Alekber Rzaguliyev

January 31, 1903 (age 71)

Baku, Azerbaijan

Alekber Rzaguliyev emerged to the art scene of Azerbaijan in the late 1920s along with other artists from the country such as Gazanfar Halykov, Adil Gaziyev, Salam Salamzade, and Hasanaga Mustafayev. While still a student, Rzaguliyev took part at the Young Artists Exhibition in Moscow in 1926. He presented his artworks at the same artistic event two years later in Baku where he came back after graduation. Young Rzaguliyev had a lot of artistic plans and ideas but unfortunately, in 1928, he became a victim of Stalin’s repression. Along with his friend, Rzaguliyev was named the propagator of Pan-Turkish ideas because of his friendship with Diego Rivera and Nâzım Hikmet in Vkhutemas. The young artist was placed in detention for six years and sent to Arkhangelsk. Three years after being released, on November 3, 1937, Rzaguliyev was arrested again and this time sent to Siberia, and then to Solovki (Solovetsky Islands). In total, he spent twenty-five years in exile being finally rehabilitated in 1956, three years after Stalin’s death, and came back to Azerbaijan. The return to a peaceful and creative life was hard for the artist. The years he spent in prison in the Soviet camps had a significant impact on his character and art. Having a diploma in painting, he lost the sense of colors and began instead to use ink, pen, and pencil to create his paintings. One of his friends, the artist Rasim Babayev considered his pencil works as being very graphical and gave him tools for graphics. Soon, Rzaguliev discovered engraving and made engraving on linoleum his main activity. The artist opened his linocut shop in Baku and finally received the real popularity by the 1960s when his works focused on the old city's life were widely exhibited in the capital. The black-and-white linocut series 'Old Baku' which appeared during this period of time became one of his most well-known creations. The first solo exhibition of the artist was organized in 1963. The scenes from the previous life of the country weren’t the only subject for the artist. The rapidly expanding Azerbaijan found the reflection on his works as well, including such linocut series like 'Fishers of the Caspian Sea', 'Tobacco-growing', 'Cotton growers of Azerbaijan', and 'Students', all focused on the working man. To catch the tiny nuances of the working-class’ daily routine, Rzaguliev traveled around the country communicating with and sketching tobacco, cotton and other plantation workers from the villages. It resulted in 'Cotton-growing', 'Tobacco-growing', 'Carpet weaving' series supplemented by 'Shepherd' and 'Milkmaid' engravings. The life of young people was another subject fascinating for the artist that was reflected in an unusual motley composition ‘To the cotton yard’. In 1964, Rzaguliyev presented to the public ‘Oil’ series of linocuts at the republican exhibition. Two years later, he had a solo show in Moscow. Completely different in content was the linocut series dedicated to the time the artist had spent as an expellee in the north of Russia. Among the examples are 'Barges in Arkhangelsk', 'Loading of timber', and 'Felling linocuts'. Despite the years of imprisonment, exclusion, and neglect, Alekber Rzaguliyev kept the love for art and remained true to it till the end of his days.

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