Maral Rahmanzadeh

Maral Yusif gizi Rahmanzadeh (Maral Yusif qızı Rəhmanzadə; 23 July 1916 – 18 March 2008) was a Soviet and Azerbaijani graphic artist and painter.

From 1930 to 1933 she studied at the Azerbaijan State Technical School of Arts and from 1934 to 1940 she continued her education at the Moscow State Institute of Arts.

Her most productive area was within graphic arts, particularly in lithography and coloured linoprints.

Rahmanzadeh created a series of paintings of patriotic content during the Great Patriotic War.

One of the series is dedicated to the Soviet women during the wartime, including "People's volunteer corps", "Women in the ranks", "Partisan's daughter", and "Radio operator".

Other series, consisting of 19 prints, were dedicated to the work of people and the home front: “Work on the farm”, “Social activists”, and “The artists performing for the front-line soldiers”.

Women working at machines in factories are depicted in “Wives Substitute Husbands”.

These paintings were made in black watercolors with accents in coal.

In 1940s, Rahmanzadeh illustrated belles-lettres.

In 1945, she illustrated the books “Dehname” by Khatai and "The land of fires" by Zohrabbeyov.

More successfully, she worked on poetic images of women in "Dehname".

Rahmanzadeh depicted the poet Khatai, the author of the book, in two illustrations: one of them a portrait in profile and the other the poet with a pen in hand in a night atmosphere.

Rahmanzadeh portrayed circumstances, landscape, architecture, and costumes in numerous illustrations for the novel “The land of fires”.

Riders were portrayed in the first illustration on the left side of a print.

A pictorial panorama of a bay and a mysterious tower to which landlady they were going opened in front of their eyes.

During these years Maral Rahmanzadeh created illustrations for Jafar Jabbarly's "Maiden Tower" and "Gulzar" works.

In the post-war period Rahmanzadeh intensively worked in the sphere of paintings.

In 1947, the series of "Petroleum" autolithography consisting of 10 paintings showing the history of petroleum land was exhibited for the first time.

The series began with "Fire worshippers", a composition representing worship of eternal fire.

Other paintings in these series are "A new enterprise", "On the oil rig", "Jack-pump", and "Fountain hammered to a pipe".

In 1948, Maral Rahmanzadeh finished a series entitled "Socialistic Baku", consisting of 10 paintings.

It included industrial and urban landscapes, and also such compositions as "Shift of a vigil", "Day of a vigil", and "In construction of a new house".

Journeys to an area known as the oil rocks were productive for the artist.

Maral Rahmanzadeh was the first artist who went to work at the oil rocks.

Being among oilmen, overseeing their working days, and their everyday life, she painted field landscapes of the Caspian Sea, construction of scaffold bridges, oil tanks, towers, and the pouring of oil.

On an exhibition she presented drawings and watercolor paintings, portraying more typical episodes of the working life of oilmen on the Caspian Sea.

Besides the citizens of Baku, workers from the oil rocks also saw these paintings, as they were dedicated to them.

Rahmanzadeh created a series of autolithographs called "Here in the Caspian Sea".

An album, consisting of 15 colourful lithographs from these series was published in Moscow.

Verticals of towers, steel scaffold bridges, and the shining mirror-like surface of the sea were portrayed in her "In the open sea" lithograph.

The artist portrayed the hard life of workers and the distinctive life of oilmen in her paintings "On-duty boat", "The food is brought", and "To a storm-zone".

These series of lithographs brought broad fame to Rahmanzadeh and were exhibited in the All-Union and foreign exhibitions.

Rahmanzadeh is the eldest sister of sculptor and honouree of the Academy of Arts of the Republic of Kazakhstan, Vagif Rakhmanov.

She is the aunt of acclaimed Canadian singer-songwriter and visual artist Deniz Reno (aka Deniz Rakhmanova), Kazakh-German painter Nargis Rakhmanova-Dressler and Kazakh artisan Aigul Rakhmanova.

In 1950, Rahmanzadeh illustrated a two-volume poem collection by Jafar Jabbarly.

She created a number of prints, portraying the characters from his plays "Sevil", "Almaz", and "Withered flowers."

Mirza Fatali Akhundov's historical play "Aldanmish Kevakib" ("Deceived stars") was published the same year and featured Rahmanzadeh's work.

She also illustrated translated publications including "Eugene Onegin" by Alexander Pushkin and "A Hero of Our Time" by Mikhail Lermontov.

She was awarded the honorary title of People's Artist of the Azerbaijan SSR (1964), and recipient of the State Prize.

Maral Rahmanzadeh was born in Baku, Russian Empire (now Azerbaijan).