National Artist Rafig Mehdiyev to be commemorated

Tbook graphics for a long time. He painted illustrations for the works “Mailbox”,“The Bearded Child”,“History of the Danabash Village” and “Gurbanalibey” by famous Azerbaijani writer and satirist Jalil Mammadguluzade.

Machine graphics play an important role in the artist's creative work. The lyrical rural landscapes are reflected in such etchings as “Evening” and “Morning” (1970s). The works created by his linear technique are interesting.

Rafig Mehdiyev created a number of monotypic methods too. These are “Village”, “Children”, “Women with Children”, “At the market”, “One Line”, “Last Day”, “Shot”, “After the Rain”. Along with machine graphics, the artist created such beautiful and interesting paintings as “Collectors of grapes”,“A fresh news”, “Rest” and “Still Life”, which were successfully presented at the republican art exhibition “To love work”. Mehdiyev became an honored artist of Azerbaijan in 1992.

The meeting with the Russian expert will be held at the 20th-21st Century Azerbaijani Painting Museum on November 1.

The Russian expert will talk about the formation of the Russian underground culture of the 60s80s, new influences and moving away from social realism. Another feature that distinguishes Soviet art of the 60s and 80s is the flourishing of national painting schools, each of which has its own distinctive foundation.

The event will be held as part of the "Art Chronic – a series of meetings with leading international art critics, timed to the exhibition "Labour, Leisure and Dreams: 19601980s through the eyes of Azerbaijani masters'".

Leonid Bazhanov studied painting in the studio of Boris Birger. He graduated from Lomonosov Moscow State University in 1973, with a degree in history of art. Bazhanov is the author of numerous articles, curator of many art exhibitions in Russia and abroad. He also curated Russian national projects at international biennials and triennials in Venice, Sao Paulo, Istanbul, Cairo and New Delhi.

Bazhanov is an author and director of short films. Founder and creative director of creative association "The Hermitage" (Moscow, 1986), Centre of contemporary art (Moscow, 1990), National centre for contemporary art (Russia, 1992), “New art” charity foundation (Moscow, 2002).

Since 2017, Leonid Bazhanov is the academic director of "Contemporary Art" program and professor of the National Research University Higher School of Economics in Moscow.

The event will be held in Russian. Admission is free The meeting starts at 19:00. The Museum of 20th-21st Century Azerbaijani Painting was founded by the Heydar Aliyev Foundation.

It presents works by both prominent and lesser-known Azerbaijani painters from State Collections, such as the National Picture Gallery and the Museum of Modern Art. From 2018 onwards YARAT was commissioned to present a series of exhibitions with the works from the collection and to organize a public programme of events running throughout the year.