Edward Ghazaryan – The Father of Micro Miniature

Genetics, People

Edward Ter-Ghazaryan – The Father of Micro MiniatureEdward Ghazaryan, a world-renowned Armenian micro miniaturist, is regarded as the creator of the art of micro miniature. Back in the 1950s, the European press was humming about an Armenian claiming to have created tiny artworks smaller than a needle eye.

One German reader even sent a letter of disbelief to the artist. The reply handwritten on a human hair would come weeks later.

Ghazaryan showed his first micro miniature works in Yerevan, the capital city of Armenia, over half a century ago. In his years, he has created more than 600 such miniatures, granting many of them to prominent figures from foreign countries such as Queen of England Elizabeth II, Stalin, Honaker, Khrushchev, Ho Shi Min, Rockefeller, and many others as tokens of friendship.

Ghazaryan’s works have been showcased around the world. In particular, he himself showed his work in the Armenian pavilion of the Soviet exhibition in Los-Angeles in 1977. American visitors of the exhibition called his works “the 8th world wonder” (Los Angeles Times Mon., Nov.21, 1977).

A remarkable art piece of Ghazaryan is a set of asynchronously moving sculptures inside a human hair, which no one has yet managed to replicate. He demonstrated that miniature for the first time in Moscow over 30 years ago.

Interestingly, Edward Ghazaryan was a man of phenomenal talents. He has received musical education, which for many years allowed him to be one of the leading musicians of the Philharmonic orchestra of Armenia.

Additionally, he was a prominent violinist innovator, a brilliant caricaturist, as well as a talented musical sculptor. His violins are in fact owned by many eminent musicians. Remarkably, each of Ghazaryan’s life aspects may serve as a biography of an excellent musician, artist, scientist, and a doctor. And they say polymaths are extinct!

by peopleOfAr.com

The world’s smallest backgammon board constructed on a grain of rice, that has been split in half. Counters are made of obsidian and gold.
A caravan of camels made of precious stones, placed in the eye of a sewing needle.
Stone Flowers. Made from Armenian stones of different color. Each petal of flowers is 100 times thinner than a human hair.
The statuette of Charlie Chaplin inside the eye of a needle, made from a piece of the same needle. The stick is made from a thin piece of cobweb. There’s also a flower in Carlie’s breast pocket.
The figurine a ballerina. Made from steel and placed on the pointed end of a human hair.
The statuette of Christ is ivory. The cross is made of black wood. On the palms and legs of Christ you can see the heads of hammered nails. Christ is thinner than a human hair.
Golden statuette of Paganini placed inside the eye of a household needle. Musician’s face is 50 times smaller than a semolina grain. Beneath the statue there is an inscription in Italian: “Niccolo Paganini”.
The lace is woven from the threads thinner that a human hair.
Figurines of Don Quixote and his faithful servant Sancho Panza inside the eye of a thin needle. Made of colorful precious stones and fastened in the eye of a needle.
A Spanish bullfighter, made of precious stones on a human hair with a length of 2mm.
The Statue of Liberty – made from ivory and is thinner than a human hair.
The statuettes of two Deers over the precipice of Jermuk (in Armenia). Made from bits of colorful Armenian stones.
Figurines of football-players inside a perforated and polished human hair. Sculpted from an Armenian black obsidian stone.
Five wooden violins of Stradivarius installed inside a stringed hair. Below an engraved portrait of Stradivarius.
Mosaic portrait of the world famous astrophysicist Victor Hambardzumyan, ex-president of National Academy of the Republic of Armenia. Made with 15000 bits of multi-colored Armenian stones.
A moving figurine of David Copperfield inside the eye of a needle.The figurine was made from the remains of a 20 thousand year old mammoth.
Bust of Napoleon. Made from ivory. Size – 1/4 of a single sugar grain.
Columbus approaching land. Each ship is less than a sugar grain. This masterpiece is dedicated to the 500th anniversary of the discovery of America.
Abu La La Mahari with a caravan of camels. The microminiature is a motif of the poem of Armenian classical writer Avetik Isaakyan “Abu La La Mahari”. The panorama represents a desert and a caravan of camels. Abu La La Mahari goes to meet the sun. He greets the sun with a raised hand. The figurines of Abu and camels are made of gold bits. Camels’ legs are 300 times thinner than a human hair.
Depiction of a Zoo inside a black hair of a horse. All sorts of animals are places in 12 cages. The statuettes are made from bits of colorful Armenian stones.
A panorama of an eastern town engraved in gold.
Khachkars (Armenian cross stone) engraved on a thin piece of a human hair.
Khachkars (Armenian cross stone) engraved on a thin piece of a human hair.
Another set of red Roses – made from the processed fish scales. They are treated by natural Armenian colors “vordan karmir”. The stalks are from human hair.
Another set of red Roses – made from the processed fish scales. They are treated by natural Armenian colors “vordan karmir”. The stalks are from human hair.
Khachkar (Armenian cross stone) with 60 portraits of scientists, writers, historians and philosophers of Middle Age Armenia. Engraved on an amber plate. Each portrait is thinner than a human hair.
Another khachkar (Armenian cross stone) engraved on an amber plate, surrounded by Armenian folk ornaments.
The sculpture of Venus of Milos. Made from marble, thinner than a human hair.
A moving scene of Gulliver and Lilliputians. Gulliver is standing with a bottle in his hand. In it he placed one of the Lilliputians, who’s making every effort to jump out of the bottle. The bottle is made from a polished human hair. There his other hand a soldier is waving the sword demanding to set free his friend from the bottle. Other Lilliputians are trying to climb onto Gulliver using ladders and sticks trying to free the “bottled” Lilliputian. Gulliver is moving his head. He is 2mm. One can see his eyes, hair and dress with all the details (buttons, lines, etc.)
An ensemble of Armenian dancing girls. The bridge is made from a human hair. Girls statuettes are made of bits of precious stones.
Flowers painted with Japanese oils, using a “brush” of pointed thin human hair.

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