This year the art intellectual circles and public of Uzbelistan have celebrated the 60th anniversary of the National Artist of Uzbekistan, Academician of AA RUz Jollybai Izentaev. At CEH was held his personal exhibition.
The editorial board is pleased to congratulate J. Izentaev and offers to the readers the article about his activity.
Karakalpakstan is his native land with especially severe nature – grey – brown, burnt landscape with cheerless one – colour saline soils, the Aral drying up and sands of Kyzylkums and Karakums. But on this Earth as a reply to call of the Sun, overcoming thousand obstacles, difficulties and deprivations, resisting to nature, the Life is growing in its remarkable and courageous people, which became a main hero of Izentaev’s pictures.
Zhollybai Izentaev with a sketch – book and album works in different regions of the republic, creates portraits and landscapes. In a process of aspiration to plastic expressiveness of the works about the Karakalpakstan people, about their life within severe and powerful nature painted by a unique originality has been forming the artist’s own style.
The subjects of Izentaev’s pictures are simple, ordinary and daily, sometimes reminding the etudes. Talent and skills of the artist allow in the ordinary, at the first look, things to notice and to catch characteristic features of the country and its people. In the works “Portrait of Fisherman”, “Rural Boy”, “Yumatov’s State Farm”, “Aul in Autumn”, in the canvas “Begzhap Tragedy “, “Women of 1945″ and “Soldier’s Letters” the artists perfectly reflected rhythms and energy of those years, that epoch. This artist’s world vision is also emphasized by his vibrating and refined colour palette. Sometimes the pictures seem sketchy, just started, but they are completed in their idea, mood and plastic structure. Z.Izentaev paints from nature and generalizes impressions, subordinating them to key idea. Izentaev’s works are specified with figurative solutions, poetic and a little naive simplicity, but no descriptiveness and, “especially, illustrative solution, that is he bases on the life, instead of “to adjust” it under the abstract ideas”, as truly noticed V. Lakovskaya in the monograph about the artist.
But there is another, perhaps, not less strong source, which has determined the interests of young Izentaev – Igor Vitalievich Savitsky, an artist, researcher, organizer and teacher who initiated and established in Nukus, in 1966 the State Museum of Arts of Karakalpakstan with the unique collection not conceding the exhibits to the largest museums of the world.
Savitsky collected not only pieces of art, which he actually discovered and gave them a new life, but also found talented people, realizing that the future of Karakalpak culture in many respects will depend on them. So, due to I. Savitsky selfless activity, many famous today Karakalpak artists, such as Doribai Tureniyazov, Jaldasbek Kuttymuratov, Sersinbai Baibosinov, Bazarbai Serekeev and others consider Savitsky their spiritual teacher. For Izentaev I.Savitsky became an example of the thoughtful, serious approach to the history of the people, to its aesthetics, features of perception in colour movement and plastics, which are caused by climatic conditions and ethnic traditions. Later, the “teacher – student” relations have transformed into creative cooperation.
In Z.Izentaev’s works two tendencies are simultaneously designated: on the one hand, aspiration to vital spontaneity of images (a series of artists’ and writers’ portraits) and to their harmonization as well as bringing in of “being” sense, on the other hand (pictures “In yurt”, “Wedding”, “Bride’s departure”) Izentaev thinks in extremely picturesque categories: color and light, their impressionistic dynamics play a dominant role in his works. He creates rich shades of color combinations where borders are frequently erased and are perceived just as colour reflexes forming illusion of movement.
Zhollybai Izentaev is a strong and extraordinary person. If in the art he is a thin and lyrical observer, as a chairman of the Academy of Arts of Karakalpakstan and chairman of the Committee Oly Kengasha of Karakalpakstan he is insistent, courageous and principled figure. He had to supervise over the association of the Karakalpak artists in the most difficult period. The association has resisted, was kept and nowadays gains in strength (evidence for that – an exhibition of the Karakalpakstan artists, which was held in the Central Exhibition Hall of the Academy of Arts in January, 2003). Numerous creative ideas define the further work of Zhollybai Izentaev.
Author: Elmira Akhmedova