A Night at the Museum by the Caspian Sea

I love discovering art when I travel and am always open to exploring something off the beaten path. I had not heard about this exhibit until I was already in Baku.

When telling the taxi driver where to go, I began to appreciate that this was not a regular tourist attraction. The driver was unfamiliar with the non-profit arts organization hosting the exhibit. My Russian language skills were not nearly good enough to have been of much help, but the patient and persistent driver kept stopping to ask people until he found it (and then graciously waited for us to finish and return us safely to the hotel afterwards). It was all well worth the effort!

This is an exhibition of Azerbaijani painters who were trained under the watchful eyes of the Soviet art education machine yet found themselves overly strained and constricted by its limitations of acceptable art expression. After the death of Stalin in 1953, they were able to embrace their own history and heritage. They were also exposed to the greater art world around them, especially in Western Europe.

This produced an exhibit that is a feast for the eyes. I have done further research on some of the artists and paintings. Please enjoy these selected works taken from my afternoon of viewing.

Labour, Leisure & Dreams – 1960S-1980s Through the Eyes of Azerbaijani Masters

The Crying Sea — Nadir Gasimov (1928-2000), Oil on Canvas, 1976

Nadir Gasimov began his career painting portraits, but eventually became know for his powerful industrial marine seascapes. He was one of the first to explore the element of water through the prism of industrialization.

Marine Monuments of the Caspian Sea — Nadir Gasimov (1928-2000), Oil on Canvas, 1980

From the art gallery exhibition card next to these paintings: “he depicted the image of the sublime and nature to show the fragility of human nature,” and that this “raised attention to the hard labor and difficult lifestyle on the Oil Rocks.”

The Oil Rocks was the first offshore oil platform in the world and it was constructed in 1949 in Azerbaijan.  It created an entire industrial settlement built on the sea.

The War Veteran — Rasim Babayev (1927-2007), Oil on Canvas, 1974

I must say that I searched high and low for some backstory on this painting. I did not find anything specific, but I did find a wonderful interview where Babayev describes his experiences with art and creativity in the Soviet Union. I’ve excerpted bit of it here (& the full text is in the Source Links at the end of this post).

Rasim Babayev: “I began studying in Moscow's Art Institute in 1949. When I was a third-year student, I made a painting of my brother and a few of his friends down by the sea. There was much that was different about that work. The colors were not conventional; also, the body lines of my figures were not realistic.

When I presented the painting to the Institute's Committee, they looked at it but wouldn't give me a grade for it. Later, the secretary came and asked me to pay a visit to Rector Madorov's office. When I did, I found several other professors gathered in his study as well. They reproached me: 'What have you done, Babayev? This is not what we call art. Why have you gone down the wrong path? You studied so well your first year. You were an excellent student - what has happened to you?'

In the 1950s, I began working with Javad Mirjavad and his brother Tofig Javadov in Buzovna [a district in Baku]. The Artists' Union was suspicious of us. They wondered what we were doing, why we hung around together so closely. They wanted to disband our group and get us to join the Union. We were considered dangerous. (We were not officially told this, but that was the rumor that was flying around.)

In 1976, I had a personal exhibition in Moscow. When I went to the area where the exhibition was to take place, I saw a man with dark glasses standing in front of my paintings, looking at them. I discovered that he was a KGB agent who had been sent to look at my works and decide which ones should be taken away.

I used to wonder why so many artists immigrated to Paris, but then it became clear to me. It was because art was more independent there - far removed from politics. Politics doesn't oppress art there - something quite different from what we were experiencing.

During the Soviet period, we had to rise against the system in order to make art independent from it. Today, art is free and independent. If someone is a genuine artist, he can take advantage of this freedom. Being an artist is like being a volcano, if you're able to erupt, then do it; if not, then keep silent.”

In the Flowering Garden — Farhad Khalilov (1946-), Oil on Canvas, 1990s

Farhad Khalilov is well-known in the post-Soviet avant-garde landscape genre in Azerbaijan. This flowery garden with its lush, massive red trees and vivid, rhythmic colors grew entirely from the artist’s imagination. Khalilov is a member of the Absheron School of Art and dedicated all his work to the Absheron peninsula.

Meaning salty waters, Absheron is the wing shaped peninsula where Baku is located. The peninsula is mildly hilly with a gently undulating plain that ends in a long spit of sand dunes. A side effect of the plentiful natural gas reserves, sometimes leaking to the surface, Yanar Dag or Burning Mountain is located here. This place is reputed to have burned continuously for more than four millennia and was even written about by Marco Polo, other explorers, and silk road merchants as they passed through the area.

Winter in Karabagh — Mikayil Abdullayev (1921-2002), Oil on Canvas, 1970

Mikayil Abdullayev was one of the most significant figures in Azerbaijan's Soviet art history. He was fascinated by the everlasting beauty of rural nature, as reflected in the two works above. He greatly admired the style of the Impressionists and enjoyed gathering inspiration from a world greater than the USSR. This was a big problem for all these artists, and for Abdullayev the clash began early on during his formal art studies. Here’s bit of what he had to say about this:

“I have to admit that I painted under the influence of this artist’s [Manet’s] work both in art school and at the Institute. Even more, I learnt by heart almost everything written about him in Russian during the past century because I liked him so much. I knew all the albums of his work published in foreign languages. Some colleagues of mine also came under his influence. Our Abdulkhaliq, who was in the year below me, liked Manet very much. When one of his teachers introduced him, 'Student Abdulkhaliq,' Sergey Vasilyevich replied: 'I can see Abdul and Manet beside him.' For a long time we called Abdulkhaliq 'Abdul Manet' amongst ourselves.

Sergey Gerasimov saw me through the same lens as Abdulkhaliq. The chairman of the student commission once told me that the 'Manet matter' had caused a lot of trouble. Members of the commission were going to give you a 5 [top marks] for painting but Sergey Gerasimov did not agree at all. He said that they were the work of a student who was pretending to be a great artist too soon. Eventually, he said, 'Well, give him 5 for painting, but don’t forget this Manet is the worst.' After this I really thought things through. I decided that Sergey Vasilyevich was fair in his criticism of me and Abdulkhaliq. He wanted to see in us painters from Azerbaijan. Copying Manet was not the right way.”

In the Absheron — Igor Zhuk (1927-1995), Oil on Canvas, 1979

Quoting the gallery card next to Igor Zhuk’s painting, we are looking at a “simple story revealed through composition based on Russian Art School traditions” whereby “using an impressionistic language were his major achievements in pushing the genre of realistic paintings forward. Zhuk was known for his free manner in painting littered with light and a passion to work on plein-aire. His series of portraits were mainly dedicated to the labor class. Working as a painter during the Soviet period he expressed his own vision within the frames of Social Realism.”

This creates a feeling of ease and airiness in this summertime scene. Families commonly escaped the heat of the city by heading further out the Absheron peninsula to enjoy the seaside breezes of the Caspian Sea and the slower more leisurely pace of coastal living.

To the Light — Kamal Ahmad (1940-1994), Oil on Canvas, 1980

Up a flight of stairs to a gallery mezzanine leaves behind the daily life of labor and leisure activities and presents an Azerbaijani dream world. As a protest against existing Soviet dogma, Kamal Ahmed, drew inspiration heavily from local poetry, Eastern philosophy, ancient symbolism, and local mythologies to intricately link his art to the national and folk heritage of Azerbaijan.

This artwork is a scene between spaces, between life and death.  A Zoroastrian saint holds a lamp illuminating the artist, while a dog acts as the mediator guide for a nighttime journey into the underworld of death and the afterlife.

The ancient Zoroastrian religion originated as early as 4,000 years ago in Persia. Fire—along with water—are seen as symbols of purity in Zoroastrian religion. Fire represents light, warmth and has purifying powers. Sometimes called fire temples, a Zoroastrian place of worship always features an altar with an eternal flame that burns continuously and is never extinguished.

Time of Heaven — Toghrul Narimanbekov (1930-2013), Oil on Canvas, 1992

This is an example of Toghrul Narimanbekov’s rich imaginary world. This monumental work is created from four separate canvases coming together as one.

From the gallery card: this work is “filled with small details and symbols that in combination bring us closer to the idea of Heaven. A steamy samovar with a teapot on it, pomegranates, a small still-life painting, a carpet, a window decorated with ornaments, a small black cat and a sleeping beauty can all be seen as symbols and speak of values and cultural heritage as often seen on eastern miniatures. Together, they create a feeling of inner Paradise.”

The Face of the War — Rasim Babayev (1927-2007), Oil on Canvas, 1980s

Here’s another work by Rasim Babayev, this time showing the reoccurring themes of his mature phase. Here are his own words to describe his journey:

“Then I began working in another direction. In the early 1960s, I was asked to illustrate a book called ‘Jirtdan.’ That was where I met the Div. [’Jirtdan’ is one of Azerbaijan's most popular fairy tales. It features a small boy who outwits an evil Div. In the book, the Div is a hairy, frightening monster who loves to eat children.]

After that, the Div became a symbol of evil in my paintings - the symbol of dictatorship. This Div began to develop gradually; it became the many-headed Div, the many-handed Div, the many-legged Div and so on. The symbol of the Div appears again and again in fairy tales and folklore. This Div still appears in my work, since dictators still exist in the world today.

What else do I paint besides Divs? In 1990, I had an operation and was kept under sedation during the procedure. While I was asleep, I dreamed of angels. Yes - two white, real angels. Now these angels appear in my work.

When I compare the past and today, I can say that back then I could never have imagined that someday I would be painting angels. We used to be under so much pressure that I dedicated all my works to the collapse of the Soviet Empire. Today we have no such pressure. In the past, any works that were against government policy were never allowed to be exhibited.”

Improvisation on the Theme of Eastern Miniatures — Javad Mirjavadov (1923-1992), Oil on Canvas, 1980s

Javad Mirjavadov's style is highly expressive and emotional works that are heavily textured with thick layers of impasto paint. For him, color has meaning with bold, contrasting brush strokes coming together into a distinct symbolism. His visual vocabulary brings together traditional folklore and design elements, eastern mythology and philosophy, with an Absheron lifestyle. Resplendent with allegory, protest, and satire, Mirjavadov's works epitomize the Azerbaijani avant-garde.

Lastly, here is something I am really excited to share. The link below is a virtual tour of the entire exhibit!

Click through and experience the art almost like being there with me on vacation: https://my.matterport.com/show/?m=wAWRAMdvAgs

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Source Links:

Labour, Leisure and Dreams – 1960S-1980S through the eyes of Azerbaijani masters (26 May 2018 - 13 Jan 2019): https://www.yarat.az/index.php?lang=en&page=12&yrtMaincatID=12&yrtSubcatID=0&yrtEventID=1989

Rasim Babayev: http://www.azgallery.org/artgallery/artists/babayev.rasim-22/article_%20babayev_99/72-rasim.html

Mikayil Abdullayev: http://www.visions.az/en/news/517/be199950/