Mirali Mirqasimov was an Azerbaijani educator, painter, and sculptor. He was the author of the monument to Jafar Jabbarly in Baku, the monument to Nariman Narimanov in Sumgait, and the monument to Jalil Mammadkulizade in Nakhchivan. Besides, some of Mirqasimov’s works, such as Portrait of an Oilman, Portrait of a Girl, Girl with a Pigeon, are exhibited at Azerbaijan National Museum of Art in Baku.
Background
Mirali Mirqasimov was born on February 9, 1924 in Baku, Azerbaijan. He was the son of the first president of the Azerbaijan National Academy of Sciences, Mirasadull Mirqasimov and his wife, Jeyran (Khanum) Mirqasimova. There were four children in the family, Mirali was the second one.
When six years old he started to lose his hearing as a result of severe sickness. As a cheerful and talkative child before the sickness, he was very fluent in Russian and mother tongue, Azerbaijani. Thanks to the truly heroic efforts of his mother Jeyran Mirqasimova, a fresh medical student, the speech of the child was saved. She taught him lip reading.
Education
At age seven Mirali Mirqasimov enrolled in one of the best secondary schools in Baku. At grade 9, Mirali simultaneously started his education at the Faculty of Sculpture at Art School. Thus, his schedule tightened up. The first half of the day was spent at school, and the second half was dedicated to studies at the Faculty of Sculpture, and in the evening he attended the drawing class at the House of Architects.
One of his professors at the school was professional and demanding Peter Vladimirovich Sabsay, one of the leading figures of the Soviet plastics, who noticed the teenager’s rare talent.
In 1944, Mirali Mirqasimov graduated with honors from A. Azimzade Art School. He then entered the Institute of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture named after I. E. Repin in Saint Petersburg (then Leningrad). There his teachers were outstanding leaders of Russian sculpture school, such as Aleksandr Matveyev, Victor Sinanskiy, Mikhail Anikushin and well-known artists like Semion Abugov, Andrei Mylnikov.
During the institute years, Mirqasimov started his publicly displayed activities. Starting from 1946, he demonstrated his artworks at national, Soviet Union and international varnishing days.
He became the first Azerbaijani sculptor to receive a complete special higher education, graduating the Institute in 1951.
Mirali Mirqasimov started his artistic activities in the 1950s. He moved to Moscow where he joined the team of monumental sculptors working on designing exhibition halls at EANE (Exhibition of Achievements of the National Economy of the USSR) - a project of large dimensions and implementation scale.
Mirqasimov then returned to his hometown and immediately took an active part in the competition fever of the mid-50s. According to well-known Soviet critics, the monument of Lenin in Khankendi, established in 1958, is one of the best manifestations of monumental sculpture in depicting the image of the leader of the working class.
The 1950s was one of the most integral and productive periods in Mirqasimov’s creativity, where the expression “for the first time” appears very often talking about his artistic achievements.
In search of his own ideal of female beauty and harmony, for the first time, he widely and freely approached the interpretations of psychological states of the model. Those were lively, open, girly gentle, and at the same time, confident in their future, complete and self-reliant characters.
With all the accurate portrait characteristics, he managed to achieve a certain generalization. He discovered the face of time. ("Nana", marble 1956).
The first half of the 1950s is a period of Mirqasimov’s creativity that can be also defined as a period of Light. He searched for and found this natural light like a leading motivation of his creativity.
"Portrait of a mother" is one of the major female characters and portrayal works done by M. Mirqasimov in 1964. In this portrait Mirali expressed all his love to a wonderful woman with external and spiritual beauty generously gifted by nature, a person with unique intellect, will and talent, no longer young, but still beautiful Jeyran khanim.
Moreover, Mirali Mirqasimov was a diverse painter, with a wide range of subjects, finding an adequate expression of the plot in the genre, technique and work style. Mirqasimov’s portrait creativity directly linked up with the genre of portrait sculpture. Over the time, Mirqasimov concentrated on the topics of universal sounding in the field of figural easel composition, such as "Ukhuru" (“Freedom”, 1958).
Another side of the sculptor’s talent is the desire to touch the originality of the national cultural tradition, which is exposed by sculptural composition "Shah Yaylag". This work, created in 1960, is considered to be one of the most poetic works done by Mirqasimov.
Additionally, the animalistic sculpture always played an important role in the creativity of Mirqasimov. He truly loved these little creatures, and occasionally, dealt with them pathetically in his workshop.
The 1970s-1980s were noted for Mirqasimov's works in monumental sculpture. He created and completed monuments one after another. Working quickly and confidently, he did his best to accomplish the unfinished projects. Many of them brought him years of doubts and sometimes heavy thinking in the endless work on the themes as a set of sketches, variations, compositions and 3D models.
In 1976, one of the most prominent monumental works of Mirqasimov, a monument of Jalil Mammadguluzade, was created in Nakhchivan.
Being also a professor, Mirali Mirqasimov put many efforts in 1990s to work with the students, trying to instill in them the culture of understanding of sculptural forms, artistic taste, and most importantly - to convey them the essence of the creative spirit.
(Sketch. This painting can be found at the Azerbaijan Nati...)
1959
Personality
As a cheerful and talkative child before the sickness Mirali Mirqasimov was very fluent in Russian and mother tongue, Azerbaijani.
During his career, Mirqasimov was full of energy, ideas and inspiration, and actively challenged himself at various genres of easel and monumental sculpture. Mirqasimov was an altruist being able to give everything he had for the benefits of his people. Moreover, he was a man of rare erudition.
Connections
Mirali Mirqasimov was married to Gultekin Mirqasimova. He had the daughter Aysel and two foster sons - Husein and Javid. The younger has become a sculptor as well and works now at Mirali Mirqasimov’s studio.
Father:
Mirasadull Mirqasimov
Mother:
Jeyran (Khanum) Mirqasimova
Spouse:
Gultekin Mirqasimova
foster son:
Javid
Uncle:
Mir Zeynal Abdin
Daughter:
Aysel Mirqasimova
foster son:
Husein
teacher:
Aleksandr Matveyev
teacher:
Victor Sinanskiy
teacher:
Mikhail Anikushin
teacher:
Andrei Mylnikov
teacher:
Semion Abugov
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.
This first international victory of the modern Azerbaijani easel sculpture was especially esteemed, as it was awarded to an Azerbaijani artist in Poland, the country full of rich artistic traditions and distinctive style of national school, the artists of which properly presented the advanced trends of world sculpture in the mid 20th century.
This first international victory of the modern Azerbaijani easel sculpture was especially esteemed, as it was awarded to an Azerbaijani artist in Poland, the country full of rich artistic traditions and distinctive style of national school, the artists of which properly presented the advanced trends of world sculpture in the mid 20th century.