EFENDIIEV ELDAR

A member of the National Union of Artists of Ukraine (1979).

Eldar Ohly Efendiiev was born on 11 July 1946 in Baku (Azerbaijan) in the family of the Meskhetian Turk and the Ukrainian. His mother has the German roots of the Schminke family, which leads to the founders of one of Germany's most famous companies producing pastels. During the Second World War, the family was evacuated to Azerbaijan, where the future artist's mother met her future husband, a local artist who later became a well-deserved figure in the art of Azerbaijan.

Eldar began painting only after moving to Uzhhorod. It was his mother who taught him the basics of drawing and painting. As a result, in 1961, the young man easily entered the Uzhhorod College of Decorative and Applied Arts, where he was taught by Pavlo Balla, Edita and Mykola Medvetskyi, Sandor Petki. His acquaintance with Ferenc Seman, Pavlo Bedzir, Atanas Fedynets, and also with the famous director Serhii Paradzhanov had a great influence on his work. Eldar continued his study at the Lviv State Institute of Applied and Decorative Arts, where his teachers were D. Krvavych, L. Pushkash, Z. Flinta.

After studying, he returned to Ganja (Azerbaijan), where he worked a lot. The individual style of the artist, which differed in metaphorical artistic language and deep symbolism, was formed there. Religious motives can be clearly seen in his works. In the figurative combinations, the artist tried to rethink philosophical themes of the eternal things in human destiny. Art critics noted that in his works it was felt a voice of internal protests against the Soviet attitude.

In 1986, the Efendiievs moved to Mukachevo. In the late 1980s, Eldar worked as an artist in the monumental studios of the Art Fund. A few years before the collapse of the artistic "feeder", he managed to design several objects, in particular, the interiors of the new sanatorium "Pearl of the Carpathians" (1988), where, based on the folk art, he created a vast Carpathian epos.

The Transcarpathian period of Efendiiev's artistic work is characterized by numerous still lifes, portraits, associative compositions and religious painting. In his canvases, one can see the natural multistage process of tonal and colour decisions, balanced composition and, perhaps most importantly, his opinion.

Participant in art exhibitions since 1966. He had personal exhibitions in Kyiv (1966), Baku (1975 – 1977), Moscow (1976). Some works are kept in the Lviv Art Gallery, as well as in numerous private collections.

He died on 9 September 2016 in Uzhhorod.