Tahir Salahov ( Azerbaijani, in full: , '; 29 November 1928 – 21 May 2021) was a

Soviet The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

, Azerbaijani painter and draughtsman. He was First Secretary of the Artists' Union of the USSR (1973–1992), Vice-President of the Russian Academy of Arts, member of over 20 academies and other creative organizations throughout the world, including the academies of art of

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

, and

Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

. He was awarded the honorary titles

People's Artist of the USSR People's Artist of the USSR, also sometimes translated as National Artist of the USSR, was an honorary title granted to artists of the Soviet Union. The term is confusingly used to translate two Russian language titles: Народный арти ...

(1973), and People's Artist of the Azerbaijan SSR.

Biography

Salahov was born in

Baku Baku (, ; ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Azerbaijan, largest city of Azerbaijan, as well as the largest city on the Caspian Sea and in the Caucasus region. Baku is below sea level, which makes it the List of capital ci ...

. His father Teymur Salahov was a victim of Stalin's repressions, having been arrested in 1937 and executed shortly after. His mother Sona was left to bring up four children on her own, but the family did not learn of their father's death until 1956 after Stalin's death. Tahir Salahov studied at the Azimzade Art College in Baku in 1945–1950 and the Surikov Moscow Art Institute in 1951–1957. Salahov won an early recognition: his diploma work, '' The Shift is Over'', was exhibited in 1957 at the Moscow All-Union Art Exhibition and received public and critical acclaim. He became one of the leading representatives of the so-called "severe style" (Russian: "суровый стиль"), a trend in Soviet art of the 1960s that aimed to set off a hard, publicist, realist view against the ceremonial "polished reality" of the

Joseph Stalin Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin (born Dzhugashvili; 5 March 1953) was a Soviet politician and revolutionary who led the Soviet Union from 1924 until Death and state funeral of Joseph Stalin, his death in 1953. He held power as General Secret ...

era. Salahov's compositions on the life and work of the Baku oil-workers (e.g. "Repair Men", 1961, Mustafayev Azerbaijan State Museum of Art, Baku) and portraits, e.g., his

portrait A portrait is a painting, photograph, sculpture, or other artistic representation of a person, in which the face is always predominant. In arts, a portrait may be represented as half body and even full body. If the subject in full body better r ...

of Azerbaijani composer Gara Garayev (1960, Tretyakov Gallery,

Moscow Moscow is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Russia by population, largest city of Russia, standing on the Moskva (river), Moskva River in Central Russia. It has a population estimated at over 13 million residents with ...

), and Soviet composer

Dmitri Shostakovich Dmitri Dmitriyevich Shostakovich, group=n (9 August 1975) was a Soviet-era Russian composer and pianist who became internationally known after the premiere of his First Symphony in 1926 and thereafter was regarded as a major composer. Shostak ...

(1976, Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow), are characterized by a forcefulness and lack of idealization. Salahov chose a sparing palette of contrasting red, black, light- and dark-grey tones and gave colored plains a decorative function. His later works are more peaceful and lyrically contemplative, and Eastern influences are more apparent, as in Portrait of Grandson Dan (1983, Azerbaijan State Museum of Art), in which the composition and colouring are subordinate to the flowing rhythms of Eastern medieval miniatures. His lines became smoother and more melodious, his palette more sophisticated. Many of his most successful works are associated with his impressions of foreign countries (e.g., Mexican Corrida; 1969, Mustafayev Azerbaijan State Museum of Art). He also produced expressive drawings and stage designs. In 1998, Salahov was appointed an Academician of the National Academy of Arts of the Kyrgyz Republic, alongside fellow artists Durdy Bayramov, Suhrob Kurbanov, Turgunbai Sadykov, and Erbolat Tolepbai.

Awards

Hero of Socialist Labour The Hero of Socialist Labour () was an Title of honor, honorific title in the Soviet Union and other Warsaw Pact countries from 1938 to 1991. It represented the highest degree of distinction in the USSR and was awarded for exceptional achievem ...

(1989) *

Order "For Merit to the Fatherland" The Order "For Merit to the Fatherland" () is a state decoration of the Russian Federation. It was instituted on 2 March 1994 by Presidential Decree 442. Until the re-establishment of the Order of St. Andrew in 1998, it was the highest order of ...

, 2nd class (2003) * Orden for Service III

Order "For Merit to the Fatherland", 3rd class (1998) * Order of Lenin ribbon bar

Order of Lenin The Order of Lenin (, ) was an award named after Vladimir Lenin, the leader of the October Revolution. It was established by the Central Executive Committee on 6 April 1930. The order was the highest civilian decoration bestowed by the Soviet ...

(1989) *

Order of the October Revolution The Order of the October Revolution (, ''Orden Oktyabr'skoy Revolyutsii'') was instituted on 31 October 1967, in time for the 50th anniversary of the October Revolution. It was conferred upon individuals or groups for services furthering communis ...

(1976) *

Order of the Red Banner of Labour The Order of the Red Banner of Labour () was an order of the Soviet Union established to honour great deeds and services to the Soviet state and society in the fields of production, science, culture, literature, the arts, education, sports ...

(1971) *

Order of Friendship of Peoples The Order of Friendship of Peoples () was an order of the Soviet Union, and was awarded to persons (including non-citizens), organizations, enterprises, military units, as well as administrative subdivisions of the USSR for accomplishments in s ...

(1982) *

People's Artist of the USSR (visual arts) (1973) * State Prize Soviet Union

USSR State Prize The USSR State Prize () was one of the Soviet Union’s highest civilian honours, awarded from its establishment in September 1966 until the dissolution of the USSR in 1991. It recognised outstanding contributions in the fields of science, mathem ...

(1968 – for the portrait of composer Gara Garayev)

References

External links

Salahov’s paintings at AZgallery.org

by Azad Sharifov and Jean Patterson in Azerbaijan International, Vol 7:2 (Summer 1999), pp. 51–54.]
Oil Rocks in the Caspian: Birthplace to a New Trend in Soviet Art
" by Betty Blair in Azerbaijan International, Vol. 14:2 (Summer 2006), pp. 46–55

in Azerbaijan International, Vol. 13.4 (Winter 2005), pp. 80–87.

{{DEFAULTSORT:Salahov, Tahir 1928 births 2021 deaths 20th-century Azerbaijani painters 20th-century male artists 21st-century Azerbaijani painters 21st-century male artists Artists from Baku Members of the Central Committee of the 28th Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union Seventh convocation members of the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union Eighth convocation members of the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union Full Members of the Russian Academy of Arts Full Members of the USSR Academy of Arts Officers of the Legion of Honour Officiers of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres Heroes of Socialist Labour People's Artists of the Azerbaijan SSR People's Artists of Russia (visual arts) People's Artists of the USSR (visual arts) Recipients of the Heydar Aliyev Order Recipients of the Istiglal Order Recipients of the Order "For Merit to the Fatherland", 2nd class Recipients of the Order "For Merit to the Fatherland", 3rd class Recipients of the Order of Friendship of Peoples Recipients of the Order of Honor (Georgia) Recipients of the Order of Lenin Recipients of the Order of the October Revolution Recipients of the Order of the Red Banner of Labour Recipients of the USSR State Prize State Prize of the Russian Federation laureates Azerbaijani emigrants to Russia Azerbaijani portrait painters Soviet painters Burials at Alley of Honor

Biography

Awards

See also

References

External links