Background
Maral Rahmanzadeh was born on July 23, 1916, in Baku, Baku Governorate, Russian Empire (present-day Baku, Azerbaijan) into the family of a goldsmith Yusif and Khadija. Maral had four sisters and five brothers.
1926
Quba, Azerbaijan
Maral Rahmanzadeh with her family in Quba.
1935
Maral Rahmanzadeh
1942
Maral Rahmanzadeh with students.
1949
Maral Rahmanzadeh
1953
From left to right: Mursal Najafov, Maral Rahmanzadeh, Aziz Aliyev and Maral's sister.
1964
Maral Rahmanzadeh in 1964.
1969
Jidir Duzu, Shusha
Maral Rahmanzadeh in Jidir Duzu, Shusha.
1969
From right to left: Nadir Abdurrahmanov, Maral Rahmanzadeh and Japanese artist Makoto Ueno.
1971
Maral Rahmanzadeh in her studio.
1972
Qobustan, Baku
Maral Rahmanzadeh in Qobustan.
Oil Rocks, Baku, Azerbaijan
Maral Rahmanzade in Oil Rocks.
Qobustan, Baku
Maral Rahmanzadeh in Qobustan.
From left to right: Maral Rahmanzadeh, Mikayıl Rzaquliyev and Sattar Bahlulzade.
Maral Rahmanzadeh’s parents.
Maral Rahmanzadeh and Sattar Bahlulzade.
Tovarischesky lane, 30, Moscow, Russian Federation, 109004
During the period from 1934 till 1940, Maral studied at the Surikov Moscow State Academic Art Institute.
Maral Rahmanzadeh was born on July 23, 1916, in Baku, Baku Governorate, Russian Empire (present-day Baku, Azerbaijan) into the family of a goldsmith Yusif and Khadija. Maral had four sisters and five brothers.
When Maral was a child, she, together with her brother, Kamal, organized carnivals for New Year’s Day. She liked to sing, dance and paint.
During the period from 1930 till 1933, Maral studied at the Azerbaijan State Technical School of Arts. In 1934, she entered Surikov Moscow State Academic Art Institute, graduating in 1940. At the institute, Maral took lessons from eminent artists, who taught there. Those included Lev Bruni, Dmitry Moor and Vladimir Favorsky. As a student, she picked up all the nuances of artistic and technical skills and impressed a rector Igor Grabar, a famous Russian artist, restorer and art critic as "a very talented Azerbaijani girl".
After completing her higher education, Maral started to work in one of the most prestigious publishing houses in Moscow, but soon had to leave the capital city and what could have been a promising career for her, to return to Baku to take over household duties after her father’s arrest.
In the years of the Great Patriotic War, Maral produced series of easel, relating to the patriotic theme. One of the series, created during those years, was devoted to the heroism of Soviet women during the war. The series included such works, as "People's volunteer corps", "Women in the ranks", "Partisan's daughter" and "Radio operator". In addition, Rahmanzadeh created a series of work, dedicated to the labor of home front workers, including such pieces, as "Work on the farm", "Social activists" and others.
In the 1940's, the artist also illustrated fiction books. In 1945, Maral designed the books "Dehname" by Khatai and "The land of fires" by A. Zohrabbeyov. Poetic images of women were among her most successful works for "Dehname". In her illustrations for "The land of fires", Moral portrayed interior, landscapes, architecture and costumes. During those years, Rahmanzadeh also created illustrations for Jafar Jabbarly's work "Maiden tower" and "Gulzar".
During the post-war period, the artist produced easel graphic works. In 1947, she exhibited her autolithography "Oil", which consisted of 10 sheets, at an anniversary exhibition for the first time. The following year, in 1948, Maral finished the series, called "Socialistic Baku", which also consisted of 10 works.
In 1950, Rahmanzadeh illustrated a two-volume poem of Jafar Jabbarly. The same year, Mirza Fatali Akhundov's work "Aldanmış kəvakib", containing Maral's illustrations, was published. She also illustrated translated editions of such works, as "Eugene Onegin" by Alexander Pushkin and "A Hero of Our Time" by Mikhail Lermontov.
In the late 1950's, Maral produced a series of color autolithographs, entitled "Baku". This series contained depictions of city parks and squares, as well as panoramas of offshore oil fields. In 1959, the series was exhibited at the exhibition, devoted to the Decade of Literature and Art of Azerbaijan in Moscow.
In the years, that followed, Rahmanzadeh worked in linocut technique. Her first linocuts were dedicated to the giant plants of two cities - Sumqayit and Rustavi. Each of these series contained industrial and city landscapes, as well as portraits of lead workers.
Between 1959 and 1960, Maral was on a working trip in Czechoslovakia. In the 1960's, the artist visited some remote areas of Azerbaijan. This traveling resulted in a new series of color linocuts - "My Motherland" and "Azerbaijan". Several works from these series were dedicated to the nature of Nakhchivan. In addition, these works included landscape views of Khinalug village.
In 1963, the artist illustrated an academic publication "Azerbaijani fairy tales". Two years later, in 1965, she left for a working trip to Moldova.
In 1985, Maral created new watercolour illustrations for poems by Khatai and began work on the cover of the book, devoted to his poetry. The colors Maral used, the settings and the integrity of plot created an impression of a miniature. Love is also praised in these illustrations.
During her career, Maral worked in Neft Daşları (also known as Oil Rocks), an industrial settlement in Baku. She was the first artist to work in that location. Living among oilmen, she observed their daily routine and depicted industrial landscape, construction of flyovers, oil tanks, derricks and other things in her works. In addition, Maral created a series of works, called "In Our Caspian Sea". This work includes depictions of hard-working conditions and peculiarities of a daily life of olimen. The series brought Maral a huge success and it was exhibited at different all-union and international exhibitions.
During her lifetime, the artist held several solo exhibitions in different places around the world, including Sri Lanka (1958), Cuba (1964), Baku (1966, 1990, 2001) and Iran (1991).
(Azerbaijan National Museum of Art)
(Azerbaijan National Museum of Art)
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(Azerbaijan National Museum of Art)
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(Azerbaijan National Museum of Art)
(Azerbaijan National Museum of Art)
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(Azerbaijan National Museum of Art)
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(Azerbaijan National Museum of Art)
(Azerbaijan National Museum of Art)
(Azerbaijan National Museum of Art)
(Azerbaijan National Museum of Art)
(Azerbaijan National Museum of Art)
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(Azerbaijan National Museum of Art)
(Azerbaijan National Museum of Art)
(Azerbaijan National Museum of Art)
(Azerbaijan National Museum of Art)
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(Azerbaijan National Museum of Art)
(Azerbaijan National Museum of Art)
(Azerbaijan National Museum of Art)
(Azerbaijan National Museum of Art)
(Azerbaijan National Museum of Art)
(Azerbaijan National Museum of Art)
(Azerbaijan National Museum of Art)
(Azerbaijan National Museum of Art)
(Azerbaijan National Museum of Art)
(Azerbaijan National Museum of Art)
(Azerbaijan National Museum of Art)
(Azerbaijan National Museum of Art)
(Azerbaijan National Museum of Art)
(Azerbaijan National Museum of Art)
While creating her works, Maral was able to unite a tradition and modernity by combining the expression of miniature painters, who viewed reality through the prism of spiritual values, and different artistic and aesthetic qualities, arising from her individual views.
When reviewing the painter’s seventy years of creative development, it is possible to trace a renewal of style, that took place in her work. Her native Azerbaijani land and its people were the "platform", on which her different creative ideas were developed. Pictorial and graphic works of various themes, created throughout her life, comprise her artistic chronicle. Black and white linocuts, colour linocuts and numerous pictorial images are the fine evidence.
The painter was strongly affected by Oil Rocks. She returned to this theme from time to time with a renewed style and presented new variations on the theme.
It is worth mentioning, that Maral understood the world as a flow of emotions, thoughts, spiritual joy and pain. All that she valued was generalized on her canvas as she conveyed her beliefs and vision in real, precise, multilayered artistic expression.
Maral was a bold woman and an ardent opponent of stereotypes, related both to art and life.
Maral was married to Igor Fyodorovich Konstantinov, a painter, whom she divorced in the late 1950's.