Leyla Aliyeva Discusses Ways to Better Promote Azerbaijani Art in the USA in New York

Vice President of the Heydar Aliyev Foundation and founder of the International Dialogue for Environmental Action (IDEA) campaign, Leyla Aliyeva, is on a visit to New York at the invitation of the Children’s Cancer and Blood Fund (CCBF) in the USA.

On November 2, Leyla Aliyeva visited the editorial office of the influential American magazine, “Interview.”

Founded in 1969 by renowned American artist and film producer Andy Warhol, “Interview” magazine traditionally publishes interviews with world-famous artists, musicians, actors, and designers, and encourages the emergence of new and unconventional thinking in society. The meeting with the Azerbaijani guest was attended by Peter Brant, head of “Brant Publications, Inc.,” which publishes “Interview” and three other leading art magazines in the United States, and Christopher Bollen, editor of “Interview” magazine. Peter Brant acquainted Leyla khanum with the history of the magazine and its main topics in detail. Leyla Aliyeva, in turn, invited the creative team of “Interview” magazine to learn more about Azerbaijan and expressed confidence that the magazine’s readers would find plenty of new and interesting information about Azerbaijani art, music, and fashion.

On the same day, Vice President of the Heydar Aliyev Foundation, Leyla Aliyeva, visited the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. Maryam Ekhtiar, the museum’s chief curator for Islamic culture, informed Leyla khanum Aliyeva about the exhibition “Art of the Islamic World,” which reopened on November 1 after a long restoration. Leyla khanum familiarized herself with the museum’s new galleries, where 1,200 exhibits representing over a thousand years of culture from the Arab lands, Turkey, Iran, Central and South Asia are displayed. During the conversation, prospects for cooperation with the Metropolitan Museum were discussed, and ideas were exchanged on how Azerbaijani art could be better represented there.

On November 2, Leyla khanum Aliyeva met with our compatriot, living in New York, editor of the “Noviy Rubezh” newspaper and member of the Azerbaijan Artists Union, Nobert Yevdayev. N. Yevdayev expressed his gratitude to Leyla khanum and presented her with two paintings from his personal collection to be delivered to art museums in Azerbaijan. The works titled “Motherhood” and “Abstract Composition” are by Nahum Chakbazov, an American artist of Azerbaijani descent.

Both works were created in 1945-46. Nahum Chakbazov’s works are included in the collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Museum of Modern Art, the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, and other prominent art institutions in the United States. Nobert Yevdayev stated that his aim in gifting these works to Azerbaijan was to highlight the success that an Azerbaijani artist has achieved in the United States. The painting “Motherhood” will be displayed in the collection of the R. Mustafayev State Museum of Art of Azerbaijan, while “Abstract Composition” will be showcased in the collection of the Museum of Modern Art.