Tahir Salahov (Azerbaijan, 1928)3

http://www.authorstream.com/Presentation/michaelasanda-2560180-tahir-salahov3/

Tahir Salahov (born 1928, Baku) is an Azerbaijani painter and draughtsman. His father Teymur Salahov had been a victim of Stalin's repressions, having been arrested in 1937 and executed shortly after. His mother Sona was left to bring up four children on her own but the family didn't learn of their father's death until 1956 after Stalin's death.Tahir Salahov studied at the Azimzade Art College in Baku in 1945–1950 and the Surikov Moscow Art Institute in 1951–1957. Salahov won an early recognition: his diploma work, The Shift is Over, was exhibited in 1957 at the Moscow All-Union Art Exhibition and received public and critical acclaim. He became one of the leading representatives of the so-called "severe style" (Russian: "суровый стиль"), a trend in Soviet art of the 1960s that aimed to set off a hard, publicist, realist view against the ceremonial "polished reality" of the Joseph Stalin era.

Salahov’s compositions on the life and work of the Baku oil-workers (e.g. "Repair Men", 1961, Mustafayev Azerbaijan State Museum of Art, Baku) and portraits, e.g., of Azerbaijani composer Kara Karayev (1960, Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow), and Soviet composer Dmitri Shostakovich (1976, Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow), are characterized by a forcefulness and lack of idealization. Salahov chose a sparing palette of contrasting red, black, light- and dark-grey tones and gave colored plains a decorative function.His later works are more peaceful and lyrically contemplative, and Eastern influences are more apparent, as in Portrait of Grandson Dan (1983, Azerbaijan State Museum of Art), in which the composition and colouring are subordinate to the flowing rhythms of Eastern medieval miniatures. His lines became smoother and more melodious, his palette more sophisticated. Many of his most successful works are associated with his impressions of foreign countries (e.g., Mexican Corrida; 1969, Mustafayev Azerbaijan State Museum of Art). He also produced expressive drawings and stage designs

Tahir Salahov is a winner of numerous prizes, awards and titles, including the State Prize of the Russian Federation (2012), Knight of the Honorable French Order “Art and Literature” (2009). More than 700 items including the canvases by Tahir Salahov’s brush are exhibited in the house-museum of the artist.

Caspian Sea today - the central part of Country Lights Triptych 2007

Taking into account Salahov`s own proposal to donate its own collection of paintings and personal archive to the state, the Cabinet was tasked with undertaking measures to establish Tahir Salahov`s house-museum.Tahir Salahov’s house-museum is operating in Baku since 2011. Salahov, is one of the most prominent representatives of the Azerbaijani art.

The museum features some 735 works from the artist, including his outstanding paintings, personal items, a collection of carpets and photo archive. The three-floor museum has a memorial part. A large part of the exhibition shows the artist’s creative work. The master’s studio is located on the top floor. The address of the venue is Ilyas Efendiyev street, 55.

Portrait of the composer Kara Karaev. 1960

Portrait of the composer Kara Karaev. 1960

Still life with pomegranate tree branches 1997

The old mosque. Hovsan (Absheron)1994

Portrait of Maqsud Ibrahimbeyov

Abandoned garden 1997

The World of Salvador Dali Triptych 2009

The World of Salvador Dali – Gala muse

The World of Salvador Dali – Gala muse - Detail

Today Salahov lives in Moscow, where he is a professor and has a studio at the Moscow Art Institute. He has received numerous honors, including People's Artist of USSR, Russia and Azerbaijan, Hero of Socialist Labour, USSR State Prize (1968), First Secretary of the Union of Artists of the USSR (1973–1992), Vice-President of the Russian Academy of Arts, member of over 20 academies and other creative organizations throughout the world, including academies of art of France, Spain, Germany, Austria, etc

One of the biggest carpet manufacturing factories in the world, “Azerilme” hosted the presentation ceremony of the “Red Wheel” carpet, woven by enterprise’s masters based on a design by the artist

Carpet weavers reproducing Caspian Sea today, the central part of Country LightsTriptych 2007

Country Lights Triptych 2007

Maiden's Tower. Country Lights Triptych 2007

Temple of fire worshipers. Country Lights Triptych 2007

Carpet reproduced by Azerbaijani carpet weavers on The World of Salvador Dali. Triptych. Portlligat 2009

The World of Salvador Dali TriptychPortlligat 2009

More than 80 works of the

artist have been used on the

carpets.

Carpet reproduced Always with the Eiffel Tower, 2007

“Return”was painted in connection with 95th birthday

anniversary of Alexander

Solzhenitsyn. He was a

dissident, who for several decades

actively fought against

communist ideas, the political

system of the USSR and the policies of the government

“Red Wheel” carpet woven by enterprise’s masters is devoted to

Alexander Solzhenitsyn, a novelist, playwright,

essayist, poet, as well as social and political

activist.

The Red Wheel is a cycle of novels

by Alexander Solzhenitsyn, retelling and

exploring the passing of Imperial Russia and the birth-pangs of the Soviet

Union

“The work was dedicated to the victims of repression of the Soviet era,” the outstanding artist stressed.Work on the 2,24x 3,1 meter carpet lasted for seven months. Talented artist Aynur Asadullayev was also working on the carpet.

Text & pictures: Internet

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Presentation: Sanda Foişoreanu

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Sound: Vagif Mustafa Zadeh - Jazz Compositions