Toronto-based painter enjoys genealogy and finding fascinating ancestors in his Armenian family tree

“David Arathoon is glad to exchange information with other genealogists, especially with those interested in British peerage; whether early Scots in Jamaica 1650-1850 or Armenian “merchant princes” living in India and Iran 1500-1950.” So reads David Arathoon’s web-site www.davidarathoonstudio.com. David Arathoon is a famous artist of Toronto, Canada. His surname Arathoon derives from Armenian surname Harutiunian.

“I feel 99.9% Armenian and have always been very very aware of my Armenian roots and my genealogy. What I didn’t know much about was the ancestry of my one English ancestor, a great-great grandfather who married an Armenian lady. He was related to the peerage, and his family descended from the kings of Europe and Britain. He was a direct descendant of Charlemange. That is if there is any truth to the royal pedigrees and records available for all to use,” David Arathoon writes to “Hetq”. His name can be found in www.peerage.com – a genealogical survey of the peerage of Britain as well as the royal families of Europe.

David Arathoon was born in Calcutta, India. He was baptized at the Armenian Holy Church of Nazareth, which is more than 300 years old. He studied at the Davidian School of Calcutta for nearly two years. He was just over 5 years-old when his family first went to England and then came to Toronto. Both David’s father David Edward Arathoon and his mother Errolynn Rose Malcolm (the surname Malcolm derives from Armenian Melkomian) were also born in Calcutta. Now, they also live in Canada.

“The Malcolm family worked for the Honourable East India Company back to the early 1700s, they were sort of the ‘middle men’ for the British in their dealings with the Persians. They also were interpreters and diplomats at various courts, including the one at Constantinople where one of my Malcolm ancestors married the daughter of Jacob Rousseau, who was first cousin to Jean Jacques Rousseau, the philosopher writer (I feel perhaps it was because of a visit to his cousin in Persia, Jean Jacques Rousseau was inspired to wear the Armenian costume regularly, as can be seen in many portraits.),” David Arathoon writes.

Liz Chater, a family history researcher specializing in Armenians in India and the Far East, has helped the artist expose new information about his family tree. The artist says the Armenians of Calcutta are far more connected to each other due to Liz Chater’s research.

The Calcutta author and historian Mesrovb Jacob Seth was a cousin of David Arathoon’s great-grandmother. They shared the Manuk family tree as do some of the Chater descendants. Quite a bit of the Calcutta section of his book “Armenians in India” deals with the artist’s direct and indirect ancestors dating back several hundred years. A family tree with over 40,000 ancestors and some portraits has taken 35 years to assemble and is still an ongoing research project.

His ancestors and their stories are a constant focus and woven into the artist’s paintings. He derives a lot of pleasure from historical illustrations. He does them for himself. However they are so popular that David Arathoon can barely complete one before it is pre-sold. For example, his painting “Flowers for Justicia”, is a tribute to the men and woman imprisoned on one of his ancestor’s ships. They were to be sent off to Sydney or Virginia as a jail sentence, and the ship was called, The Justicia.

“Oil paint on canvas is the material I like to express myself with best. I have worked in other media, including print making, fiber, photography, sculpture, but I prefer the immediacy of painting. I like to infuse each image with a sense of my own personal reality, which is not going to be the same for each artist. I think each work is a self portrait,” David Arathoon writes. He has also painted his face, but says those portraits “tend to look dark and moody!”

He paints indoors and out, but doesn’t work in bad weather conditions. “I know some artists that have painted in rain, storms and blizzards and so on, but I do not. I like to listen to my favorite music and sometimes even enjoy a glass of wine while I work!” the artist says.

David Arathoon has graduated from the Ontario College of Art and Humber College and studied Fine Arts with colour theory extensively. Yellow stands out the most on a colour chart. So when he wants to make an area of a painting stand out, he uses more yellow.

“I use colour scientifically but I also can use colour symbolically. For instance the colour yellow could mean God or sunlight in our culture. The colour red can mean love or green can mean jealousy, but know when I use red and green side by side, these colours will enhance each other; like a strong punctuation mark on the canvas. I use an impressionist palette, and I avoid pure black and replace it with various mixes of crimson, dark green, blue or umber etc. There is a sense an area is dark without being flat, which can be caused by the use of black straight out of a tube,” the artist says.

David Arathoon has achieved national success with numerous solo and group exhibitions in many private and public galleries, working at his career for over 25 years. His paintings are in numerous corporate and private collections in Canada, USA, Australia and Hong Kong, amongst others.

His paintings are included in many homes and public locations – Vintage Inns, Queen’s Landing Hotel Niagara on the Lake, Holiday Inn, Toronto, Movenpick Restaurants, Board of Trade, Humber College, numerous Hospitals to which his works have often been donated by public sponsors.

The artist frequently travels to find beautiful subject matter to paint. France and England are his favourite countries to work in. “But now I am feeling grounded here in Canada. It is a beautiful summer and this is a very large country to explore. It is said Armenia fits in our local Lake Ontario 4 times!” David Arathoon writes.

He has never been to Armenia. “I would love to go someday maybe to paint or to do an art exhibit if there is an opportunity. I would first have to set it up with an art dealer or fine arts organization. Armenia is my ancestral home, and going there would be like a spiritual journey,” he says.

One of David Arathoon’s recent favourite paintings that he has done is “Night Swan” which he says “is a work done for art sake”. He has also worked on a project for Street Art recycling bins, which brings art out to the public and brings attention for the need to recycle. He has won an award for his contribution in making his city a more environmentally friendlier place to live.

David Arathoon’s paintings have raised over $100,000 for various charities. In 1995 on his own initiative the artist founded the annual fundraiser called “Message in a Bottle”, which has raised nearly one million dollars for the terminally ill at Home Hospice Care Programs.

“I had previously sold limited edition prints of my paintings out of my studio, one at a time to support one of our local hospices. The image I chose was of irises, a flower that represents forgiveness of debts. Iris is also the Greek word for rainbow, the symbol that represents God’s covenant to man after “the great flood”. I made this particular charity about $25,000 one Christmas season, and I thought I better come up with some better idea then selling my prints all day. There was a desperate need to bring in more money to assist with palliative care,” David Arathoon says.

For his “Message in a Bottle” fundraiser David Arathoon was presented a Hero’s Award by Toronto’s then Mayor Barbara Hall and famous Canadian writer-activist June Callwood.

June Callwood also sent the artist a letter and ‘Thank You’ card with the following words used in Nelson Mandela’s 1994 inaugural speech – “And just as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fears, our presence automatically liberates others.”

June Callwood was thanking the artist for many years of volunteer help with the Hospice Program she had founded. “These are inspirational words which are a good guide for living life,” David Arathoon says.