Nvard Dzeron (“Daughter of Armenia”), 1912

This portrait was painted in 1912 by the American artist Ralph Elmer Clarkson. The canvas depicts Nvard Dzeron-Koshkarian, a young Armenian woman born in Kharberd (Harput) who moved to the United States as a child. The painting is kept at the Art Institute of Chicago and was originally titled simply “Nvard Dzeron”. After the Armenian Genocide of 1915 it also became known as “Daughter of Armenia”.

Nvard was a singer. The US Library of Congress holds recordings of Armenian folk songs performed by her: “Manir, manir, im chakharak” and “Gnats ashun, yekav garun”.

She is shown full-length, in profile, with long braids and a floral ornament in her hair, wearing a long embroidered green robe and wide trousers. In one hand she holds prayer beads; the other rests on her hip.