ARTIST'S HAPPINESS

Beauty and Monumentality is the title of yet another personal exhibition of the People's Artist of Azerbaijan Omar Eldarov, which took place at the Heydar Aliyev Center and coincided with the 90^th anniversary of the Master.

Beauty

Go out for a walk around Baku and you will certainly meet with Omar Eldarov. Not personally, of course, but with his works. My first meeting with the renowned sculptor took place about thirty years ago, when I saw the monument to Natavan during my first visit to Baku. At that time I had known neither the poetry nor the fate of the poetess. I just liked the monument, which was a true manifest of tragic fate, hidden female power, and spiritual beauty. This inspired my interest in Natavan. Many years later, in one of his interviews, the sculptor told the story of the monument. It turned out that the artist has been both shocked and fascinated when he saw a photo of Natavan. The depth of her gaze and the sorrow in her soul had been so expressing and amazing that he has decided to create her sculpture. The Natavan monument has been standing still for many years at the intersection of Mammad Amin and Ismail Hidayatzadeh streets. But this is not his only job in Baku. Large sculptures and reliefs ornate our city so organically that they are perceived as an integral part of Baku’s architectural beauty. Therefore, the monuments to Huseyn Javid, Nikola Tesla, Sattar Bahlulzadeh, Azim Azimzadeh have long been perceived as an integral part of daily city life. This is our memory of those who are no longer with us and who left good memories of their own affairs in the life of humanity. Therefore, some of the sculptor's works can be found at the Alley of Honor, which is visited everyday by both our nationals and tourists. Tombstones to the national leader Heydar Aliyev, his wife Zarifa Aliyeva, outstanding sons of the Azerbaijani people Shikhali Gurbanov, Niyazi, Fikret Amirov, Muslim Magomayev, Rashid Behbudov, Tofig Guliyev are of interest not only as works of great art but also as a source of information describing these people and their deeds, which has glorified our country.

Monumentality 

Heydar Aliyev

The personality of the national leader is a special theme among Eldarov’s works. Firstly, it is about his personal artistic impressions on a person whose genius has been recognized by the world community at the end of the 20^th century. Before us is a man of the past century. A man who has manifested not just an era, but its essence and humanistic ideals. A man who has managed to save his people, return its national identity and secure its confidence in the future.

Monument to Huseyn Javid

You can find it at the Huseyn Javid Avenue, right in the square bearing his name. This is a full-body sculpture of the poet with his head inclined in thought. Time is winding around him throwing up the deeds of evil personified in one of his characters, Iblis, onto the surface of life. Iblis is on his knees before the poet, with a sword in his hands and his head down. Above the poet's head is his muses, his thoughts and reflections, expressed by the sculptor in female figurines of the Renaissance period. Time and a man. The eternal problem of choice.

Sattar Bahlulzadeh

The artist’s portrait sculpture is cast in bronze. Long hands, delicate fingers squeezing the palette, ironic curve of the lip line, focused eyes. This person is in constant dialogue with his heart, friends, and spectators. He needs such a state of mind, for he is an artist!

Actor Huseyn Arablinsky

Such an amazing and thrilling work, which embodies the essence and purpose of the artist's life, could be seen only at the exhibition! Holding the curtain with both hands, the actor is about to leave. But from whom and where? From the partners on the stage to the ramp of the semi-illuminated hall? Or vice versa, from the audience behind the scenes full of secrets? Or maybe, to eternity leaving us forever with questions such as who? for what? why? The secret of his death was a mystery. And even Elchin Efendiyev, who has dedicated his play Artist to Arablinsky, could not disclose this mystery...

Mahatma Gandhi

This is a wooden sculpture, which depicts the prominent thinker, politician, and humanist Mahatma Gandhi in his famous sitting position resembling Indian yogis. His pose disseminates peace and wisdom, confidence in knowledge that the world can be perfect but it (the world) needs some efforts from us. But how to do it? Everyone should find the answer himself.  Mahatma knows exactly what this truth is and where it is hidden! Therefore, he is looking at us with a slight squint and a cheerful sparkle in his eyes, as if asking “What about you? Do you know what I know?”

Four colors of time

Yet another wood composition consisting of four female figurines manifesting four periods of human life: unrestrained adolescence, youth, maturity, and oldness, or anility. This is an allegory, which has its aesthetic and artistic appeal. So what does a man need in order not to grow old in body and soul? Is it something that he sacrifices himself for without a trace? All-consuming love? Or maybe both?

Conductor Niyazi

A wooden portrait of Maestro. Those who knew him personally argue that not only this sculpture bears an amazing similarity with Niyazi but it also has the essence of the character, the movement of emotional feelings and emotions. Behind the Maestro is the energy of musical whirls and bubbles, his fingers flashing through these energy streams. Before us is a genius, and we are his contemporaries.

Socrates: The sculptor must express the state of mind in his works

90 years is not an end. Rather, it is the continuation of the work that Omar Eldarov has been serving faithfully. The outstanding Azerbaijani sculptor, national artist, monumentalist, academician of the Academy of Arts of the USSR, laureate of various state prizes, rector of the Azerbaijan State Academy of Arts. On December 21, the Master of Sculpture celebrated his 90^th anniversary. He has been awarded repeatedly various state prizes for his works. But the highest recognition of his merits and contribution to the development of national art was the Heydar Aliyev Order presented to him in accordance with the presidential decree signed by President Ilham Aliyev: “For special merits in the development of Azerbaijani culture, Omar Hasan oghlu Eldarov is awarded the Heydar Aliyev Order”.

Our editorial board also congratulates the Master and wishes him all the best in all his creative and pedagogical endeavors.