What stories from the past are told by foggy watercolors from the creative tandem of St. Petersburg artists

2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55

It is not often in the history of art that one can find married tandems of artists who sign the fruits of joint creativity with a common signature, while being an example of harmonious and spiritual closeness, support and creative mutual enrichment, as well as an extremely subtle understanding of each other's inner world. Creative couple from St. Petersburg Svetlana and Sabir Hajiyev is a vivid example of this. And today in our virtual gallery there are unusual works of talented masters, made in oil using the watercolor technique.

In this case, the tandem's striving for a harmonious union in all spheres of life led the spouses to an ideal unity arising from the complementary two principles created by nature - male and female. And the desire for common creativity, or rather partnership - for mutual agreement to replace your own "I" with a common "WE". One has only to look closely at one or another bottom corner of any of their creations to see two autographs merged into one. It should be noted that this does not often happen among artists, even living under the same roof.

A few words about creating a tandem

Sabir Takhir-oglu Hajiyev is from Kiev, and Svetlana Igorevna was born in Chelyabinsk. But their life paths crossed in the city, which became at the dawn of their youth - fateful. So, in the 80s in Leningrad, future young architects were simultaneously students of the Repin Leningrad Academy of Arts and studied at the Faculty of Architecture. And it so happened that even during their studies, not only their family union took place, but also a creative one.

Back in their student years, future architects decided to try their hand at painting and work as a duet in various painting techniques, creating joint urban landscapes. Their work, as a result of a creative experiment, turned out to be quite professional and interesting.

The artistic duet was successful, and at the beginning of the 90s, in parallel with the graphic works, the Hajiyevs already successfully wrote the first oil paintings, which were created in the best traditions of the classical techniques of the old masters. The successful debut not only spurred the young spouses to creativity, but also made them look for their own path in art, the author's style and handwriting.

In search of new techniques

It was decided to radically move away from traditional trends, methods and styles, taking watercolors as a basis this time - the most capricious and unpredictable visual medium. Everyone knows that this technique requires a firm hand from the master, since an incorrectly applied stroke or an accidentally dropped drop is almost impossible to correct, and also an extremely accurate eye and conciseness in everything. Well, and of course, the couple chose a specific Leningrad landscape as the theme for their work.

The Hajiyevs learned to create water-color landscapes literally in one breath, often without preliminary drawings and sketches, but only technically competently wielding a brush. However, the Gadzhievs did not stop there either. Having perfectly mastered watercolors, the artists went much further in their search for the author's style. Experimenting with various techniques, Svetlana and Sabir created an individual style of writing.

So, the viewer, peering into the depths of the watercolor soft vagueness of colorful stains, is surprised to find that in front of him is not a watercolor at all … but what is - ordinary oil painting. Yes, Svetlana and Sabir masterly create their delicate smoky watercolors with ordinary oil paint! And this discovery leads even a sophisticated viewer to indescribable delight - how similar are the landscapes of the Hajiyevs to watercolors, just as tender and light.

St. Petersburg is the main character in the paintings of the Hajiyevs

The main character of most of their creations, the painters still choose their beloved from the student's bench, now St. Petersburg. Moreover, they continue to intrigue their viewer with a temporary space, literally dipping the northern capital with its inhabitants into the past. In the paintings, we clearly see the tsarist era of the century before last, with all the paraphernalia.

Thanks to the irrepressible imagination of artists, we seem to go on an amazing journey through time along the avenues, streets, bridges of this amazing city, an integral part of which is weather conditions associated with humidity - rain, fog or simply cloudy weather.

Unique creative manner

Against a gray-smoky or ocher background, we contemplate the clear silhouettes of young ladies and their gentlemen, highlighted with a bright local color, which literally interspersed into the architectural ensemble of the city. And also the townspeople walking along the streets in the form of silhouettes and horse-drawn carriages driving along the pavements look incredibly harmonious on the canvases of the artists both in terms of restrained color and in a balanced compositional structure.

A highlight in each creation of the creative duo are bright local spots of ultramarine, different shades of red and white on a foggy picture plane, peering into the depths of which the viewer begins to distinguish in the distance silhouettes of all kinds of towers and domes of famous architectural structures, stretching beyond the horizon of streets and wide avenues and, of course the same, the famous St. Petersburg bridges.

- Svetlana and Sabir themselves think so, characterizing their work.

Foggy landscapes of European capitals

However, a married couple writes not only their beloved St. Petersburg with its avenues, pavements and enchanting architectural ensemble. They travel a lot and, of course, from each trip they bring not only impressions, but also many new amazing works.

I would also like to note the special author's manner of the St. Petersburg masters, who managed to masterly combine both the light decorativeness of the background space and the subtle glazing of the foregrounds. This gives an excellent opportunity for artists' paintings to fit into any interiors.

The Hajiyevs began to participate in art exhibitions more than 25 years ago. And during this time, their creations literally scattered not only in the collections of domestic art collectors, but also in many European countries. And the works of this creative duo are in great demand among ordinary amateurs who want to bring comfort and beauty to their home.

And in conclusion, I would like to say that Svetlana and Sabir, having become virtuosos in a wide variety of techniques: from traditional oil painting and watercolors to original graphics, the secrets of which they keep secret; do not stop there, they are in constant search of new horizons for their creativity.

Over the past few years, they have come close to the surreal genre, where they have revealed a new facet of their creative potential. Thus, they have created a whole cycle of unique works in the sura style. And there is every reason to believe that the audience will expect a lot of new interesting discoveries and ideas that will soon appear in their creations.

Continuing the theme of the St. Petersburg watercolor artists, read our publication: The northern capital in the mesmerizing paintings of the St. Petersburg "jazz watercolorist" Konstantin Kuzema.