BIG MASTER OF MINIATURES

Kids fall in love with his fabulous illustrations at first sight. But even their parents cannot take their eyes off the colourful fantastic figures filled with the finest details. With the help of the brush and paints, the artist reveals the popular wisdom and philosophy of fairy tales to kids in his images. The author of these pictures is the well-known Azerbaijani artist and illustrator of books for children and adults, people's artist Arif Huseynov.

- Arif muallim, tell us about your childhood. What are the most vivid memories of that time?

- I was born in the ancient Abseron village of Qala. My mother Saraf was a housewife and my father Sahbaz Huseynov was a primary school teacher. My father was a native of South Azerbaijan. He rented a small room opposite the famous Qala "red" school where he taught. While walking through the streets of Qala, my father spotted a stately white-skinned beauty, who soon became his wife. The Qala elders who took a dislike to the young "hamsari" began to reproach my mother's parents for giving their daughter to a foreigner who did not accept their rules and traditions. Fuel to the fire was added by some Qala resident who had seen my mother walking around in Baku without a veil. As my mother told me, she and my father went to the capital to listen to the opera "Layla and Majnun", and my father suggested that she remove her veil. On hearing about this, especially ardent defenders of religion and old customs threatened to attack the young family. My father, fearing for his wife and two small children, decided to leave Qala and went to Baku. In the capital, my father rented a small house on the former Sovetskaya Street. It was a crime-ridden area with its own laws and regulations. I went to school №173. The same school was attended by the future people's artist Yasar Nuri and people's painter Xanlar Ahmadov.

- And how did it happen that a boy living in this area decided to become an artist?

- I had a friend named Nadir, who went to the drawing circle at the city's Palace of Pioneers. He was incredibly proud of this fact and showed me his new works each time. At that time, I also began to draw, but I mostly redrew portraits of Nizami, Fizuli and other poets and writers from the literature textbook. I drew the school wall newspaper and caricatures of my classmates, who respected me for my talent. School principal Humay Hasanzada once called me into her office and asked me to draw a portrait of Fizuli with a chalk on the blackboard. After a few minutes, the portrait was ready. This day would have been the peak of my school popularity, had it not been for a friend's mockery... "Is this art? You are engaged in nonsense," he told me, showing me another portion of his works. "I can do it as well. Just take me to your drawing circle," I asked him. Grabbing my notebook with drawings, I went to the House of Pioneers, which was in the building of the current Union of Composers. The great artist Nadir Axundov taught there. He silently flipped through my notebook and asked me to go on the podium, on which different sculptures stood. Putting me in a chair, he instructed his students, among whom were future artists Cingiz Farzaliyev and Xanlar Ahmadov, to make a sketch. I had to change my position every 10 minutes. After sitting in the chair for two long hours, I decided not to visit this strange teacher and said to myself that I would not come here anymore. After the lesson, Nadir muallim told me: "Next time, bring a folder with paper, ink and brush. You will be drawing!"

- How was your further life?

- While in high school, I decided to find a job to help my mother. She raised us alone after the death of my father. I began to work as a courier at the republican Knowledge society. My tasks included delivery of documents to academician Yusif Mammadaliyev, who was an honorary chairman of the Knowledge society. Every morning I was given packets of rotaprint lectures, which I had to deliver to Yusif Heydar oglu as quickly as possible. During the break, I secretly took a whole pile of yellow paper, which was abundant in the corridors of the society, sat in a nearby park and drew. I once brought an envelope of papers to Yusif Mammadaliyev, but his secretary was not there. Then I decided to personally give him the necessary documents and, knocking on the door, I walked into his office. Yusif Heydar oglu greeted me with a smile, and when I was about to leave, my drawings suddenly fell out of the folder that I kept under my arm. When I gathered my "album", the academician asked to see the pictures. "You draw very well and should become an artist," Yusif muallim said.

After the 9th grade, I went to Azim Azimzada Art School. I studied in the class of People's Artist Boyukaga Mirzazada. In the second year I joined the army. Knowing that I was an art school student, they recruited me as an army painter. They put me in the Lenin room and gave me paper, paints and brushes and a lot of work.

After the army, I returned to Baku and continued my studies at Azimzada Art School. Then I entered the faculty of "artistic modelling of textile and light industry" at Azerbaijan State University of Culture and Arts. When I was in the second course, my teacher Rahim Mammadov offered me a job as an artist in the Goyarcin magazine. I was extremely happy! Of course! The print run of this edition exceeded 250,000 copies! By the way, I still work with this magazine... 

Then I began to illustrate children's books: Abdulla Saiq "True Support", Korney Chukovskiy "Aybolit", Nizami Gancavi, Fizuli, Abbas Sahhat, "Azerbaijani folk tales" and the Russian fairy tale "Ivan- Tsarevich and the Grey Wolf" translated into Azerbaijani. In total, I have about one hundred children's books in my account. I also designed the seventh edition of Sabir's "Hop-hop-nama". The poet Aliaga Kurcayli, now deceased, who was editor-in-chief of the Yazici publishing house in those years, invited me to illustrate Sabir. I immediately warned that I was against the way Azim Azimzada and Najafqulu did it before me, i.e. in the spirit of caricature, which was repeated in six editions in a row. Aliaga Kurcayli asked for a pencil sketch, and after seeing it, he said: "This is exactly what we need - to go beyond the normal framework". Among my other works we can name the illustrations for such books as "The Divine Comedy" by Dante, Petrarch's poetry, Andersen's fairy tales, "As long as there is time" by Rasul Rza, a collection of "Lyrics" by Samad Vurgun, stories by Aziz Nesin, and many others. And recently, a colourful book in English called "Azerbaijani fairy tales" was published, in which I have illustrated all 30 tales. The book was published in Turkey and was commissioned by the Ministry of Culture of Azerbaijan. Its design took a whole year!

- I heard that as a young man you were at BAM?

- Yes. At that time, to be accepted into the Union of Artists of the USSR, it was necessary to "exhibit" your works at two republican and one national exhibition. And I at that time there were two international ones. And then I, together with the artist Arif Azizov, decided to go to BAM on a campaign train, which was popularly known as the "red train". On this legendary campaign train, thousands of painters, writers, composers and artists travelled to the most remote and distant points of the Soviet Union, where a grand project of the century, which also involved young Azerbaijanis, was under way. We addressed workers, supported their spirit and self-confidence as much as we could. Then this journey became the basis for a large BAM-76 exhibition, which I and my friends Arif Ibrahimov and Oleg Azizov devoted to the youth. The exhibition was held at the Officers' Club and had a sensational success. Then, the same exhibition was held in Moscow and Palermo (Italy). And imagine, almost all works were sold out.

- In addition to creative work, you have time to engage in public activities in the Union of Artists, teach at the Academy of Fine Arts and manage the Azerbaijan Dunyasi art gallery you founded in 1997 at the Centre for International Relations, as well as the Xatai Centre for Miniatures, which that you opened in 2012. How do you manage all this?

- (Laughs) The thing is that I learned how to relax at work. And I want to have time to do a lot more. I have a lot of plans. The main thing is to have good health...

- Do you think that the art of modern miniatures has a future?

- Of course, it does. But the future depends on the present. Azerbaijani miniature developed under the influence of classical oriental poetry. The undying works of the greatest poets of world literature - Nizami, Fizuli, Ferdowsi, Sabir, Hafiz and other great classics of oriental poetry - were an inexhaustible source of inspiration for artists. Unfortunately, that was a hard time for Azerbaijan - its incorporation into Persia, Russia, and later the Soviet Union alienated us from miniature art. Now that we are independent, we must turn to our roots more and more. We must remember our past to build the future. I very much hope that over time we will have an International Centre for Miniatures. This is my dream. Baku has the Mugam Centre, the Carpet Museum, and a Miniature Centre is necessary too. It is our spiritual wealth, which must be demonstrated to the world.

- Your son Orxan is also an artist. Do you help him with advice when he works?

- When he first started, I was his manager for 10 years. I guided him in his work, organized exhibitions and engaged in his affairs. And now he is already a well-established painter and copes with everything himself. But he knows that I am ready to help and support him at any moment.

- What are you working on right now?

- I am currently working on a series of engravings devoted to Karabakh. About 30 miniatures are ready, and I still have to draw about the same number. Once everything is ready, I will organize an exhibition called Karabakhnama - pages of history. It will be documentary-art engravings. I spent a long time preparing before taking the job. I study the whole history of Karabakh, read a huge amount of literature and historical documents and learn a lot about famous people that brought fame to their homeland. It will be black-and-white engravings with a text in the Azerbaijani and English languages. I want to show this series abroad so that they know that Karabakh is an ancient land of Azerbaijan and the Armenians are invaders.