Today is the birthday of the people's artist Sattar Bahlulzade

Today marks the 116th anniversary of the birth of people's artist Sattar Bahlulzade.

As BAKU.WS reminds us, Sattar Bahlulzade was born on December 15, 1909, in the village of Amirjan near Baku. Sattar's love for drawing appeared in early childhood. After his father gave him colored pencils, Sattar drew everything he saw around him - the Novruz holiday with the "Kos-kosa" performance, children jumping over bonfires, and more.

During his school years, Sattar loved to read poems by Nizami Ganjavi, Vagif, Khagani Shirvani, but he was most inspired by Fuzuli's poetry, particularly the characters from his work "Leyli and Majnun." He drew them on the covers of his notebooks and books. Teachers liked the young artist's work. "You, Sattar, have only one path - to become an artist," they said.

Driven by an enormous desire to create, in 1927 Sattar Bahlulzade enrolled in the Azerbaijan Art Technical School, where he received his initial professional artistic education. After graduating from the technical school in 1931, Sattar began working with the famous artist Azim Azimzade at the "Communist" newspaper. He worked there for two years.

In 1933, he entered the Moscow Art Institute named after V.I. Surikov in the graphics department. During summer practice in Crimea, some of Sattar's sketches were noticed by Russian artist Marc Chagall, who suggested that he transfer to the painting department. That's what he did.

People's Artist S. Bahlulzade is considered one of the most prominent landscape painters in Azerbaijani fine art. In paintings such as "Native Valleys," "Ducklings in the Pond," "Upper Dashalti," "Jidir Duzu," "Mountains in Clouds," and "Green Carpet," he celebrated the beauty of our country's magnificent corners.

A special place in his work is occupied by landscapes dedicated to the nature of Absheron. At exhibitions held in 1946-1947, he displayed his "Absheron studies" - paintings such as "Buzovna Oil Fields," "Amirjan," and others. On historical themes, S. Bahlulzade created a series of works "Heroic Sons of the Azerbaijani People," and paintings such as "Babek's Uprising," "Fatali Khan," and "Calligrapher Mir Ali."

Landscapes dedicated to the Caspian Sea and oil derricks occupy a special place in the artist's work ("Caspian Beauty," "Evening over the Caspian," etc.). He spent whole days at sea, with oil workers on boats, platforms, piers, and towers. Despite the similar color scheme of these works, the artist was able to masterfully convey the contradictory character of the Caspian.

The artist's personal exhibitions were held in Algeria, Egypt, Lebanon, Syria, Tunisia, Norway, Bulgaria, Germany, Iraq, Cuba, Canada, Belgium, France, and Japan. Currently, the works of the outstanding Azerbaijani artist are kept in galleries and museums in various countries.

Honored Art Worker, State Prize laureate of Azerbaijan, People's Artist Sattar Bahlulzade died on October 14, 1974, in Moscow. He was buried in his native village of Amirjan.