In the reading room of the Art Department, a book exhibition «Akvarel syrlary» was organized, dedicated to the 100th anniversary of the painter, watercolorist, member of the Union of Artists of Kazakhstan, Honored Artist of Kazakhstan, laureate of the State Prize named after Sh.Ualikhanov, a participant in the Great Patriotic War, winner of the «Tarlan» Prize Uke Azhievich Azhiev.
Uke Azhiev was born in the village of Kemertogan, Almaty region. In 1938, he entered the Leningrad Art School at the All-Russian Academy of Arts. The training was interrupted by the war. First– the blockade, then the front, injuries, demobilization, return to Kazakhstan. In 1950, he graduated with honors from the Almaty Gogol Art College.Professional growth was facilitated by communication with such masters as A. Kasteev, N. Krutilnikov, A. Cherkassky. Since 1950 Uke Azhiev began to take part in republican and all-Union exhibitions. In 1956. He was accepted as a member of the Union of Artists of the USSR.
Uke Azhiev is a wonderful watercolorist. Many wonderful pages of the history of watercolor painting in Kazakhstan were written by him. Each of his works pleases with the perfection of his mastery of water paints. Precision of hand and eye, fidelity to nature and freedom of improvisation are the basis of his watercolor images.He is the author of paintings, portraits of notable people, workers, rural workers, scientists, young contemporaries: «The Journey of Chokan Valikhanov» (1959), «Professor M. Balakaev» (1962), «Student Bakyt» (1965), «Portrait of the People's Artist of the Kazakh SSR A. Kasteev» (1969), «At the foot of Karatau» (1971), «Pervotselinniki» (1974), «In the steppes of Mangyshlak» (1976), «Salute», «Evening Alma-Ata» (1978), «Generous Land» (1978), «Tabunschitsa» (1980), «Self-portrait» (1981), «Portrait of my wife» (1995), «Painting of Mountains» (1997), etc.
The name of Uke Azhiyev is well known in the artistic environment of Kazakhstan and far abroad. Participant of international, All-Union and republican watercolor exhibitions. His works can be seen in art museums and galleries in London, Riga, Vilnius, Baku, Kiev, the State Tretyakov Gallery and the Museum of the East in Moscow, the Kasteev State Museum of Art (Almaty) and the Pavlodar Regional Art Museum, in private collections in France, Italy, Germany, the USA, Switzerland, South Korea.
Uke Azhiev is a truly national artist who created for the people and about people. If we assume that Uke Azhiev created about 10,000 works, then the collection of Uke Azhiev's works in museum collections is a small fraction of the master's legacy. However, for the viewer, it is precisely such «grains» that recreate the epoch, people and life itself, the inner state and nature of man, nature and society.
The purpose of the exhibition is to introduce readers to the work of the Kazakh artist, painter, watercolorist.The book exhibition presents books that reveal the life and creative path of U. Azhiev: «Kazakhstan. National Encyclopedia. Vol.1. A-B»; «Essays on the history of fine arts of Kazakhstan»; «Union of Artists of the Republic of Kazakhstan 1933-1991»; «Uke Azhiev. Album»; «Anthology of the art of Kazakhstan»; «100 years of the Kazakh portrait» and others. Readers will also be interested in the stories about the artist's life described on the pages of periodicals.