Prof. Lucy Der Manuelian, Pioneering Scholar of Armenian Art History and Culture, Dies

Lucy’s project was innovative in its comparative approach to the monument, considering the sculptural program of Geghard in relation not only to Armenian iconography, but also to the artistic traditions of Byzantium and Islam. Her dissertation is also widely considered to be the first American dissertation dedicated to Armenian art.

Lucy lent her expertise in Armenian art and architecture to a range of scholarly projects, writing articles on major Armenian monuments and artistic themes for Dictionary of the Middle Ages (1982-1989) and Grove Dictionary of Art (now Oxford Art Online). She was an author and researcher for the massive microfiche work known as Armenian Architecture (Zug: Inter Documentation, c. 1980-c.1990). She contributed articles to several important Armenological volumes, including Medieval Armenian Culture (Thomas Samuelian, ed., Chico: Scholars Press, 1984).

In addition to work on Armenian architecture and sculpture, Lucy published widely on a variety of topics within Armenian art. Among her most noted projects are her publications on carpets, including the exhibition catalogue, Weavers, Merchants, and Kings: The Inscribed Rugs of Armenia- Kimbell Art Museum (Forth Worth, Kimbell Art Museum 1984) which provided a crucial English-language scholarly foundation for the history of Armenian rug weaving. Lucy’s interests also extended to the study of important Armenian-Americans, including Moses Gulesian.

In addition to contributing to conventional academic projects, she was remarkably prescient about technology, making use of film and the internet (as early as the 1990s) in her pedagogy and research.

Lucy is best known in the Armenian community as a tireless advocate for Armenian art, lecturing to audiences around the world, and educating Armenians in the US about their rich medieval cultural heritage. Almost everyone in the community has a “Lucy story” about the first time they heard her lecture. She was an activist for Armenian cultural heritage long before that concept became familiar to us all.

Lucy was fearless, physically and psychologically. Before the era of drones, she hung out of helicopters to take good aerial shots of monasteries and churches. At the height of the Soviet period, the KGB suspected that she was a spy because of all her travel and photography. One night the they visited her in Yerevan, and, to avoid handing over the film, Lucy hid it inside her dress, daring them to manhandle her. Art history won.