Abegian, Mger

(also Meger). Born Jan. 13 (26), 1909, in Echmiadzin. Painter and graphic artist; People’s Artist of the Armenian SSR (1960).

Abegian studied at the Yerevan Art and Industry Technicum (1922–27) under S. Agadzhanian and S. Arakelian, at the Moscow State Advanced Arts and Engineering Institute (1927–30), and at the Leningrad Academy of Arts (1930–31). His principal teacher was S. V. Gerasimov. Abegian produced lyrical landscapes and colorful still lifes, as well as portraits and landscape scenes from everyday life. His works include On Sevan Island and Midday (both 1956), The Fields of Biurakan (1957), and Lullaby (1959), all at the Armenian Picture Gallery in Yerevan; Summer (1959, at the Tret’iakov Gallery); and numerous graphic easel landscapes (drawings, watercolors, etchings, and line engravings) imbued with a subtle mood. He has won two orders as well as medals.