Tair Teimur Ogly Salakhov

Born Nov. 29, 1928, in Baku. Soviet painter and graphic artist. People’s Artist of the USSR (1973); corresponding member of the Academy of Arts of the USSR (since 1966). Member of the CPSU (since 1964).

Salakhov studied at the A. Azimzade Azerbaijan Art School in Baku from 1945 to 1950 and under P. D. Pokarzhevskii at the V. I. Surikov Moscow Art Institute from 1951 to 1957. He taught at the M. A. Aliev Azerbaijan Institute of the Arts in Baku between 1963 and 1974 and became a professor there in 1973. Since 1975 he has been a professor at the V. I. Surikov Moscow Art Institute.

Salakhov’s genre compositions, noted for their austere, bold imagery, are based on the life of Baku oil workers. Salakhov has also painted portraits, as well as subtly expressive still lifes and industrial landscapes. His works are characterized by monumental, graphically precise forms, strict, rhythmic composition, and tense, sometimes strongly contrasting colors. In 1968, Salakhov was awarded the State Prize of the USSR for three works: a portrait of the composer Kara Karaev (1960, Tret’ia-kov Gallery), Repair Workers (1961, R. Mustafaev Art Museum, Baku), and By the Caspian Sea (1967, property of the Artists’ Union of the USSR, Moscow). His other works include A New Sea (1970, property of the Ministry of Culture of the Azerbaijan SSR, Baku; State Prize of the Azerbaijan SSR, 1970), a series of graphic works entitled Around Apsheron (1969, property of the Artists’ Union of the USSR), and the stage set for the production of Shakespeare’s Antony and Cleopatra at the M. Azizbekov Academic Dramatic Theater in Baku (1964; M. F. Akhundov Prize of the Azerbaijan SSR, 1965).

Salakhov was a deputy to the seventh and eighth convocations of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR and a delegate to the Twenty-third and Twenty-fourth Congresses of the CPSU. In 1973 he became first secretary of the board of the USSR Artists’ Union. He has been awarded the Order of the Red Banner of Labor and various medals.