North McClellan. While in the Marines, Manookian had supplied illustrations for Leatherneck Magazine, and produced about 75 ink drawings for McClellan's history of the United States Marine Corps, which was never published. These drawings are now in the collection of the Honolulu Museum of Art.

In 1927, Manookian was honorably discharged from the Marine Corps, but remained in Hawaii. He worked for the Honolulu Star-Bulletin and for Paradise of the Pacific.

Manookian's artwork was best known for it's romantic and idealized illustrations and paintings of Hawaiian landscapes, and of ancient Hawaiian culture. His portraits often featured a focus on overtly masculine bodies. Manookian's last known artwork made was a three panel mural of flamingos for a private residency in Halekou Heights in Kaneohe, Hawaii.

The Bishop Museum and the Honolulu Museum of Art are among the public collections holding works by Manookian. According to the State of Hawaii's House of Representatives, he is "known as Hawaii's Van Gogh".[https://web.archive.org/web/20110610051438/http://www.capitol.hawaii.gov/session2009/bills/HR192_HD1_.pdf House Resolution Declaring April 24 as a Day of Remembrance in Recognition and Commemoration of the Armenian Genocide of 1915] Only thirty-one of his oil paintings are known to exist, as of 2011.Gard, Rowan, “Escape into Color”, Innov8, Mar/April 2011, pp. 36

Death and legacy

He ended his life committing suicide on May 10, 1931, using poison at a party, because of his severe depression.{{Cite news |last=Ronck |first=Ronn |date=August 20, 1991 |title=The rise and fall of a young artist |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/honolulu-star-advertiser-the-rise-and-fa/175382775/ |access-date=2025-06-27 |work=Honolulu Star-Advertiser |pages=17 |via=Newspapers.com}} His oil paintings are rare and highly valued based on their almost iconic status and scarcity due to his early death.

The Honolulu Academy of Arts (now Honolulu Museum of Art) held a memorial exhibition shortly after Manookian's death in August 1931.{{Cite news |date=August 26, 1933 |title=Manookian's Painting To Be Exhibited |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/honolulu-star-bulletin-manookians-paint/175383497/ |access-date=2025-06-27 |work=Honolulu Star-Bulletin |pages=38 |via=Newspapers.com}}

Honolulu Museum of Art held a retrospective exhibition titled Meaning in Color/Expression in Line: Arman Manookian’s Modernism, from late 2010 through early 2011.{{Cite news |date=November 14, 2010 |title=Article clipped from Honolulu Star-Advertiser |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/honolulu-star-advertiser/175383558/ |access-date=2025-06-27 |work=Honolulu Star-Advertiser |pages=70}}

In July 2010, a group of seven paintings owned by the Hotel Hana-Maui were removed from public display, they were originally thought to be Manookian's painting but some of them may have been copies by artist Larry Mayo.{{Cite news |last=Seed |first=John |date=July 14, 2010 |title=Rare Manookian Paintings Removed from the Hotel Hana-Maui |url=https://www.huffpost.com/entry/rare-manookian-paintings_b_643357 |work=Huffington Post}} Two of the murals, Red Sails and Hawaiian Boy and Girl, are now on long-term loan to the Honolulu Museum of Art.[https://www.huffingtonpost.com/john-seed/the-other-armenian-arman_b_606114.html The Other Armenian: Arman Manookian's Short Life, and His Art]

From July 3, 2014, to January 11, 2015, a number of Manookian paintings were on display at the Honolulu Museum of Art including Red Sails, Hawaiian Boy and Girl, Breadfruit, Pele, and Weaver.