The Metropolitan Museum of Art Recognizes Ivan Aivazovsky’s Armenian Heritage

The world-renowned Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York has made an important revision to the way it identifies famous seascape painter Ivan Aivazovsky. Thanks to complaints from community members and reporting by Asbarez, the Met has now officially recognized Aivazovsky’s Armenian heritage.

Previously, Aivazovsky was identified as Ukrainian despite being “born into an Armenian family.” However, the Met has now amended his bio to reflect his Armenian birth name and has changed his nationality from “Ukrainian” to “Armenian, born Russian Empire [now Ukraine].”

This swift action by the Met is a crucial step towards accurately identifying individuals’ nationalities and ethnicities. As the museum stated, they regularly review and revise their cataloguing to ensure that complex cultural identities are recognized and represented accurately.

Unfortunately, the Museum of Modern Art has not followed suit in revisiting its identification of Arshile Gorky, who is listed as “American, born Van Province, Ottoman Turkey,” erasing his Armenian heritage from his bio. However, the Met’s example should encourage the MoMA to review its policies and recognize the importance of acknowledging and celebrating diverse cultural backgrounds.

It’s important to recognize and celebrate cultural diversity, and we look forward to seeing more accurate representations of individuals in the art world.

Source: Asbarez