Ruzy Chariev

Acquired directly from the artist by the present owner

Tashkent, Uzbekistan Academy of Art, Ruzy Chariev: 'My Surkhandarya', 2001
Tashkent, National Art Centre, Ruzy Chariev: 'The Landscape and People of Uzbekistan', 2007

Chariev had a creative mind and a strong sense of modernity, from his very early days as an artist he displayed an interest in folk life and explorations of the national character. As a graduate of the Ilya Repin Institute of Fine Art and Architecture, his art reveals the influence of classical painting, both Russian and Western European, while maintaining quintessentially Uzbek characteristics. For example, his a rich palette is indicative of traditional Uzbek crafts such as embroidery and carpet weaving.

The artist noted that in painting portraits he not only discovered new painterly possibilities but also new modes of expression. The present work was painted from a live model, a gardener in the mountainous village of Pashkurt, near Chariev’s native Surkhandarya. The artist observed the slow-paced traditional way of life from early childhood and was surrounded by the beautifully picturesque landscape. Surkhandarya filled his works with special meaning, turning them into expressive poems on the land and its people.

In the present work, Chariev paints the background landscape with an unusual perspective a harmony of hues that renders the mountains with a compositional equilibrium. One can almost feel the autumn in the Surkhandarya valley, with the sunset touching the peaks of the lilac mountains, giving the painting a sense of tranquility. The artist contrasts tender blue, gray and violet tones of the landscape with the thickly painted contours of the portrait in order to bring attention to the features of the sitter. One can trace the willful character, piercing wisdom and generosity of spirit of the sitter, Togoynazar Hushnazarov.  By depicting his contemporaries, Chariev revealed the idiosyncratic characters of local people in Surkhandarya, who were close to the artist both in spirit and lifestyle. 

Catalogue note written by Gayane Umerova, Senior Curator of Art Gallery of Uzbekistan.