The portrait of poet Mazhit Gafuri from the museum’s collection was painted by artist Gabdulla Amirov in 1940 on commission from the Union of Writers of the Republic of Bashkortostan.
The commission was timed to coincide with the 60th anniversary of Gafuri’s birth. The district where he was born and grew up was named after him and a monument by Lev Kerbel was erected in front of the Bashkir Academic Drama Theatre, which bears the poet’s name.
Majit Gafuri is considered the founder of Bashkir and Tatar literature. In 1923, he was the first Bashkir poet to be awarded the honorary title of the People’s Poet of the Bashkir ASSR.
The poet himself did not live to his birthday. He died in October 1934 from tuberculosis and was buried at the Aleksandr Matrosov Cemetery in Ufa. After his death, a memorial museum was opened in the house in Nikolai Gogol Street, where Gafuri lived with his family. There is also the Mazhit Gafuri Cultural Foundation in the Bashkir capital.
The author of the portrait Gabdulla Amirov was born in 1915 in Ufa. The most active period of his creative life was the prewar years. In 1938, Amirov graduated from the art department of the Ufa College of Arts and began teaching there. He continued to paint and was a member of the local branch of the Union of Artists. In 1941, the artist went to the front. His personal file, which is stored in the art museum archives, has a notice in the name of his wife Amina Fattakhova, which states that the soldier Amirov went missing in action in September 1942.
However, there are documents from 1943, in which sergeant Amirov was commended for excellent military operations in the liberation of Belgorod, Kharkov, Poltava and Kremenchug by order of Marshal Stalin. From them experts learned that Amirov had fought all through the war. The archives also hold his last telegram to his wife: ‘I am in a hospital in Tbilisi Chebadze greetings Amir’. It is dated February 20, 1945. At this point, the trace of Gabdulla Amirov ends. Whether he died in the last days of the war or died of his wounds, is still unknown to this day.
The commission was timed to coincide with the 60th anniversary of Gafuri’s birth. The district where he was born and grew up was named after him and a monument by Lev Kerbel was erected in front of the Bashkir Academic Drama Theatre, which bears the poet’s name.
Majit Gafuri is considered the founder of Bashkir and Tatar literature. In 1923, he was the first Bashkir poet to be awarded the honorary title of the People’s Poet of the Bashkir ASSR.
The poet himself did not live to his birthday. He died in October 1934 from tuberculosis and was buried at the Aleksandr Matrosov Cemetery in Ufa. After his death, a memorial museum was opened in the house in Nikolai Gogol Street, where Gafuri lived with his family. There is also the Mazhit Gafuri Cultural Foundation in the Bashkir capital.
The author of the portrait Gabdulla Amirov was born in 1915 in Ufa. The most active period of his creative life was the prewar years. In 1938, Amirov graduated from the art department of the Ufa College of Arts and began teaching there. He continued to paint and was a member of the local branch of the Union of Artists. In 1941, the artist went to the front. His personal file, which is stored in the art museum archives, has a notice in the name of his wife Amina Fattakhova, which states that the soldier Amirov went missing in action in September 1942.
However, there are documents from 1943, in which sergeant Amirov was commended for excellent military operations in the liberation of Belgorod, Kharkov, Poltava and Kremenchug by order of Marshal Stalin. From them experts learned that Amirov had fought all through the war. The archives also hold his last telegram to his wife: ‘I am in a hospital in Tbilisi Chebadze greetings Amir’. It is dated February 20, 1945. At this point, the trace of Gabdulla Amirov ends. Whether he died in the last days of the war or died of his wounds, is still unknown to this day.
