Durdy Bayramov

Durdy Bayramov (Durdy Baýramow, Cyrillic: Дурды Байрамов; 14 April 1938 – 14 February 2014) was a Turkmen academician and artist who was awarded the highest honorary title in his country: "People's Artist of Turkmen SSR".

In his native Turkmen language, Durdy Bayramov's name is simply "Durdy Bayram" (without the Slavic-style "ov" suffix added to Russify names during the Soviet era).

The name "Bayram" means "celebration" in Turkic languages.

Bayramov was born in Baýramaly in the Turkmen Soviet Socialist Republic, then part of the Soviet Union, on April 14, 1938.

He lost both parents at a young age and lived as a homeless child before being placed in an orphanage in Serdar (then known as Kyzyl-Arvat), where he was raised.

Growing up, Bayramov endured starvation and the many hardships that accompanied World War II and the post-war devastation.

Later, he benefited from the guidance of exceptional teachers who recognized his talent and supported the young artist in his efforts to become a professional painter.

His first art teacher was Gennadiy Brusentsov, a Russian artist who taught at the Shota Rustaveli Turkmen Art College in Ashgabat.

Bayramov and Brusentsov developed a lifelong friendship, with Brusentsov acting as Bayramov’s mentor over the years.

Brusentsov’s portrait of a young Bayramov, titled Young Soccer Player, is in the collection of the State Tretyakov Gallery in Moscow.

Another great influence on Durdy Bayramov’s life and artistic career was art instructor, his professor at the prestigious in Moscow, which Bayramov attended between 1959 and 1965.

Mochalsky was a recipient of the highest honorary title in arts in the former Soviet Union—People’s Artist of the USSR—and was widely respected for his “ability to highlight the essential, while setting aside the extraneous details.” He passed that approach on to many of his students, including Durdy Bayramov.

Upon completion of his formal education in 1965, Bayramov joined the USSR Union of Artists and began his career as a professional artist.

The landscape genre was the first to captivate Durdy Bayramov.

Many of his early landscape works (some dating to his student years) earned high praise from critics.

From 1965–1968, Bayramov served as an art instructor at the Shota Rustaveli Turkmen State College of Arts in Ashgabat.

In 1966, Bayramov married his beloved muse, Dunyagozel “Gozel” Ilyasova, who would be one of his most frequently painted subjects and remain an inspiration for his work throughout his life.

Bayramov devoted to her an entire series of works on paper titled Gozel, which includes 53 portraits of Gozel and four flower drawings dedicated to her.

His celebrated painting Peaceful Land (1969) is considered a classic example of Turkmen landscape painting.

Bayramov’s first major artistic honours arrived when he was named winner of the Turkmen SSR Lenin Komsomol prize in 1970 and of the USSR in 1972.

In the mid-1970s, Bayramov embarked on what was to become his most celebrated series, Cultural Figures.

This series contains portraits of individuals recognized by Bayramov as having made important contributions to Turkmen cultural heritage during the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries.

The creation of Cultural Figures would span more than four decades and result in more than 150 individual portraits.

In 1971, he completed what is considered the first Turkmen self-portrait, a work formerly held in the collections of the USSR Union of Artists in Moscow.

During this time, Bayramov pioneered the Second World War as a theme among Turkmen painters.

His painting Frontline Assistance captured the deep patriotism of ordinary Turkmen women willing to sacrifice their most prized possessions to help soldiers.

Another theme developed by Bayramov during this period was the process of making Turkmen carpets.

This theme is seen in his famous work titled Turkmen Carpet Makers (1971), which depicts women at work in a carpet factory.

This masterpiece of Soviet-era Turkmen art was first exhibited at the State Museum of Oriental Art in Moscow in 1971 and was later acquired by the State Tretyakov Gallery in 1979.

From 1971 until 1973, eager to assist up-and-coming artists, Bayramov returned to his position as art instructor at the Shota Rustaveli Turkmen State College of Arts in Ashgabat.

In 1980, Bayramov was named an Honoured Art Worker of the Turkmen SSR, and in 1984 he was awarded second prize and a Laureate Diploma for the contest commemorating the 60th anniversary of the Turkmen SSR and Communist Party of the TSSR.

He remained highly productive throughout the 1980s despite personal hardships associated with perestroika (ca. 1985–1991), which caused a scarcity of basic household goods and food products for many people.

Bayramov persevered and worked tirelessly, trying to lose himself in his art.

He continued to expand his artistic repertoire through an increased focus on portraits and still lifes, especially flowers.

Throughout the 1980s, Bayramov’s popularity and renown grew as a result of numerous solo exhibitions, including those held in Moscow, Russia (1980, 1984); Berlin, German Democratic Republic (1981); Ulyanovsk, Russia (1984); Ashgabat, Turkmenistan (two exhibitions in 1986 alone); and Budapest, Hungary (1986).

In 1985, Bayramov began work on one of his most celebrated thematic compositions—his monumental tribute to the great Spanish artists of the past titled Golden Mist.

Following continued critical and popular success at home and abroad, in 1991 Bayramov was awarded the highest artistic title in his home country: People’s Artist of Turkmenistan.

Bayramov painted three significant portraits of his teacher, with the most famous one being Portrait of My First Teacher, created in 1997-98.

In 1998, Bayramov was appointed an Academician of the National Academy of Arts of Kyrgyzstan, along with fellow artists Suhrob Kurbanov, Tahir Salahov, Turgunbai Sadykov, and Erbolat Tolepbai.

This work would not be completed until 2001.