Azerbaijan National Carpet Museum hosted the opening ceremony of the exhibition Kamil Aliyev: Artist and Time

Dr Shirin Melikova, Director of the ANCM, Anar Karimov, Minister of Culture, Rafael Huseynov, Director of National Museum of Azerbaijan Literature named after Nizami Ganjavi, Farhad Khalilov, Chair of the Union of Artists of Azerbaijan, People’s Artist, Eldar Mikayilzade, People’s Artist, carpet weaver Adiba Musayeva, and Narmina Aliyeva, daughter of Kamil Aliyev delivered speeches at the event dedicated to the 100th anniversary of Kamil Aliyev celebrated in Azerbaijan by order of President Ilham Aliyev.

The exhibition displays 18 carpets from the Azerbaijan National Carpet Museum's collection, 3 carpets from the collection of the Azerbaijan National Museum of Art, and 3 carpets and 5 sketches from the artist’s family archive.

Kamil Aliyev creatively transformed the classical carpet compositions and designed the ornaments not only for carpets but also for different types of textiles, including ceramic. However, it was the portrait carpets that brought him worldwide fame. Kamil Aliyev managed to grow this genre into a whole direction in carpet weaving, which is still in demand today.

During his long and creative life, Kamil Aliyev designed a wide variety of portrait carpets using different carpet weaving methods to portray the images of artists and political leaders: world-famous poets Nizami Ganjavi, Imadaddin Nasimi, Alexander Sergeyevich Pushkin, Shota Rustaveli, Rabindranath Tagore, politicians Heydar Aliyev, Mahammad Amin Rasulzade, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, Indira Gandhi, Bill and Hillary Clinton, Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, Ruhollah Khomeini.

The artist held solo exhibitions not only in Azerbaijan but also in Paris, London, Tokyo, Delhi, Ankara, Istanbul, Tehran, Moscow, and Kyiv. His carpets are preserved in world-famous museums and private collections.

The exhibition, organized by the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Azerbaijan and the Azerbaijan National Carpet Museum, runs until November 21.