Background

Badura Afganli was born on October 25, 1912, in Baku, Azerbaijan in a family of Malik Najaf oglu Aghamalov, a clerk.

Education

Badura Afganli was born to a family whose bread-winner was an educated man. Being fond of painting, he cultivated a taste for literature and art in his children. Perhaps, that was why Badura revealed an interest in art at an early age.

The family often spent the summers by the Caspian Sea near Novkhani village. The young girl contemplated the beauty of the local nature and then expressed it on her early sketches.

It was also in Novkhani that Afganli first came across theatre watching the scene from ‘Shahsey! Vahsey!’ in the village square at the age of eight. Since then, along with her friend Gamar Almaszade, little Badura organized self-made theatrical scenes at home with the decorations produced of clothes. The events and the fact that her elder sister was associated with theatre certainly had an influence on Badura’s decision to engage herself in the domain.

In 1925, Afganli entered Pedagogical School in Baku. During the four years she spent at the institution, she kept her hand in paintings by producing sketches and etudes. Later, in 1931, Afganli attended the courses of the graphics department at Azerbaijan Art School.

The trip to Moscow and Saint Petersburg on her final year during which she visited museums and theatres with their vibrant decorations pushed her to change the department on the theatrical one.

The diploma work of Badura Afganli was the set decorations for Shakespeare’s tragedy ‘Othello’.

Career

Badura Afganli started her career in the middle of the 1930s when she began to work independently after graduation.

In 1934, she was invited to the ‘Natsmen’ theatre in Ashgabad, Turkmenistan along with her husband, a director Rza Afganli. During the year they spent in the country, they worked on such stagings like Huseyn Javid’s ‘Sheykh Sanan’, and Jafar Jabbarly’s plays ‘In 1905’ and ‘Sevil’.

Upon Afganli’s return to Baku, she joined the staff of the Azerbaijan State Academic National Drama Theatre in 1938. Her first projects within the theatre were Honore de Balzac’s ‘Step-mother’ and Jafar Jabbarly’s ‘Sevil’ on which she assisted the artists L. Akhundov and A. Abbasov as a stage designer respectively.

During World War II, Afganli worked with the performances focused on the patriotic theme. One of such works was ‘Intizar’ written by M. Huseyn and L. Efendiyev.

The post-war years were full of new successful projects for the artist. Afganli prepared stage design for ‘Lighted roads’ and A. Mammadkhanli’s play ‘The morning of the East’. Both stagings were demonstrated in Moscow in 1948 and received good reviews from critics and viewers.

In addition to her activity as a stage designer, Badura Afganli tried her hand in the artistic design of the Azerbaijan State Academic National Drama Theatre. Badura Afganli also elaborated on the design of many movies issued on Azerbaijanfilm studio since 1960.

In 1996, the major exhibition of Afganli’s artworks was organized by the Union of Artists of Azerbaijan in Baku. The sketches from about 60 theatre plays and more than 10 movies were presented to the public.

Achievements

• Badura Afganli made a great contribution to the development of the art of theatre decoration in Azerbaijan. What she left behind her will be certainly an inexhaustible source for the generations to come.
  
  During her career, the artist received many awards, including the one for ‘Brave work during the Great Patriotic War’ that marked the set design she produced for the patriotic stagings.
  
  In 1949, Afganli was named an Honored Art Worker of Azerbaijan, and later, in 1974, became a recipient of Sharaf Order.
  
  Afganli’s 100th anniversary in 2012 was celebrated by a major exhibition of her works held at Azerbaijan State Theatre of Young Spectators.

Works

More photos

• painting

  • “Baku” Costume Sketch

    (Azerbaijan National Museum of Art)

  • “Firengiz” Costume Sketch

    (Azerbaijan National Museum of Art)

  • “Granny Huru” Costume Sketch

    (Azerbaijan National Museum of Art)

  • “Hajar” Costume Sketch

    (Azerbaijan National Museum of Art)

  • “Heydargulu” Costume Sketch

    (Azerbaijan National Museum of Art)

  • “Mahmud bey” Costume Sketch

    (Azerbaijan National Museum of Art)

  • “Nusrat” Costume Decoration

    (Azerbaijan National Museum of Art)

  • “Salatin” Costume Sketch

    (Azerbaijan National Museum of Art)

  • “Telly’s House” Play Decoration

    (Azerbaijan National Museum of Art)

  • Costume Decoartion

    (Azerbaijan National Museum of Art)

  • “Love and Revenge” Costume Sketch

    (Azerbaijan National Museum of Art)

  • Decoration Sketch for the Play

    (Azerbaijan National Museum of Art)

Views

Badura Afganli always communicated with art directors, directors, and playwrights before creating the set decorations to learn their ideas on costumes and make-up.

Personality

Badura Afganli had a strong sense of the time, tradition, and national spirit that helped her to create a psychologically suitable decoration for each opera or play she worked on.

Connections

Badura Afganli was married to an actor and movie director Rza Afganli. The family produced a son named Alchin.

Father:

Malik Najaf oglu Aghamalov

Son:

Alchin Afganli

References

• "Servet" series of albums. The National Heritage project. As part of The National Heritage project implemented by Xalq Bank, Azerbaijan National Museum of Art under the head of Chingiz Farzaliyev prepared the "Servet" series of albums dedicated to the masters of Azerbaijani art.
  2013