TAHIR SALAHOV LEFT EVERYTHING TO HIS PEOPLE

At the initiative of the Russian House in Baku, a special memorial event was organised at the Tahir Salahov House Museum to pay tribute to the Azerbaijani and Russian artist, People's Artist of the USSR, Tahir Salahov. Fans of the famous Azerbaijani master of art and those who were lucky enough to know and meet him personally gathered in a small cosy room to commemorate his birthday on November 29. The day he would have turned 93, had not his soul left his earthly body in search of other worlds on May 21, 2021.

A citizen of the world

The fundamental motive of the event was focused on the idea that art had no boundaries, no dividing line between nationalities and religions. There is a desire and will for peace, mutual understanding, preservation of common intangible values, common culture. Tahir Salahov’s biography, whole life, and works confirm this maxima.

The event was opened by Igor Yeronin, Advisor to the Russian ambassador to Azerbaijan. He said many warm words about Tahir Salahov as a person whose works unite Russia and Azerbaijan not only in terms of fine arts, but also in the space of the moral and spiritual heritage of our countries. In support of his words, Mr. Yeronin referred to the portraits by Tahir Salahov made on canvases and carpets. The speakers shared their thoughts about Mr. Salahov’s works and their memories of him. But it also seemed that they were trying to re-discover the meaning of the creative path that Maestro, a citizen of the world, a native of Baku, Tahir Teymur oghlu Salahov, had covered in this world. Finally, they were glad to admit that Salahov’s works were sort of a connecting thread between the worlds of the past, present, and future; a thread between countries and continents, where his works exhibited in the best museums of the world enter into a dialogue with the people of different cultures and nationalities. The language of painting is understandable and accessible to everyone and does not need an interpreter. So it turns out that Tahir Salahov, as the bearer of the Azerbaijani multicultural values, has become a herald for his country, having told the whole world about his native land and people in a language that did not need translation.

Genius of the 1950-1960s

An artist is creating peace, new worlds, where revelation is the ultimate truth of Being. His ‘harsh’ realism is documentary evidence of who the people of the 20th-21st centuries were. It turned out that people are the same everywhere. If you look closely at the faces of Salahov’s heroes, it becomes shockingly obvious that we are all the same indeed. Not externally, but internally. We are concerned about the same problems, we are subject to the same passions, thoughts, emotions...

Dmitry Yegorov, head of the representation of Rossotrudnichestvo in Azerbaijan, reminded the audience that the works of Tahir Salahov belong not only to Azerbaijan and Russia but to everyone, because his canvases adorn museums around the world. He quoted the statement of Zurab Tsereteli: “...The world lost a giant who was a teacher to several generations of artists. With the departure of Tahir Salahov, faded away a magnificent galaxy of geniuses of the 1950s-1960s."

And theatre...

Although Mr. Salahov has created not so many decorations for theatrical performances, they are so expressive and extraordinary that they can be qualified as monumental canvases. This was also mentioned by Nargiz Rzayeva, an art critic also teaching at the Academy of Arts. She provided the audience with a detailed description of Mr. Salahov’s artistic. Scenography in the works of the grand master is a topic that needs a separate study. His first practical experience was a performance staged by the Azerbaijan National Academic Drama Theatre—Anthony and Cleopatra by William Shakespeare (1964). This was followed by Hamlet (1968), Aydin based on Jafar Jabbarly’s eponymous play (1972), opera Koroghlu (1973), ballet Babek (1985), An Office Story, etc. Many years later, in 2010, he created fantastic sceneries for Fikret Amirov’s famous 1001 nights at the Kremlin Ballet Theatre in Moscow. The premiere took place in Moscow on April 16, 2010. Many critics, theatre specialists, and spectators then qualified Mr. Salahov’s creation unique. This is what Igor Yeronin told the audience about his impressions on the artist's work. Master’s last work was a sketch for the play based on Maqsud Ibrahimbeyov’s novel Visit of A Woman in Black staged by V. Neverov and A. Sharovsky, which is expected to premiere at the Azerbaijan State Theatre of Russian Drama in 2022.

Raya Abbasova, author of the book Dialogue about Tahir Salahov, spoke about master’s works demonstrated in Italy, Mexico, the US, and other countries. She paid special attention to the cultural and educational activities of Tahir Salahov, who did everything to make sure his compatriots could learn about the works of such world-class masters as Francis Bacon, Rufino Tamayo, Jannis Kounellis and so on. Thanks to Salahov’s initiatives, Russian and Azerbaijani spectators had learned a lot about American pop art and European post-avant-garde.

House

The great artist donated his house in Icherisheher (55 Ilyas Efendiyev Street, Baku) to his native city as a tribute to his fellow compatriots. This is the house where Mr. Salahov spent his childhood, began his career as an artist, had his workshop and had always returned as birds return to native shores. Now the house is Tahir Salahov’s Home Museum. Home for the residents and guests of Baku. The staff and director of the museum, Saadat Mirzayeva, preserve the values of the Salahov family and the traditions of national hospitality; they are always glad to see the guests. Because communication in the language of fine arts has its own code messages, which, as we know, do not need translation. This language is clear and understandable to everyone.

Throughout the event teeming with the memories of the great artist, the musical background was provided by the string quartet of the Niyazi Symphony Orchestra of AzTV, including Vagif Gurbanov (cello), Nurida Novruzova (piano), Jeyla Seyidova (violin), and Zahra Badalbeyli (piano).

Light sadness filled in the room for a minute. These walls still remember the master. Then it melted like a cloud pouring down rain on earth. Tahir Salahov, who enriched our world with his talents, left everything to people: his creativity, his attitude towards people, the products of his pedagogical and educational activities and even himself. He left, but love and warm attitude towards him, towards the Artist and the Man remain. And they will live as long as his relatives, friends, students, compatriots remember him. His traces are still here, on the Earth. For his ability to be a great artist and a great person, Tahir Salahov has repeatedly received awards from different countries, including the orders of the Red Banner of Labour (1971), October Revolution (1976), Cyril and Methodius I degree (Bulgaria, 1979), Friendship of Peoples (1981), Lenin (1989), For Merit to the Fatherland II and III degrees (2003, 1998), Independence (Azerbaijan, 1998), Heydar Aliyev (Azerbaijan, 2008), Legion of Honour (France, 2015), etc. He was a laureate of the State Prize in Literature, Art and Architecture (USSR, 1968), State Prize of the Russian Federation in Literature and Art (2012), as well as the Certificate of Honour of the President of the Russian Federation (2019).