Armen Oganyan
ArmeniaArmen Oganyan: Armenian Dancer, Actress, Writer, Translator, and Literary Scholar
Armen Oganyan was a multi-talented Armenian artist who excelled as a dancer, actress, writer, translator, and literary scholar. She received her education at the L.R. Nelidova School of Plastic Arts in Moscow and also studied at the Stanislavsky Studio. She initially began her career under the stage name Armen (Armenui) Ter-Oganyan at the Armenian Theater in Baku.
The Pioneer of Persian Theater
After relocating to Persia, Oganyan became the founder of the first European-style Persian theater. In 1910, she presented a Persian-language production of Gogol's comedy "The Government Inspector" in Tehran, where she played the role of Maria Antonovna. During her time in Persia, Oganyan also studied Eastern dances and became known as a "Persian dancer" from 1911 until the early 1930s. She performed in numerous countries, showcasing exotic dances from the East and antiquity, stylized in a vibrant manner. Using the techniques of Isadora Duncan, she performed dance numbers such as "Salome," "In the Temple of Anahit," "Betrayal," "The Harlot," "Hashish," "The Great Khan of Shemakha," and more. Her performances took her to London, Brussels, Milan, Sofia, Bucharest, Cairo, and cities in the United States.
A Literary Journey in Paris
After settling in Paris, Oganyan dedicated herself to literature and published autobiographical books in French. Her first book, "The Dancer of Shemakha," with a preface by Anatole France (1918), was translated into English, German, Spanish, Swedish, Finnish, and Hebrew. Following that, Oganyan published books such as "In the Claws of Civilization" (1921), "In One-Sixth of the World" (notes from her trip to the USSR, 1928), "The Soloist of His Majesty" (1929), and "The Laughter of the Seductive Serpent" (1931). The eccentric artist had romantic relationships with influential figures of Parisian elite, including the politician Maurice Barrès, the artist Émile Bernard (who painted her portrait and wrote a book about her titled "The Persian Dancer"), the novelist André Gide, and the writer Natalie Barney, among others.
A Life in Mexico
In 1927, Oganyan married Macedonio Garza, a Mexican diplomat and communist. They later settled in Mexico, where Oganyan joined the Mexican Communist Party. She translated from Russian to Spanish and wrote monographs in Spanish about Russian, Soviet, and Mexican literature. Her works include "Leo Tolstoy (1828-1910): Life, Era, Works" (Madrid, 1934), "The Path of Gorky - Ours" (Mexico City, 1935), "Marxist Analysis of Spanish Literature" (Mexico City, 1937), "Happy Armenia" (Mexico City, 1946), "Mexico and Culture" (Mexico City, 1967), and others. Among all her works, Oganyan cherished her poem "The Exile's Dream," written in Armenian. In 1958, Oganyan and her husband visited the Soviet Union, including Armenia, and she donated a part of her archive to the Yerevan Museum of Literature and Art.
