The Central Bank of Armenia issued a silver commemorative coin dedicated to the 150th anniversary of birth of Stepan Aghajanian on January 14th 2013..

Stepan Meliqset Aghajanian (1863–1940) is a prominent Armenian painter, a people’s artist of Armenian SSR. He got artistic education in France. In 1886–1890 he studied in Marseille Artistic Studio, Paris Julian Academy, in B. Constant and J. P. Laurence Studio. Even in academic works he demonstrated a unique artistic ability to disclose the model’s inner world in true patterns.In the period 1904-1921 he lived and worked in Rostov-on-Don, Russia. He gave painter lessons in schools of general education, the State Artistic Studio. Works created in this period of time include “Painter’s Niece”, “Marusya” (1907), “Self-Portrait” (1909), “Thoughts” (1914). Aghajanian also wrote landscapes and child portraits, an uncommon direction in Armenian fine arts. In 1921 Aghajanian moved to Yerevan. He gave his works more light, making them even more lucent, juicy and rich in reflections. Best works include “Self-Portrait”, “Painter’s Wife”, “Vasil” (1926), “Writer Emin Ter-Grigoryan” (1927), “Pioneer” (1928), “Red Army Man” (1930), “Singer Baronkina” (1935). The coin issued with colored inks.Designed by Vardan Vardanyan. Minted in the Royal Dutch Mint.

The obverse of the coin dedicated to the 150th anniversary of Stepan Aghajanian has a fragment from “The daughter of the artist’s sister” picture. The face value of 100 drams is engraved at the bottom of the obverse side, “HAYASTANI HANRAPETUTYUN” (The Republic of Armenia) lettering is designed on the top and bottom of the coin.

The reverse side portrays the artist as well as palette and brushes . “STEPAN AGHAJANYAN” in Armenian letters and “STEPAN AGHAJANIAN” in English letters are engraved at the top and bottom of the coin.

Technical characteristics of the coin: mintage 500 pcs, the face value is 100 drams. The coins are made of 925 fine silver; the size is 28.0х40.0 mm and weight—28.28 grams. Colored paints were used for the coin production.

Source of information: Central Bank of Armenia