Background
Gazanfar Khaligov was born on December 16, 1898 in Baku, Azerbaijan.
Qəzənfər Xalıqov
Gazanfar Khaligov was born on December 16, 1898 in Baku, Azerbaijan.
Gazanfar Khaligov graduated from the Azerbaijan State Art College in 1928.
Gazanfar Khaligov gained an outstanding practical experience as a cartoonist during 1929-1930 while working for "Molla Nasreddin", the first satirical magazine in the Muslim East. Besides, cooperation with one of the talented artists of the magazine A. Azimzade certainly had a great professional influence on Khaligov.
In the early 1930s he received a thorough professional knowledge and practical experience and embarked on the path of independent creative activity. In 1930 Khaligov painted a picturesque canvas called "Zhenotdel" ("Women’s Section").
In 1934 a large art exhibition dedicated to the 1000th anniversary of the great poet Ferdowsi was organized in Baku where paintings seized the main part. In that exhibition, Gazanfar Khaligov presented his canvas titled "Funeral of Ferdowsi".
Another big success of Gazanfar Khaligov was the creation of the portrait of Nizami Ganjavi. Over time, this portrait became an iconic image of Nizami Ganjavi. The portrait was created by the painter in a classical-academic mode.
Already since the 1930s alongside painting Khaligov productively worked in the book illustration area. In 1935 the publishing house "Azemeshr" published the poem "Nargis" of M. Seidzade. Illustrations to this heroic patriotic work were created by G. Khaligov. These illustrations can fairly be regarded as the most successful and bright samples of book illustrations of the pre-war period.
During the same time, Khaligov created other illustration cycles, including illustrations to "The Knight in the Panther’s Skin" of Shota Rustaveli and to poems of Aliagha Vahid, all in 1937.
During the Second World War the artist productively worked in the genre of political poster and portraits of the iconic characters of the Azerbaijanian history.
The next stage of his professional career covered the postwar years. It was at that time when Khaligov began actively cooperating with the new satirical magazine "Kirpi" from 1953 to 1958.
Besides, one more area of creative art to which Khaligov applied throughout his professional career was the art of the costume; not only in the theater, but also in the cinematography. A particularly memorable was the work over the children costumes that eventually became a cult classical movie "The Magic Robe" ("Seyirli Khalat"). A great professional creative success was also considered costumes designed for the performers of dance ensemble of the Azerbaijan State Philharmonics.
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1955(Azerbaijan National Museum of Art)
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1955(Azerbaijan National Museum of Art)
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(Azerbaijan National Museum of Art)
(Azerbaijan National Museum of Art)
(Azerbaijan National Museum of Art)