This is Arslan Mukhadov’s painting “My Father’s Portrait. Summer, 1943.” Your eyes are unwittingly fixed on the dates in a wall label. The painter was born in 1951, it means that his father returned alive from war; the portrait was painted in 1985 from a photograph taken before his father’s going to war. We see the young man in a military uniform with an expressive face full of life. His Soviet Army-styled shirt almost melts into the background. The laconic deployment of colors highlights the dramatic moment and brings into focus the man’s eyes exuding calmness and confidence in Victory!
Toymamed Esenmamedov’s painting “Letters from the Front Line” features soldiers’ wives and mothers and a postman reading letters sent from the front to some and ‘killed in action’ notices to others. The women stand out, having larger dimensions - this visual emphasis intensifies the metaphorical meaning of the painting, showing the horrors of war through the prism of grief and loss of the mothers and wives...They say “war does not have a woman’s face”, but a heroic feat has the feminine nature.
A postman depicted in Danatar Charyev’s painting “In the War Years” thinks about how to tell the tragic news to a soldier’s family. He stops hesitantly, unable to approach them, and the women, overwhelmed by a feeling that something terrible is about to happen, stand still waiting.
“Cranes” by David Ardshayants is a big draw for visitors to the themed exhibition. Created on unprimed canvas with harsh brush strokes, the painting portrays three images of a woman that appear through streaks of paint, symbolizing immense sorrow and tears, and cranes flying above them. It is one and the same woman in different stages of her life: a very young woman, who is in love, a married woman with desperately sad eyes, who has seen her husband off to the war, and ... a grief-stricken elderly widow with unbroken spirit!
One of the highlights of the exhibition – “Mother, We Returned Victorious!” – a beautiful painting by People’s Artist of Turkmenistan Gulnazar Begmuradov, is a true explosion of happiness. A woman learns that her sons, front-line soldiers, arrive at their native village and are now on their way home. She runs quickly towards them with her arms spread wide like wings. Holding them in embrace makes her the happiest person on earth.
Although her beloved sons now have medals pinned to their chests, they are still as playful as before. Standing at attention as if in front of a general with a glint of mischief in their eyes, they report: “Mother, we returned victorious!”
There is nothing like these intense emotions!
An oddly-shaped container stands out from a collection of arts and crafts presented at the exhibition. In the shape of a Turkmen don (national-style long robe), it features hand-painted scenes of a dramatic war period and an epoch of peace and creation with its powerful emotions. The original vessel named ‘Eternal Glory’ was skillfully crafted by Maral Ataeva.
