A GASCON FAIRY TALE AND CELESTIAL SHUSHA

Nigar Narimanbekova is rightly called an Azerbaijani-French artist, as her works absorb and organically combine two different cultures. It is not surprising, because Nigar was born in an Azerbaijani-French family. That is why the bright colours of Shusha mountains, hot winds and the bright sun of Baku together with soft French pastels are in her blood. But the famous artist herself claims that it has to do with her childhood more than her birth into an international family. She was exposed to French fairy tales, Impressionist albums and the paintings of her prominent father and his friends - cult and iconic artists of mid-20th century Azerbaijan.  

"You have also been known as a French Azeerbaijani. How accurate is this definition? What do you have from Azerbaijani and French culture? How harmoniously do you combine such different artistic traditions?"

"Well, I have two great cultures mixed in my blood - French and Azerbaijani. My grandmother Irma La Rode is a native of Pau, an amazingly beautiful place in the south of France. My grandfather is Farman Yagub-oghlu Narimanbeyov, an Azerbaijani from Shusha. They met in 1918 in Toulouse. The thing is that during the rule of the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic (ADR), my great-grandfather Amirbey Narimanbeyov, then governor-general of Baku, sent 100 talented Azerbaijani students to study in the best universities of Europe. My grandfather was among them. He applied to the University of Toulouse to become an electric engineer. My grandmother studied at the same university to become a couturier. They fell in love at first sight, then married. And in 1926, when the young couple moved to Caen in the north of France, where they continued their master's studies, my dad Vidadi Narimanbeyov was born.

"In 1930, they returned to Soviet Azerbaijan, because my grandfather missed his homeland very much and wanted to show Shusha to my grandmother. There is even a photograph of my grandma sitting and holding my little dad on her lap against the background of the Shusha serpentine. She was incredibly impressed with Shusha, where she made friends with the Azerbaijani elite and aristocrats who knew the languages. She felt comfortable there, she felt as one of the natives there, although she did not speak any other language but French.

"In the 1930s, my grandmother brought books from France that were impossible to see in Soviet Baku. These included the albums of Impressionists, Van Gogh, Renoir, Gauguin, Matisse. I remember them since my childhood. My brother and I used to leaf through them all the time. We were taught that this is how we should feel the form, colours and composition. My grandmother sewed dresses, coats, hats till the end of her life. Among her clientele were the famous women of Azerbaijan, including Elmira Shahtakhtinskaya, Sara Ashurbeyli, Amina Dilbazi. She created incredibly bright and elegant images for them. She was a creative person, and I inherited this feature from her. I have absorbed French painting, books, and culture since my childhood: my grandmother and I spoke only French, she told us fairy tales and sang French songs. But in parallel, there has always been Shusha in our blood. This means music, colours, colour transitions, mountains, birds, streams and waterfalls... We used to spend every summer in Shusha. And to this day, when I work in France, at exhibitions, people show interest in my style, asking me the name of it. In fact, this is my own invention, which I call oniric chromatism, or coloured dreams. I create a fairy tale on canvas with oriental and western touches, with marvellous characters, portraits of beautiful people, birds with human faces, animals unknown in nature. My paintings always draw the attention of a large number of people. Some of them know me well. They come to see my new works and always notice this magical style - as if the painting is glowing from within. This happens, I believe, because of the cocktail coming from a mix of two great cultures, Azerbaijani and French."

"Like your father, People's Artist Vidadi Narimanbeyov, you live both in Paris and Baku. Is this a genetic love for France, given the history of your family, or something that formed gradually? What was the influence of French painting on you?"

"I have been living in France for a long time, since the late 1990s, because we are French by blood. My dad was born in France, in Caen. So genetically this country has always attracted us. In Soviet times, when I was very young, it was difficult to travel abroad, and I dreamed of going to my grandmother's homeland. She always said that I would see Paris, the Musée d'Orsay, the Louvre, walk through its halls and see our favourite Dominique Engr, Delacroix, French Neoclassicism.... Finally, in the 1990s we all travelled to France. Paris turned out to be exactly as I had drawn it in my dreams. It was a city of music, poetry, inspiration and romanticism for me.

"For the first few years I lived in Boulogne, a bohemian neighbourhood in Paris where actors, painters and sculptors lived. And I remember those smells of roses, coffee, freshly baked baguette, white canvas... In short, everything that exists as a stereotype about the atmosphere of Paris, it all turned out to be true. Small cafes, their regulars who drink coffee and read newspapers in the morning, and me, who likes to walk around with a notebook and makes sketches listening to street musicians. This French flavour is present in my paintings.

"Plus, once a week I drop a visit to the Louvre to feed on this energy, to keep my inner bar at the level of great masters. It is very important for me. When I was a child in Baku, and we lived on Parkovaya Street, which is hosting beautiful parks today, but back then it had only one-storey houses with Italian balconies. There we had many neighbours, too. Every evening my dad's friends, artists, came to visit us. They would come from their studios, gather at our place and drink tea under a big mulberry tree: Sattar Bahlulzade, Viktor Galyavkin, Gorkhmaz Efendiyev, Muslim Abbasov, Farhad Khalilov. And I would sit at the easel all day long, run to them to show some of my new watercolours. They praised me very much. Sattar Bahlulzade would take me in his arms and say that I would be a great artist one day.

"I had an incredible childhood. I remember my grandmother would take my artworks and hang them on the walls of her apartment. She loved my childhood creativity very much. My whole childhood was filled with music, poems, paintings of great personalities. And now, living in Paris, I feel it as a valuable asset of my life."

"Did your parents want you and your brother to paint? What was their first reaction to your works during your childhood and adolescence? "

"I have never questioned my being an artist, it was so natural! My grandmother, who used to make fantastically beautiful sketches, sketches of her future dresses, continued to create even while in exile - she and my grandfather were arrested in 1937 by the Soviet authorities. She was exiled to Kazakhstan only for being a French. My grandpa was the son of the Baku governor, nephew of Narimanbey Narimanbeyov, a prominent public and political figure, a member of the Transcaucasian Sejm, the National Council of Azerbaijan and the Azerbaijani Parliament, one of those who signed the act of independence of Azerbaijan on May 28, 1918, accused of pan-Turkism and shot on Nargin Island, was exiled to Kolyma.

"So my grandma, being in exile in Kazakhstan and then in Samarkand, sewed all the time and said that her creativity kept her alive. This is a unique case: she did not speak Russian, but she managed to be in demand even in exile. According to her stories, in the women's barracks of the camp for foreigners, she was surrounded by women of different nationalities. In the mornings she would get on the table and sing Marseillaise to encourage the fellow inhabitants of barracks. Her singing would spread throughout the camp and even reached the ears of prisoners in the men's camp located nearby. In his book Kolyma Stories, Russian writer Varlaam Shalamov tells about my grandma, her singing of Marseillaise every morning in the barracks.

"So, there was no chance of not becoming an artist for me. As to the creativity, even in the saddest moments of my life, it is painting, canvas and colours that save me, just as sewing and music once saved my grandma. When people who come to see my paintings say that they can feel everything, it is a great moment of joy for me. We all come from childhood."

"There are artists who do not care about earthly fame, while others strive for success. Which category do you belong to? "

"I don't believe artists who say they don't care about fame. If we consider fame as a spiritual response to our works, then that's fine. There may be no awards, diplomas and so on, although it is great and pleasant to be officially celebrated and praised. But I believe that an artist cannot but take part in exhibitions and art projects, because otherwise he loses touch with the audience. Finding your audience, those people who understand and wait for you, happens precisely at exhibitions. That is why I never refuse to participate in large art projects in different European countries and in Azerbaijan, where I have already held several exhibitions. Fame is necessary if we understand it as the love of the audience for the art. When people try to buy your paintings, hang them in their homes, or you give them to someone, means that your paintings and drawings continue to live in someone's home. This is great! I am very proud that I have practically no paintings left in my Baku studio, they have all been distributed among the audiences."

"A writer asked about his favourite book often points to his last one. What about artists? Do they have favourite and unfavourite works?"

"I cannot give birth to a child without love, if I may put it that way. The same is true about creativity. That is why all my works are created in love and with love, from pencil sketches to paintings. Creativity also has stages, same as in life: the periods of grow-up, or, as Picasso would say, the pink period, followed by cubism, then abstractionism. There are paintings created in deep youth, I love them very much, they are young, even naive. And then I have my mature works. There was even a surrealistic period full of drama. I created a whole series of paintings, but none of them remain. They are all in private collections in France, Azerbaijan, Russia and other countries. Paintings are like people, they age with time. For example, very mature works are a demonstration of rethinking your whole life. And, of course, the last series of works is the most favourite, when you reach a certain level of maturity to be able to enrich your style. I'm going through my special period now. I have watercolours, pastels, oils, but graphics have a special meaning for me. If working with oil, which is quite a long process, it takes me several stages. Graphic works are born literally in an hour and a half. A large number of my paintings have already been purchased by connoisseurs of graphics. But there are still quite a few works, and I am keeping them for a future exhibition.

"Quite often I was invited to cooking contests as a guest of honour. For example, at Fakhranda Hasanzade's, where I always gave my graphic work to the winners. And the participants would make amazing national dishes, trying to get my works, knowing that Nigar Narimanbeyova would reward them with her pictures. I also did some graphic works for book covers. I have been working together with the wonderful Azerbaijani writer Lala Umud for a long time. I have designed the covers of all her books: Aghabala, Intuition, The Clown and the Ballerina, The Time of Bells. She is going to publish her novel Thistle, which includes oil paintings. As well, we are going to see a series of her fairy tales When Khary-Bulbul Blooms also with my cover.

"By the way, graphics has a special place in my art. Paintings take longer to think about, to prepare and to put on canvas than graphics, which are done quickly, intuitively. It is like composing light poems. That is why graphic sheets are a separate story in my life."

"Usually, cultural life loses intensity in the summer season. What can the fans of painting see in the coming months. Are you planning to hold exhibitions? If yes, then where?"

"Yes, the summer months are a dead season in terms of exhibitions and art projects. People enjoy their vacations, gaining strength. But for me, the best rest is drawing something with my brush on a canvas. When I don't work, I feel I get sick. I can compare my work to climbing to the top. When I make a sketch, mix colours, make strokes, I get a boost of adrenaline, feel a direct contact with the Cosmos, with God. When I finish, I just don't realise how I did it. It's the ultimate aerobatics. I cannot live without this adrenaline.

"I am currently working on a painting that will be presented at the Salon des Artistes Français 2024. This salon was organised over 600 years ago by Louis XIV, and is held annually in the largest exhibition hall of the Grand Palais under the auspices of the French President. The works are selected by a jury of 30 academics. Nobody known their names because the composition is classified. The jury members select one painting from each artist or do not select anything at all, if the works do not comply with the criteria of the Salon, the French Academy of Arts. And I am very proud that I have already exhibited there several times from Azerbaijan. In fact, I was the only woman who participated in this show of European painting organised at a very high professional level. I also continue working on a large number of orders, making portraits in my fairy-tale style, which is very popular among the audiences. If I manage to transport my works from Paris to Baku, I may hold an exhibition in Baku in summer. Otherwise, the event will have to be postponed to a later date, closer to the New Year. We are also planning to hold exhibitions of my students from Baku.

"During the pandemic, when my mother fell ill, I came from Paris to Baku. However, I could not sit idly by. So I took part in a large number of projects, including the first international festival Khary Bulbul held in Shusha. It was a very interesting project: 13 artists from different countries of the world painted the sculptures of Khary Bulbul in their own style and manner. We visited the ruined towns of Aghdam and Fuzuli, climbed up to this miracle town of Shusha, where you can see the sculptures against the background of Shusha mountains and listen to the incredible sound of mugham. You know, I kneeled and kissed the land of Shusha when I arrived there; the land of my ancestors.

"So I have been able to implement many projects in Baku. I would like to mention the exhibition that my 6-75 year old students held in the Union of Artists of Azerbaijan. It was dedicated to the soldiers and officers fallen in the 44-day Patriotic War. Their paintings made a very strong impression on the audience."

"How do European viewers react to Azerbaijani fine art? Do they find it exotic? Can we consider the Azerbaijani national painting part of the Western European school of fine arts because of themes, subjects, style, etc.?"

"I do not believe that something may be exotic. Colours must be specific, which is true for the works of Azerbaijani artists. It is the same as in culinary. But art, like music and painting, follows certain canons, which are clear to everyone. Techniques can change. The Azerbaijani school of painting is brighter in colour, because we have a lot of sun, sea, almost no cloudy days, long summers. Therefore the colours are bright, paintings are straightforward. The European school is more refined and delicate, colours are calm, pastel, with moderate intensity. This is our difference. But a good artist is understood all over the world, he does not need any special techniques, because the language of painting as common as Esperanto. It is understandable everywhere. In Azerbaijan, there are artists who can speak to the whole world in their own language, and they will be understood. These include Tahir Salahov, Vidadi and Toghrul Narmanbeyovs, Sattar Bahlulzade, Farhad Khalilov, Gorkhmaz Efendiyev... This is the highest level.

"When I create a canvas, I want it to be understood by everyone so that I don't have to explain anything. At the last Salon, I was approached and praised by the members of the Chinese delegation, the Japanese, the French and, of course, the members of our diaspora."

"In addition to painting and holding exhibitions, you also continue teaching. What is the fundamental thing that you try to convey to your students that has nothing to do with craft, but with art?"

"Just my own example. They see my diplomas and certificates hanging on the walls, they know that I have participated in several art projects, been exhibiting in business art salons since 2013, in Pierre Cardin's salons on the Champs Elysees, in the Louvre, Artists of the World in Monaco and Cannes, and I also hold solo exhibitions. My most precious diploma is the Golden Canvas 2016 for the painting-diptych Adagio. It was awarded to me by the French National Association of Culture. Of course, there are plenty of others, equally honourable and important. So the message I want to convey to my students is being strong and good enough as an artist in order to achieve great success and public recognition. To try to make people want to buy your paintings, to admire them in their homes. That's how I encourage them. But my young students also encourage and motivate me with their modern young energy, spirit of rebellion and freedom. Because a student and a teacher are communicating vessels."