Background
She was born in Tiflis (now Tbilisi, the capital of Georgia) to a family of an ethnic Azeri officer of the Russian Imperial Army.
She was born in Tiflis (now Tbilisi, the capital of Georgia) to a family of an ethnic Azeri officer of the Russian Imperial Army.
She is considered the first professional female painter in Azerbaijani history. In 1907–1908 she took a course in professional painting at the Caucasus Artistic Society, where she was taught by Oscar Schmerling (who later worked as caricaturist for the Azeri-language magazine Molla Nasraddin). Her first works were painted in watercolour, pencil, ink, or coal.
Their only daughter Layya later became a chemist and died in 1994.
Upon the establishment of the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic in 1918, Kashiyeva moved to Baku. After Sovietisation, she gave art lessons and worked as an illustrator for the magazine Sharg Gadini.
In 1938 Seyidbeyli was arrested for political reasons and deported along with Kashiyeva from European Russia. She returned to Azerbaijan in the 1950s and once again engaged in artistic work.
She died in 1972, at age 78.