Azerbaijan's first female artist

By Azernews

By Laman Ismayilova

Throughout history, women have been involved in the making of art. Many female artists have been making thrilling works of art that mesmerize art enthusiasts around the world. Azerbaijan's female artists have played a great role in developing various art styles.

Maral Rahmanzade is one of the brightest figures in the national visual arts. She was born on July 23, 1916 in the village of Mardakan, a suburb of Baku. Maral was evolved in visual arts since childhood. Her first teacher was famous artist Salam Salamzade.

After graduating from the seven-year plan, in 1930, Maral Rahmanzade enters the only at that time in Azerbaijan artistic technical school, the founder of which was the famous cartoonist Azim Azimzade.

Maral continued her education in Moscow State Academic Art Institute named after V.I. Surikov. After graduating from the institute in 1940, she got a job in a publishing house of fiction in Moscow.

The terrible event for millions of citizens - the Great Patriotic War - coincided with a terrible event in the life of Maral Rahmanzade and her entire family. In 1941, her father was repressed and declared an enemy of the people. Six months after his arrest, he died in a Tashkent prison in Uzbekistan.

Having left her job in Moscow, Maral returned to Baku and continued her work there. Since the war years and until the end of her life, Maral Rahmanzade participated in more than 50 exhibitions around the world.

A series of art works "We Are in the Caspian Sea", "Women of Azerbaijan", "My Motherland", "My Sisters", "My Contemporaries", "Sumgait - Rustavi", picturesque works inspired by the country's beautiful corners and oilmen, as well as wonderful female images created by her in the series "Girls of the Country of Lights", "Three Flowers", "My Sisters" left no one indifferent.

Maral Rahmanzade was also fond of dancing. Her beautiful dances at institute evenings in Surikovsky had always been a source of admiration.

After one of these evenings, her teacher, Aleksey Krevchenko, who paid great attention to the expressiveness of the drawing, told her: "Learn to draw as plastic as you dance." This advice Maral Rahmanzade made the motto of her work.

The paintings "Azerbaijan is a country of oil", "We are in the Caspian Sea", "Self-portrait" were considered her most famous art works.The artist worked in various etchings including etching, lithography, linocuts, and oil, tempera later. She also created illustrations to many books.

Maral Rahmanzade even posed for the statue of the famous Azerbaijani poetess Khurshidbanu Natavan. This statue now adorns one of the loggias of the National Literature Museum.