Ara Sargsyan

Ara Sargsyan (Արա Միհրանի Սարգսյան; 7 April 1902 – 13 June 1969) was an Armenian sculptor, engraver, scenographer and pedagogue.

Biography
Sargsyan was born in the Armenian village of Makri, near Constantinople. He finished the local Armenian school, then Constantinople Art School and studied under the Ottoman Armenian sculptor Yervant Voskan. He moved to Athens in 1920 and further to Rome and Vienna where he studied sculpture till 1925. Sargsyan excelled at Vienna School of Masters.

In 1925, Sargsyan moved to Soviet Armenia.

Legacy
Most recognizable works of Ara Sargsyan are the monuments of Mother Armenia in Gyumri, Hovhannes Tumanyan and Alexander Spendiaryan statues in front of Yerevan Opera house, and the statues of Mesrop Mashtots and Sahak Partev in front of Yerevan State University.

Ara Sargsyan was a prolific teacher and influenced numerous artists, e.g. Rafik Khachatryan (1937-1993).

Sargsyan's house in Yerevan has been converted into a Museum where most of his works are presented.

Awards and honors

 * Honored Art Worker of the Armenian SSR (1935)
 * Two Orders of the Badge of Honour (1939, 1945)
 * People's Painter of the Armenian SSR (1950)
 * Order of the Red Banner of Labour (1956)
 * People's Painter of the USSR (1963)
 * State Prize of the Armenian SSR (1971, posthumously)
 * Medal "For the Defence of the Caucasus"
 * Medal "For Valiant Labour in the Great Patriotic War 1941–1945"