Solo exhibition of National Artist of Azerbaijan, Nadir Gasimov, dedicated to his 80th birthday

Organisers: Ministry of Culture and Tourism of Azerbaijan, Union of Artists of Azerbaijan.

The opening of this milestone exhibition of National Artist of Azerbaijan, Nadir Sadikh oglu Gasimov, dedicated to his 80th birthday, was held at the Museum Centre of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism of Azerbaijan at 17:00 on 19th September. The oeuvre of one of the most talented painters of Azerbaijan embraces a period of more than half a century, from the end of the 1940s until 2000. The last landscape painting, left on the easel at his workshop, was painted in November 1999. Nadir Gasimov was born in Baku on 22 May 1928. Having graduated from the Azerbaijan Art College, he continued his education at the Leningrad Academy of Arts. He graduated successfully from the Art Academy in 1953 and returned to Baku, where he was already known as a participant in a country-wide exhibition. While still a student, he exhibited his portraits and landscape paintings in Baku.

Living and working in Baku, a city of vast industry, it is difficult to be indifferent to the environment and not to attend to the romanticism of the industrial landscape. Nadir Gasimov was engaged in a constant search and almost always found something fine and romantic in the extremely harsh environment of the Absheron peninsula, the element of the silver Caspian conquered by man. He spent days and nights on “Oil Rocks”, to then put his impressions onto canvas. Dedicated to the subject of the oilmen of the Caspian are: “Oil Latitudes”, “Ilyich’s Bay” (State Tretyakov Gallery), “Backfill of Ilyich’s Bay”, “Red Pipes” (State Tretyakov Gallery) and many others.

His portrayals of famous oilmen: “Portrait of Veteran Oilman, Gulbala Aliyev” and oilmen heroes Gurban Abbasov and Adil Mammadov were presented at the exhibition.
The ingenuity of his canvas, depicting the raging elements of the Caspian and also peaceful, golden sunsets at sea, is quite breathtaking: “The Raging Sea”, “Before the Storm”, “Steel Island”, “Golden Sunset on the Caspian” and many others.

But the Caspian was not the only favourite subject for the artist. Often travelling into the countryside of Azerbaijan, he admired the nature, the labour of ordinary workers and the beauty of the women. This is how, in the 1960s, he came up with his canvases “On Cotton Mount”, “In the Rice Fields”, “At a Lenkaran Bazaar”, “Friends”, “Girls of Lenkeran” and many others which were presented at the exhibition. Nadir Gasimov’s works have been displayed many times, in over 50 countries, where they have been awarded prizes and diplomas.

About 100 of the artist’s works are now in museum collections in Russia, in museums in the CIS countries, the USA, Belgium, France, Germany, Turkey, Spain, Bulgaria, Yugoslavia, the Czech Republic and in private collections.

The landscape painting “On the Caspian, 1990”, dedicated to the events of 20 January 1990, was shown for the first time at the exhibition.

In all, about 80 pieces from the collection of the R. Mustafayev Azerbaijan State Art Museum, the Azerbaijan State Painting Gallery and original works from the artist’s studio were displayed at the exhibition.