Andranik Kochar (Kocharian) was born in Alexandria, Egypt on December 24, 1919. He came to Yerevan during the Soviet Armenian voluntary repatriation programme of 1947. Armenian portrait photographers had always enjoyed a lively trade throughout the Middle East as their Christian beliefs had no qualms that capturing the spirit in a photograph harmed the sAndranik Kochar (Kocharian) was born in Alexandria, Egypt on December 24, 1919. He came to Yerevan during the Soviet Armenian voluntary repatriation programme of 1947. Armenian portrait photographers had always enjoyed a lively trade throughout the Middle East as their Christian beliefs had no qualms that capturing the spirit in a photograph harmed the soul. Andranik soon established an excellent reputation and became a favourite among the artistic community.

He took only three of four shots at each sitting. His artistic talent led to such concentration upon the personality in front of the lens, rather than the common habit of shooting several rolls of film from which to select a chanced-upon expression.

Andranik Kochar opened the first personal exhibition in 1948, in Yerevan, which was the first exhibition of artistic photography in Armenia. In 1962 he founded “Yerevan” photo club and managed it for 10 years.

He received many diplomas and awards from different international exhibitions. Andranik Kochar died in Yerevan on March 29, 1984.

Personal exhibitions:
Yerevan — 1948, 1956, 1957, 1959, 1964, 1972, 1974, 1979
Riga — 1960
Leningrad (Saint Petersburg) — 1961
Moscow — 1965, 1977
Sofia, Plovdiv (Bulgaria) — 1987
Zaporozhe, Ukraine — 1988
Dnepropetrovsk, Ukraine — 1989
Salonik (Greece) — 1996
London, “The Time of Your Life” — 1999

“World Press Photo” diplomas:
1965 — “The Rockwell Kent Portrait”
1966 — “Life Passing by”
1967 — “Romeo”
1969 — “At the 1915 Genocide Monument”
1971 — “Rouben Mamoulian. Hollywood-Yerevan”

“Venus” diploma (Poland):
1971 — “Apples”

Website: http://kochar.vega.am/