All colors of Azerbaijan

By VK

Yesterday RSUH opened the exhibition “Pomegranate Splash” dedicated to Azerbaijan. The exposition presents works by students and tutors of the training center “Art Design” of Russian State University for Humanities, who visited this South Caucasian republic this summer. Artists and photographers pictured Azerbaijani landscapes, Baku and Kuba sights.

Irina Bakanova, Dean of the Faculty of History of Art of RSUH, told VK that “the practice included a variety of options of getting acquainted with the republic. Getting to know a different culture is always extremely fruitful. I think that it was very important for our students to understand the coloristic filling of everything that they had seen in the country, and this coloristic filling became an integral part of the overall image of Azerbaijan formed by our students as a result of visits to various places. We visited Mardakan, the museum of Sergei Yesenin, and I think that, of course, it was very interesting to find out if the verses of the great poet in Azerbaijan were remembered and what is the attitude towards the Russian literature in this wonderful country. 

However, it is important to understand more – if Azerbaijani poetry, Azerbaijani art are well-known in our country, in Russia. My teacher, Anatoly Starostin, a well-known translator of Nizami Ganjavi, had many students in Azerbaijan who later became well-known poet, working in the field of culture. I always remember his words about the fact that the two muses, two sisters are not alike at all, according to him, but at the same time they are interested in each other. We wanted our students to understand that if these persons will be of interest for the young generation in Azerbaijan and Russia, we will all live much happier. 

Why? Because, for example, after the practice, when we talked to our students about the Azerbaijani art, it became clear that this art opened for them in quite a special way. For example, in this wonderful drop which is called buta, in this national Azerbaijani pattern they saw not just a reflection of the particular art - they saw the reflection of many important processes occurring in the country. It was a very emotional acquaintance, which, like a pomegranate splash, was really reflected in different works: in photos, collages, paintings, ceramics. 

Of course, "Pomegranate Splash" is not a random name for our exhibition. It was chosen precisely because it was important to show us that it was only a small part of something that, we hope, our students will create, and we will do this along with our students, because for us it was also very important to get to know the people of this republic, it was very important to understand the life of the republic. Basically, of course, we are talking about the classical heritage, speaking about Azerbaijan. 

Of course, each of us, going to the practice with students, imagined a program of actions in drawing and in photography. Galina Volkova, head of the "Art Design", takes photographs herself, and, of course, it has been important to show how the skill of the teacher can be developed using the Azerbaijani material. Galina Kobzeva is a wonderful artist and colorist who offered a lot of interesting student exercises for our students. However, we already know that the implementation of these student exercises has become much broader, much more interesting than we could have ever imagined. 

All of us are very impressed by not only how we were received in the country, many thanks to everyone who took part in it, but also by the attention paid in the country to contemporary art. I think that we can only envy this, envy the way contemporary art is living in the streets, living in its heart as it does not live in Moscow and in many other cities which I have ever visited. I think that, of course, this is also a great success for those who are studying in Azerbaijan and not just learning certain trades, not just some arts in their field, but also learning the art of living in a large, very complex, very interesting and tense world, a happy existence in which, of course, is only possible when you get to know each other with love, with hope and moving to each other. I really believe that this exhibition will be the step that we had to do not only as a training exercise, not only as a thank you for the way we were received in Azerbaijan. It also should be the step that will allow us to continue this cooperation, including in the field of arts. Not surprisingly, our area - education through art - is called strategic at the university. I hope that through art we are going to get to know each other, and we will continue living together.”