Salam Salamzade was an Azerbaijani painter, known as the author of a number of genre and graphic paintings, portraits, and landscapes depicting scenes of nature in Azerbaijan. Besides, he was titled People's Artist of the Azerbaijan SSR.
Background
Salam Salamzade was born on March 7, 1908 in Baku, Azerbaijan.
When he was ten, his mother Khadija khanim Salamzade passed away, and from his young years Salam Salamzade started helping his father who had to be engaged in all family concerns alone.
Education
Despite his rather hard childhood, Salam Salamzade studied at school showing great interest in drawing. As a result from 1925 to 1929 Salam Salamzade got his first professional education in Baku School of Art. The educational methods of his teachers deeply influenced his individual manner.
Salam Salamzade then received pedagogical education at the Moscow State Pedagogical University from 1931 to 1932 together with the actor and film director Rza Tahmasib, the artist Rustam Mustafayev, and his future wife Gamer Ali Quli Kizi Najafzade (later Salamzade).
In 1929 Salam Salamzade traveled to regions of the Azerbaijan SSR and was impressed by scenes in Ganja. During that time he created such works as "On weaving mill in Ganja", "Spinning workshop", "Opening of machine and tractor station".
Salamzade was also the author of a number of genre and graphic paintings, portraits ("Nariman Narimanov", "Portrait of the Writer I.M. Huseynov") and landscapes depicting scenes of nature in Azerbaijan ("Old City", "Under the Sun", "Women by the Water", "Tea Room plantation"), among others.
He visited the Near and Middle East several times and created canvases about the life and nature of eastern countries.
Besides, Salamzade participated in exhibitions from 1930. Separate exhibitions of his works were shown in several countries of the world. Moreover, among his important exhibitions were "All-Union Art Exhibition" in Moscow in 1949 and the "All-Union Art Exhibition" in Moscow in 1951.
In addition, in 1940 Salam Salamzade in cooperation with the painter Sadig Sharifzadeh created a monumental panel titled "Pantheon of Azerbaijani literary scholars" for the design of the Museum of Azerbaijan Literature named after Nizami Ganjavi.
From the beginning of the Great Patriotic War (1941-1945), S. Salamzade depicted fearless fight of the people with aggressors. In those years the painter created several portraits of the heroes of the war.
From a decorative-generalized manner of his early works ("String Shop", 1930, R. Mustafayev Azerbaijan Museum of Art, Baku), in his mature works Salamzade moved on to elaborate forms and color nuances ("Over Water", 1968, Art Gallery of Azerbaijan, Baku; series of paintings "In the Arab countries", 1961-1970).
Moreover, the portrait gallery created by Salam Salamzade during the post-war period was distinguished in its variety. Among those paintings were the portrait of the painter’s wife and the first Azerbaijani film director Gamar Salamzade.
Beginning from the 1960s, Salamzade made trips to many foreign countries and based on his impressions he painted works in landscape and portrait genre.
One of Salamzade’s first visits abroad happened in 1958 to Czechoslovakia. Salamzade travelled through the country, got acquainted with its history, rich cultural legacy and modern life and created a series of works based on his impressions.
But the separate line of his artistic activity was formed after his visits to Arabic countries. Having travelled to Arabic countries within 1961-1974, Salamzade created a great number of panels, sketches, drawings and watercolors, dedicated to the citizens, popular historical cities and monuments, nature and hard-working people of this region. During that period he visited Iraq, Egypt, Syria, Lebanon and Libya. The works of that period included "Aswan High Dam", "Cairo series", among others.
The 1970s-1980s were characterized by his intensive artistic activity and the most mature artistic period for him. In 1987 Salamzade held the exhibition of his works, titled "In Libya".
"Servet" series of albums. The National Heritage project.
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.