Azerbaijani artist gives master class in France

By Azernews

By Laman Ismayilova

Azerbaijan's world-famous artist Asmar Narimanbayova has given a master class for young talents in France.

The master class was held for Azerbaijani children living in France with the support of the UNESCO Permanent Representation to Azerbaijan, Trend Life reported.

The event was dedicated to the memory of Togrul Narimanbayov, an outstanding representative of Azerbaijani art.

During the master class, Asmar Narimanbayova revealed art secrets to young artists. She shared her knowledge about the basics of art, color scheme and much more.

The event participants were provided with detailed information on the creative activities of Togrul Narimanbayov. The master class aroused great interest among young artists.

It is noteworthy that this is not the first master class held by Asmar Narimanbayova in France. Another master class for young talents was also held this May.

Works of young artists from Azerbaijan, Turkey, Georgia and other countries were exhibited at the workshop. At the exhibition titled "Colors of Spring", Azerbaijan was represented by students of the Picasso art studio headed by Ramina Saadatkhan. Young artists pleased the viewers with colorful paintings of cartoon characters, nature and animals.

Asmar Narimanbayova is an artist full of light, wide and enthusiastic soul. The artist grew up in the atmosphere of love to art, music and literature.

Her father Togrul Narimanbayov was the world-famous Azerbaijani artist and her mother Elmira Huseynova was a sculptor.

Asmar Narimanbayova creates her works in different styles, from fauvism to impressionism, from postimpressionism to cubism and expressionism. Narimanbayova is distinguished by her bold and engaging style of painting.

Colors in her artworks fill the form with dynamics and saturate her canvas with strong energy.

Narimanbayova’s works are displayed in exhibitions, international festivals and symposiums all over the world.

Togrul Narimanbayov was recognized as a supremely great painter. He was born on August 7 in 1930 to a respected family from the town of Shusha in Karabakh. Togrul’s father, Yagub Farman bey, was one of the students sent to study abroad by the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic in 1919. Yagub studied engineering in Toulouse, where he met and married Togrul’s mother, Irma, a young Frenchwoman from Gascony.

Togrul Narimanbayov studied at the Azim Azimzade School of Art in Baku, then at the Lithuanian Higher School of Art in Vilnius where he described the education as ‘global in content’.

The first painting "Dawn over the Caspian", created in 1957, and presented at the exhibition in Moscow, made him famous. The painting fascinated art lovers with an unconventional approach to the topic of work, a romantic uplift, distinctive individual pictorial language, sincerity and intimacy of the captured images.

His triumph continued at exhibitions abroad. The "Dawn over the Caspian" followed by other works, including "All the farther into the sea," "Overpass," "Stronger than the storm".

The master of brush gained worldwide fame for his works in all genres of fine arts. His bright works created in various fields such as landscapes, portraits, monumental paintings, illustrations and theater painting are characterized by genre diversity, aesthetic perfection and a unique style.

Togrul Narimanbayov loved to paint very large canvases and murals, some of which can be seen at the State Puppet Theatre and Parliament in Baku. He also designed sets for ballets by Azerbaijani composers and did a magnificent set of illustrations for a 1988 edition of the Turkic epic The Book of Dada Qorqud.

Togrul Narimanbayov synthesized East and West in his works, combining the decorativeness of eastern miniatures with the intellectuality of western art.

He always admired French Romanticism, while his favorite artists were Eugene Delacroix and Gustave Courbet. Cezannism also played an important role in his artistic career.

However, the rich traditions of Azerbaijani art played an important role in Narimanbayov’s paintings, which are defined by their vibrant color, bold brushstrokes and impasto. One can describe his drawings as a fairy tale, inviting one to a far away wonderland.

Despite the pressures on Soviet artists to conform to Socialist Realism, he remained true to his own expressive, emotional style. 

The leitmotif of the works of Togrul Narimanbayov was his great love for his native country. With special tenderness and trembling he drew the Old City, the Maiden Tower, minarets of ancient mosques.

The rich traditions of Azerbaijani art, samples of antique miniatures and carpet weaving played a great role in the development of Togrul Narimanbayov, as a great master.

People of creative work, poets, writers, artists, creators of Azerbaijan’s culture are subjects of Narimanbayov’s portraits. Externally simple and unpretentious, they are full of inspiration, desire and ability to create. 

The activity of Togrul Narimanbayov has affected formation of artistic and aesthetic vision of several artists’ generation. Being a wonderful school for young artists with a rich heritage, he played an important role in the formation of their professionalism.

One of the biggest achievements of the artist is his contribution to the creation of Azerbaijani classical painting, helping the country to define its cultural identity and originality.

Togrul Narimanbayov received many awards throughout his life. He became a People’s Artist of the Azerbaijan SSR in 1967 and received the state prizes of the Azerbaijan SSR and USSR. National Leader Heydar Aliyev conferred on him the Azerbaijan Republic’s Order of Independence (Istiglal) in 2000, and President Ilham Aliyev the Order of Honor (Sharaf) in 2010. 

The prominent artist died in 2013 at the age of 83 in Paris, leaving behind an astounding long legacy in contemporary art.

The artist's daughter, Asmar Narimanbayova, also devoted herself to the art. Her works are featured in many prestigious galleries and museums not only in Azerbaijan, but also in the U.S., France, Germany, Poland, Russia, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, Finland, and China.

Narimanbayova’s works are stunning with a riot of colors, and interesting imagination of the world. They are distinguished by a particular expression.