Anushavan Tumanyan's 'Lori' studio was located in Djalal-Oghli village (today the city of Stepanavan) in the north of Russian Armenia and was one of the first local photo-ateliers in this province. It was probably founded in the early 1900s, when Tumanyan returned to his hometown after completing his studies at the Nersisyan school in Tiflis. In tandem with his photographic activities Tumanyan became an active participant of the Bolshevik movement in the Transcaucasus, and turned to pedagogical work after the establishment of the Soviet Union.(1)

For Tumanyan, photography was primarily a means of earning money and it did not occupy him for a longtime. He produced ordinary portraits of families, children and couples which are of great interest for the study of the history of Lori’s regional, local culture at the turn of the 20th century.

1) 'Anushavan Tumanyan' in Armenian Soviet Encyclopedia, 4th volume, Armenian Soviet Encyclopaedia Publishing, Yerevan, 1978, p.233

Vigen Galstyan, 2018