JOURNEY OF A LIFETIME

The people's artist of Azerbaijan, Camil Mufidzada, loves to travel. Travel fills his soul with harmony and charges it with vital energy. The artist always takes a sketchbook for the journey. Quick sketches made on the journey turn into a full picture on his return home. Camil Mufidzada has visited almost one hundred countries. He is known for such series of graphic works as the "Old City", "Abseron Oil", "Baku - the oil capital", "Buchenwald", "Xinaliq", "On Mongolian soil", "Impressions of Egypt", etc. His works are kept in private collections and museums in Russia, Germany, France, Italy, Egypt, Turkey, Iran, and Mongolia. On 24 February, the maitre of Azerbaijani graphics turned 82 years, but he is still full of strength and energy.

- Camil, when did you realize that you want to become a painter?

- I was born in the small town of Ordubad, where people treated each other very sincerely, carefully and, I would say, in a godly way. If something happens, the whole street helped, supported and worried. My father worked in the accounting system at the silk-winding factory, and my mother was a housewife. She had no secondary education, but she finished a literacy school - special courses after the revolution in the USSR where people learn to read and write. I was the fifth child in the family, and my mother did her best to give her children a good education. My older brother was an honoured energy worker of Azerbaijan, my two sisters graduated from a medical school, and my younger brother was a famous oilman and driller. I'm the only one in our big family, who decided to devote his life to fine arts. I began drawing at a very young age. At that time, there were no drawing circles in Ordubad, and my friends and I just copied portraits of poets and artists and amusing illustrations from textbooks. When I finished the 6^th grade, dad decided to send me to Baku, where my older brother Hamid worked at the time. My parents wanted me to enter a Baku university in the future. So I went to study in the Amircan (Baku settlement of Amircan) secondary school. My brother lived in Surakhani and every day on the way to school, I saw chains of metal frames of oil rigs going behind horizon, which flooded the whole coast of the village. The sight of these black "towers", which pierced the heights of heaven with one end and the depths of the sea with the other, made an indelible impression on me. I did little sketches on the way and finished them at home.

After the 7^th grade, I entered the Azim Azimzada Azerbaijan State Art School, where I learned the basics of art. Then I went to Kiev. There I had to study at the Art School for another year, which, of course, came in very handy in the process of adaptation to a different country later. At the same time, I became interested in etching. This is a difficult technique of graphic arts, in which an artist places acid resistant varnish on a copper plate, then scratches the layer of varnish with a needle on the metal along the lines of the future picture and puts the plate in a solution of nitric acid. In just a few times, he gets the desired gradation of tones. He covers the plate with paint and puts it on the etching press. A wet paper sheet is placed on the plate, and under pressure the paint is transferred to the paper. There, in Kiev, I learned that the outstanding Ukrainian graphic artist Vasiliy Mironenko lived and worked in Kharkov. I immediately went there and entered the department of graphic arts at the Kharkov Art Institute, where Vasiliy Fedorovich taught. He taught me all the nuances of the art of engraving, and I owe him a lot. At the institute, I spent a lot of time reading books and special literature, experimented with etching, visited museums and tried to learn something new every day. In my second year at the institute, I decided to participate in the art competition of the International Union of Students headquartered in Prague (Czech Republic). First place was not awarded to anyone then, and second placed was divided between me and a young artist from Argentina. I remember that with the memorable diploma I was given a German Flexaret 6 camera, which was expensive at that time. For a student, it was probably the best award.

My degree work at the institute - "Oil Rocks" - was rated by the state commission. Instead of eight works, which my degree work had to include, I presented twelve, which helped me to win the sympathy of all members of the state commission. On graduation I had the opportunity to stay in my native university and teach in the department of graphics. But I decided to return home. In Azerbaijan I was already known for my participation in various exhibitions. I was given a small workshop in the House of Artists, and thanks to the patronage of the then chairman of the Union of Artists of the Azerbaijan SSR, Nadir Abdulrahmanov, I was given a tiny apartment in the Old Town, about which I was extremely happy. The Old Town, where I began to live, inspired and encouraged me. Every day I walked through the narrow cobbled streets and discovered something new, be it unusual intricate patterns on old walls or pictures on wrought-iron window grilles. Stopping along the way, I made sketches. Thus, the first five pages of my series "Icari Sahar" were born in 1965. This series was supplemented with new works until the end of the 1990s. In total, there are about a hundred paintings in it.

- As far as we know, you love to travel, and half of your works was created during duty trips.

- By my nature I'm a very restless person. I don't like to sit still. I like to travel, see new countries and meet new people. During my life I've managed to visit four of the five continents. A few years ago, I published a book called "The 4/5 of the Earth", in which I gathered photo memories and works made during my travels to various countries. I haven't seen only Australia...

My love of travel began with a cruise on the Danube in 1964. A year later I visited Germany as a member of an artistic delegation. It was my first trip abroad through the Union of Artists of the USSR, and for me it was notable for the fact that I was able to visit the World Exhibition of Book and Easel Graphics, which was held in Leipzig, and the memorial museum located at the Buchenwald concentration camp. I've also been to Auschwitz in Poland. I was shocked by what I saw ... The gas chambers and ovens, mass graves, scary exhibits of the museum ... In Buchenwald alone, more than 50,000 people were tortured and killed! I was so impressed that during the entire tour I made sketches and notes in my notebook. After this trip, another series called "Buchenwald" appeared.

At the same time, I continued to work on a series dedicated to the main wealth of Azerbaijan - oil. I spent some time in a dormitory for oil workers. I watched the work and life of rig builders, oil explorers, drillers, operators of underground repair of wells, oil producers ... and painted, painted and painted. Oil rigs are not just metal structures for me. In them, you see something similar to Azerbaijani "sabaka" ornaments.

- Which of your business trips was the most extreme and memorable?

- In 1975, several artists and I went on a 40-day trip to the north of Yakutia. The journey began from Yakutsk and the settlement of Tiksi, from where Soviet border guards transferred our delegation to the operating polar station Ust-Olenyok.

- Was it frightening to travel from hot Baku to icy cold Yakutia?

- It was my conscious decision. By the time I had managed to travel around the whole of Azerbaijan. This is hot sand, the hot sun, a lot of green areas and blue colours. Therefore, my works were just as bright, juicy and rich in colour. At some point, I wanted to see and capture something contrasting - ascetic nature, cool colours and restrained landscapes. We visited reindeer herders and polar explorers in the tundra – a place where there is permafrost and no trees, where reindeer live and where residents use pits dug in the frozen ground instead of the refrigerator. I sketched everything I saw around me in order to record my impressions from the trip to this cold region on paper later. After a year, I went to northern Russia with the same team and visited Arkhangelsk, Kandalaksha and Kem (Karelia). These regions differ from the ascetic nature of Yakutia with the special warmth of colours and, I would say, a kind of affection. I spent 80 days in those places and collected an enormous amount of material in the form of sketches and notes, which resulted in a large series - 74 works! At the end of my journey, exhibitions were organized in Baku, Moscow, Arkhangelsk and Severodvinsk.

Back home, I decided to continue my trip to Azerbaijan and went to the village of Xinaliq lost in the mountains. At one time, Rasim Babayev, Maral Rahmanzada and other famous painters visited those places and drew pictures. After this fruitful trip, my next series "Xinaliq" was born, in which I presented the entire beauty and grandeur of Azerbaijani nature.

A few years later, I went on a two-week business trip to Mongolia through the Union of Artists of the USSR. My first impressions of Ulan Bator – grey sky, lack of roads, the same boxlike five-storey buildings, lack of greenery on the streets and two datsans (Buddhist temples), which my Ukrainian colleague and I managed to sketch from all four angles. Our trip to the Gobi Desert, where we were taken on cross-country vehicles at six in the morning, made our travel diversified. The desert areas of Gobi, as is commonly believed, have been almost unchanged and arid for 65 million years. Imagine the picture – a lonely yurt in the middle of sands and huge Bactrian camels strolling in search of vegetation. Camels are incredibly plastic and peaceful creatures. They are quite difficult to paint, because they are in constant motion. We had to quickly make schematic sketches the size of a palm and then transfer them on paper. We had to see and capture on paper the most "delicious" moments before nightfall. It gets dark in Gobi very early. At the beginning of 2100, the desert is covered with impenetrable mist. It becomes scary because of the bottomless blackness of the desert, and you want to see the dawn as quickly as possible. The thrill of a day spent in Gobi turned into three years of work. It turned into 38 works that were presented at my personal exhibition organized in Baku and Ulan Bator.

- Camil, which trip was particularly memorable for you? What series of works is especially dear to you?

- Difficult question. Egypt, Italy, the Netherlands, Singapore, Poland, Czechoslovakia, Japan ... Every country I was lucky to visit is dear and memorable to me. In every country, I found something beautiful and individual. I put all my emotions and impressions on paper. I'd like to convey my feelings and sensations in a way that will make viewers who see my work feel the same as me.

- For many years you've been teaching at the Academy of Arts. What do you think about freedom of expression in arts, which some young artists sometimes abuse? Does this prevent or help the development of fine arts?

- This question disturbs those who are inclined to think and worry about the future of our art. Complete freedom of expression and the lack of internal "brakes" haven't led anyone to a good end yet. In Soviet times, too, there were artists whose works members of the Exhibitions Commission did not allow to exhibitions. Today, these "pictures" can be seen everywhere. Some modern artists believe that if we have freedom of expression, we can paint anything. They sincerely believe that an image of a yellow triangle with a red square and an eye framed by blue lashes with the caption "Portrait of my wife" can be put on public display. After all, it's the fruit of their self-expression, and they're not like everybody (laughs). I'm sorry for the artist, who has a wife like that... But seriously, all these unprofessional abstractions and unskillful ways of self-expression aren't necessary. All this is pure quackery and buffoonery, and such art has a short life.

You know, an artist is a state of mind and way of life. You are born that way and don't see yourself in a different role. And you don't think whether it's beneficial to you or not. I had a thirst for creativity, which just swallowed me. It's important not to turn off the road. Believe me, if you endure all hardships and difficulties, one day the door of success will definitely swing open in front of you. If you create, think and develop, you will definitely achieve your goal.