Single-Painting Exhibition at the Nevzorov Family Regional Museum of Fine Arts
Our region proudly bears the name of the great Abai. He was born in these lands and spent many years in Semipalatinsk. Therefore, celebrating the poet’s birthday holds special and profound significance for all of us. In honor of this festive occasion, the Nevzorov Family Regional Museum of Fine Arts is opening an exhibition of a single painting—Abai Among the People by artist Tursun Abuov.
Why only one painting? Because this canvas is a whole story, a large narrative is captured within the frame. It is not a typical static portrait like many others. Abuov’s painting is a narrative portrait. Here, Abai is surrounded by people, including men, women, adults, and children. He holds a book in his hands, perhaps engaged in simple conversation, or maybe reading poetry. The composition is multi-figured and complex, filled with numerous important details that create the atmosphere of the people’s lives of that time. The dark brown and red tones take the viewer into the evening coolness of the fading day.
The painting Abai Among the People speaks of the poet through visible imagery. Abai’s words, meanwhile, resonate on the pages of the books displayed at the exhibition, complementing the artwork.
The artist himself is also fascinating. Tursun Abuov is a painter, sculptor, and designer. A master of portrait, still life, and genre compositions, he has always been deeply moved by Abai’s poetry. The artist visited places associated with the poet’s memory, and the impressions he gathered were later embodied in his works. This painting emerged from those experiences, and it seems that Jambyl’s words, dedicated to Abai, describe it best:
Is this a portrait of Abai we see?
The bloom of his songs, his fame, his decree!
In wisdom and courage, his greatness is clear,
What poet could with Abai’s might compare?
