THE FREE WORLD OF SATTAR BAHLULZADA

"In my development as a painter, along with our ancient miniatures and carpet art, the fiery, passionate poetry of Fizuli played a major role." These words of Sattar Bahlulzada served as an epigraph to the album that covered different stages of the creative development of the great painter.

It must be noted that this project aims to preserve the national cultural heritage. Xalq Bank plans to publish catalogues and books on figures of national culture, who left an indelible mark on Azerbaijani literature, art, music and theatre. The National Heritage project is Xalq Bank's modest contribution to the preservation and handover to future generations of the cultural heritage of the Azerbaijani people.

The presentation of the colourful catalogue was attended by People's Painter Arif Huseynov, Maestro Yalcin Adigozalov, film critic Ayaz Salayev, People's Artist Fuad Poladov, composer Arif Malikov, People's Painter Agali Ibrahimov and many others, each of whom shared his impressions of the exhibition and the album.

The name of Azerbaijani painter Sattar Bahlulzada became legendary when he was still alive. Young Baku artists always pronounced it with the same respect and love. Bahlulzada's works became a symbol of love for the homeland for them, traditions of folk life, folk perception of beauty with our current affairs and contemporary attitude.

Sattar Bahlulzada was born in 1909 in the family of farmer Bahlul Bahlulzada, who could not even think that his son would become a well-known painter one day, and not only in his own country but also far beyond its borders, a people's painter of Azerbaijan and a laureate of the State Prize of the Republic, whose works would be exhibited in Paris and Naples, Vienna and Berlin, Montreal and Havana.

Immediately after the establishment of Soviet rule in Baku, 10-year-old Sattar was one of the first children of fellow villagers who went to a newly opened school. It was here that he first began to paint. He got so carried away that after school, he entered the Azerbaijan Art College and acquired skills in painting with oil and watercolours after four years of studying there.

After graduation from college, Bahlulzada began to try his hand at various genres until his unique gift clearly manifested itself. He drew cartoons, working under the guidance of renowned painter Azim Azimzada in Kommunist newspaper. These were illustrations to materials published in the newspaper - lampoons and satirical notes. However, he soon left his job at the newspaper - in 1933, the young painter was sent to Moscow, where he continued his education at the Moscow Art Institute (now Surikov Moscow State Art Institute). His teachers there were great masters - V. A. Favorskiy and L. A. Bruni, and from the third year, Bahlulzada worked in the studio of a wonderful teacher and a colourist, Professor G. M. Shegal, who fully supported the young Azerbaijani painter whom he saw a painter with a strong sense of colour and a penchant for colour saturation.

In the first half of the 1950's, he created a series of paintings in oils, ink and pencil dedicated to Quba: "Valley of Qudialcay", "Road to Qiz Banovsa", "Between the gardens," "The Bank of Qudialcay", "At the Foot of Sahdag". In them, he was able to demonstrate his own unique style of painting formed on the basis of fruitful contact between rich national cultural traditions and traditions of Russian and Western European art, in particular French Impressionists, whose influence was clearly seen in his works. In love with the nature of his native land, the painter was able to show the best facets of his talent in these paintings. He finally found something for which, perhaps, he had come into the world - the depiction of his land's nature.

Works of the Quba series shown at an exhibition in 1953 made Sattar Bahlulzada famous as a master of lyrical landscape, who subtly and sincerely felt the beauty of the world around, which he could see in everything...

1954 was especially important in his life as he had his first solo exhibition that caused a lot of positive response among connoisseurs and art lovers. In the same year, Bahlulzada took part in an exhibition of paintings by Caucasus painters in Moscow. And the following year, his solo exhibition of landscapes was held. Then, he presented his paintings at exhibitions of fine arts in Prague in 1957 and 1964. In 1959, he was awarded the Order of the Red Banner of Labour and ten years later, he received a second order.

In the 1960's, the painter's talent manifested itself in full. During this period, he totally switched to landscapes.

Bahlulzada did not visit his studio in Baku and his family home in Amircan very often. Most of the time, he travelled with a sketchbook in the country, seeking to capture the diversity of its rich nature. He spent days wandering through the fields with a sketchbook and album. He especially loved Quba. In Quba villages, everyone knew him - both adults and children, and many of them greeted him and invited him for a cup of tea.

He worked tirelessly, from dawn to dusk, in the rain and under the scorching sun. He worked so enthusiastically that he forgot about everything - eating, sleeping and resting.

With much love he drew the nature of Azerbaijan's subtropical south - Lankaran, views of Karabakh - Susa highlands and their surroundings. But he returned to his favourite Abseron again and again - "Evening in Abseron", "Abseron Landscape" (1962), the land of which, in his words, was "muscular and rough like the palm of a peasant" - an image worthy of a true poet.

Bahlulzada's still lifes stood out for their different character. The main theme of the early canvases painted in this genre is flowers: daffodils, roses, tulips and chrysanthemums. Later, they were replaced by southern fruits: pomegranate, quince, pears, melons, grapes and watermelons - "The Attire of Abseron" and "Pomegranates against the backdrop of the sea". In 1973, a year before the painter's death, he had a solo exhibition in Moscow.

Sattar Bahlulzada died on one autumn day in 1974 in Moscow, in full consciousness, in the 65th year of his life, drawing the last pomegranates of his life that fascinated the King of Colours - the great Sattar Bahlulzada - with their bright rich colours.

Ayaz Salayev, honoured artist, director, film critic:

"As a child, when the majority of adults thought that everything was bad in the then USSR and there was no hope for the future, I discovered Sattar Bahlulzada. I realized that as long as our country has people who are different from others and are able to think freely and create, this country has a future. Sattar Bahlulzada was one of those who were not afraid to be an individual in the grey mass. He moved his character, strength of the spirit and thirst for freedom to his paintings. I really hope that his pictures will be saved for future generations and our grandchildren and great-grandchildren will remember the great painter Sattar like we do."

Eldar Mansurov, honoured artist, composer:

"I first learned about the creative work of Sattar Bahlulzada when I was 15-16 years old. I remember that we had an exhibition at school where I saw his pictures and heard from teachers about this painter. Even then I was struck by the unusually rich colours of his paintings. Nature on his canvases seemed alive. A few years later, I saw the works of Sattar Bahlulzada at an exhibition in the Officers' House again, after which I became interested in his work. My close friend, who is also a painter, Qayyur Yunusov, turned out to be a distant relative of Sattar. Together we visited almost all the art studios and had a passionate interest in art. Maybe that's why Sattar Bahlulzada is still so close to me. He was not a person from this world. He was a special unique person."

Agali Ibrahimov, secretary of the Union of Artists, people's painter of Azerbaijan:

"I first saw Sattar Bahlulzada in 1962. In those years, I studied at the Azim Azimzada Art School. I once posed for my close friend and neighbour, painter Asif Cafarov, and at that moment, Sattar walked in. After this meeting, we became friends. He did not like to stay in one place. He loved to travel various districts. I often travelled with him. People recognized and loved him. He was very sincere and transferred this sincerity to his paintings. Each of his paintings is a reflection of his soul. After his death, I looked through his diaries and realized that Sattar had three loves in his life - for his mother, for the poetry of Fizuli and Majnun. I have Sattar's sketches, where he portrays himself as Majnun."

Arif Malikov, composer, people's artist of the USSR:

"I met with Sattar in his studio at the Painters' House. In our first meeting, we talked for over three hours. This is how our long friendship began. He was a surprisingly interesting person. As a musician, I had an interest in talking to him. Like all men of genius, he was original in all his manifestations. Sattar highly valued personal freedom. His paintings cannot be confused with the works of other artists. I will never forget how Muscovites were just shocked when they first saw his paintings. Sattar never tried to make his paintings understandable. On the contrary, he always left freedom for the audience's perception of his paintings."