Sattar Bahlulzade’s birthday marked in capital

By Azernews

By Laman Ismayilova

An event dedicated to the 109th anniversary of the birth of Azerbaijani national artist Sattar Bahlulzade was held at the artist's house-museum.

The museum collection has been enriched with new exhibits related to the artist, , Trend Life reported.

Among the new exhibits are Sattar Bahlulzade’s autobiography, a certificate from the art college in which he studied, letters addressed to the master brush, kelaghai, donated by the workers of Amirjan settlement for his 50th anniversary, reproduction of paintings stored in the State Tretyakov Gallery (Russia) and other items.

Director of the House-Museum Irada Abdinova provided detailed information about the museum`s activity and new exhibits.

The founder of contemporary Azerbaijani landscape painting, Sattar Bahlulzade skillfully put on the canvas his impressions about the fast-changing world. 

Strong passion for art since childhood gave him the drive to begin his professional education at the National Art Institute in Baku (1927-1931).

In 1931, he began to work in the "Kommunist" newspaper as a "graphic artist" under the direction of great national artist and cartoonist Azim Azimzade.

Bahlulzade entered in 1933 the department of graphic arts of Moscow Institute of Arts named after V. Surikov, where he studied at the workshops of famous Soviet graphic artist Vladimir Favorskiy.

For the rest of his life, the artist felt the enormous influence of his teacher, who inspired a love of beauty in his student.

Sattar's legacy includes countless works that have been exhibited all over the world, including personal exhibitions in the U.S., Britain, Turkey and Russia. Many of his works include specific areas of Azerbaijan, for example, a series of landscapes dedicated to Guba area (in the north-east of Azerbaijan,): "The Shore of Gudiyalchai", "A Road to Gyz-Benevsha", "The Valley of Gudiyalchai", and "The Green Carpet".

The first personal exhibition of Bahlulzade was held in 1966 in Prague.

It was the first personal exhibition of a soviet Azerbaijani artist in Europe.

In 1940, Bahlulzade worked on his final project "Revolt of Babek", dealing with a great hero of the 7th-century struggling against the Arabic invasion.

He also created around 30 sketch diaries that contain his reflections on life and art.

Bahlulzade died in 1947 due to the blood poisoning. Unlike other prominent art workers, he was laid to rest in his native village of Amirjan, next to his mother's grave.

The 34th UNESCO General Assembly issued a resolution to mark the 100th anniversary of Sattar Bahlulzade in 2008-2009.