110th anniversary of great carpet-maker

By Azernews

By Laman Ismayilova

Enchanting vivid carpets represent a real mystery, leading one inside the fairy tales full of  magic and warm feelings.Who can forget when Aladdin and Jasmine took that shimmering and magic carpet to ride around the world?

Each of them had its own technology, typical patterns and colors.

Majestic Azerbaijani rugs are the honorary "residents" at the White House, State Department. National carpets are displayed in the world's most prestigious museums as Metropolitan Museum of Art, Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, Philadelphia Museum of Art, Louvre, Victoria and Albert Museum, Vatican, and the Hermitage.

The country has seven carpet producing regions including Baku, Shirvan, Guba, Tabriz, Karabakh, Ganja and Gazakh. 

Azerbaijani carpet designers are known for their great contributions to this majestic field of art. And Latif Karimov is one of them.

The 110th anniversary of the Azerbaijan Carpet Museum founder, prominent scientist and carpet-maker artist, Latif Karimov will be celebrated on November 17, Trend Life reported.

An exhibition, organized jointly by Azerbaijan Carpet Museum and All-Russian Decorative-Applied and Folk Art Museum will take place from November 17 to January 18, 2017.

The exhibition will showcase carpets woven on the basis of its author's sketches, photographs and documents from the personal archives of  great artist.

As part of event, the Russian museum will display 7 carpets and 4 tapestries.

Besides, "Latif Karimov's works from the collection of the Azerbaijan Carpet Museum" book will be presented.

As part of the integrated program "Unity heritage. Tradition for the Future", it is planned to hold a conference on Art of carpet-weaving on November 16-18.

The event is organized with the support of the Azerbaijan Carpet Museum and Russian National Committee of the International Council of Museum (ICOM).

Delegations from leading museums of Azerbaijan, Russia, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan will join this grandiose event.

Latif Karimov was true protector of the national art and used to conduct courses on carpet weaving to introduce Iranian techniques that were not known to the Karabakh weavers. For students who were illiterate and could not take notes, he even composed goshmas (poetic genre) to get them to remember weaving procedures.

In addition to carpets, Karimov successfully designed jewelry, wood carvings, china and fabric patterns, as well as interior decoration patterns for buildings.

Genius designer wrote a number of books classifying and describing various designs of majestic Azerbaijani rugs.

He, together with Rustam Mustafayev, was hired to design the Azerbaijani hall of the All-Union Agricultural Exhibition.

In 1945 he was appointed head of the Department of Fine Arts at the National Academy of Sciences of Azerbaijan Institute of the Arts.

Between 1947 and 1977 he compiled the Dictionary of Oriental Music. In 1950 he received the Stalin Prize, the highest ranking award in the Soviet Union.

In 1954, Karimov organized his first personal exhibition which featured carpets, architectural ornaments, wood carvings, china vases, jewelry, and graphic items.

His efforts and enthusiasm led to the establishment of the Azerbaijan Carpet Museum in 1967, first one of this kind in the world.

The Azerbaijan Carpet Museum was named in his honour in 1991.