«Երուսաղեմի հայկական խեցեգործությունը» (վերջաբանը) - Նուրիթ ԿԵՆԱԱՆ-ԿԵԴԱՐ

Nurit Kenaan-Kedar's article is devoted to the concluding part of a study on Armenian ceramics of Jerusalem, focusing on the work of two key masters of the post-war period — Marie Balian and Stepan Karakashian, heirs to the shared Karakashian-Balian workshop.

Introduction and Methodology

The author traces the biography of Marie Balian, an artist of French-Armenian origin who began her independent career as a designer only at the age of 35, after the Karakashian and Balian workshops split in the early 1960s. The analysis is structured around three periods in her work:

1964–1975 — a search for her own forms within the framework of traditional iconography;
the 1980s — a transition to large composite panels and large vessels;
the 1990s — a mature personal style and unique monumental compositions.

The Iconography of Marie Balian

Central to the analysis is the artist's symbolic repertoire:

birds — the most important motif, tracing back to Early Christian and Islamic tradition, which in Balian's work acquire individualized, almost anthropomorphic features ("Chagall's Peacocks" as an emblematic image of the workshop);
deer and gazelles — traditional Christian symbols, imbued with dynamism and movement;
fish — a motif harking back to Early Christian symbolism of the souls of the faithful;
biblical and Arthurian subjects, trees (cypress, almond, palm), and wildflowers.

The Artist's Visual Language

The author emphasizes Marie Balian's departure from the static quality of the Karakashian-Balian workshop toward wavy, "feminine" lines and parallel narrative layers within compositions that appear symmetrical at first glance. Particular attention is paid to the aesthetic category of beauty as a sensuous and idyllic principle, set in contrast to the radically deconstructive aesthetics of twentieth-century Western art: Balian's ceramics are interpreted as a "garden in the desert," materializing a vision of paradise within the conditions of the Jerusalem landscape.

The Art of Stepan Karakashian

The second part of the article examines a parallel line of development — the workshop of Stepan Karakashian, which preserved and faithfully reproduced the compositional schemes inherited from his father. The main ornamental images are catalogued in detail: the crane with its tail spread wide, the bird of paradise, a pair of intertwined peacocks, frontal images with a medallion-style tail composition, and the unique combination of fish and birds within a single composition. The master's characteristic style is noted — a clear, thick outline, local color, and a dense layer of paint.

Key Conclusion

The comparison of the creative strategies of the two masters allows the author to formulate a central conclusion: whereas Stepan Karakashian consciously cultivated stasis and fidelity to the canon, lending his works a sense of mystery and legend, Marie Balian, starting from the same traditional vocabulary of forms, developed a deeply individual, dynamic, and sensuous artistic language — one that became an independent contribution of Jerusalem's Armenian ceramic tradition to twentieth-century art.