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4DEVELOPMENT TRENDS OF NEO-ECLECTiCiSM iN AZERBAiJAN DURiNG THE PERiOD OF iNDEPENDENCE
ASKERALIZADE GULNARA SABIR
associate professor, PhD, Azerbaijan, Baku, Azerbaijan University of Architecture and Construction (AzUAC),
MIRZAEVA FATIMA ELMAN, TEACHER assistant, Azerbaijan, Baku, Azerbaijan University of Architecture and
Construction (AzUAC),
Abstract. All areas of Azerbaijan's design, individually and taken together, demonstrate a number of artistic and stylistic phenomena are highly original. Events, phenomena and personalities of Azerbaijani design during the period of independence, despite the apparent spontaneity, are subject to certain patterns of development of large artistic and stylistic systems. Therefore, the study of the stylistics of Azerbaijani design during the years of independence acquires particular relevance. The combination of various, often directly opposite principles and artistic elements in one eclectic work of art is a rather noticeable phenomenon in the architecture of Azerbaijan at the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th centuries. The phenomenon of eclecticism was studied in detail by academician Shamil Fatullaev. Unlike previous historical styles, eclecticism can be considered as a «hybrid» style, complex in composition. One of the basic principles of eclecticism is the selection on an equal basis of primary sources to create a new eclectic work.
Keywords: stylistic development, eclectic architecture, synthetic cycle, compositional technique, new regionalism.
Despite the fact that the phenomenon of eclecticism has existed for a century, it is again manifested in the architecture and design of the now independent Azerbaijan. In the scientific literature, such patterns are known as «fine de sikle», which in French means «end of a cycle». Research has shown that at the end of each century, artistic trends are formed that become leading at the beginning of the next century.
Throughout the entire period of independence, buildings of various architectural styles have been and continue to be built in Baku; the authors of these buildings are both Azerbaijani designers and foreign designers. The authors of public, residential buildings, and business centers of different styles are Rahim Seyfullaev, Ilgar Ispatov, Nazim Veliyev. The authors of residential, public and multifunctional buildings, erected using elements of various styles, are designers and architects Elbey Gasimzade, Ilgar Beylyarov, Nariman Imamaliev, Ramiz Huseynov, Elchin Aliyev, Novruz Eldarly, Farid Akmiev, Chingiz Rakhdari, as well as members of the Arkon group Jahangir Akhundov, Kamal Musakhanov and others.
Modern buildings, unlike the eclectic architecture of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, do not have rich decor. Here designers give preference to working with compositional techniques and creatively rethought forms. Here, the new design incorporates historicism, modern architecture and regionalism into its practice. All this makes it possible for a new regionalism to emerge, reflecting the architectural spirit of a particular place. The new eclecticism is distinguished by greater freedom of form, combinatorics and an appeal to the architecture of the past.
The founder of the scientific school in the study of the history of Azerbaijani architecture and urban planning in the 19th-20th centuries, Sh. Fatullayev, carried out extensive research work in the field of the history of architecture of the city of Baku, about 30 years ago, compared some aspects of the stylistic development of the architecture of Baku at the turn of the 19th-20th centuries. with similar processes in the architecture of St. Petersburg. Emphasizing the individuality of Baku Art
Nouveau, Sh. Fatullayev wrote: «Excellent drawing... of individual architectural details, conveyed by deep relief of stone carving, distinguishes Baku Art Nouveau from Moscow and St. Petersburg with their modeling of concrete and plaster» [3, p. 389].
Currently, it is possible to expand the field of these comparisons chronologically, semantically, and even terminologically. The question arises: is it possible to put an equal sign between the terms «eclecticism» and «stylistic polyphony?». If we turn to the latest materials on the study of the architecture of St. Petersburg of the Peter the Great era, then we can say - yes.
An expert on Petrine architecture in St. Petersburg, Andrei Ukhnalev, in his article «Architectural projects as evidence of stylistic polyphony in the architecture of Petrine Petersburg», noted that at the beginning of the 18th century, the capital of the Russian Empire was a kind of laboratory of style, and in addition, he wrote that the St. Petersburg architecture of that time was different a feature defined by A. Ukhnalev as «stylistic polyphony».
Eclecticism is not a phenomenon exclusively of the second half of the 19th century; this phenomenon can be considered periodic, or rather cyclical. And the architecture of St. Petersburg of the Petrine era confirms this. In the architecture of Northern Palmyra this phenomenon is known as «multi-mannerism». Moreover, the concept of «manner» was given a national, or rather ethnocultural, meaning, meaning Italian, French, Dutch manner, etc. At the same time, the author of the article equates the terms «multi-mannerism», «stylistic polyphony» and «eclecticism». From the point of view of A. Ukhnalev, not only the architecture of St. Petersburg of that time as a whole, but also many individual buildings are not distinguished by stylistic purity. He also believes that there is a fundamental difference between the eclecticism of the 18th and 19th centuries: «the eclecticism of the 18th century, with all the ambiguity of the style, still gives a feeling of freshness, it is an original phenomenon of art» [2, p. 325]. Finally, A. Ukhnalev's posing of the question about works in which a mixture of style occurred at the stage of the author's design is important: «is it permissible to determine the style of such a work... by a dominant feature or by a cardinal principle of formation?»
Returning to the results of Sh. Fatullaev's research, we can say with a high degree of confidence that the academician preferred to determine the style of each individual work according to the cardinal principle of shaping. He related the term «eclecticism» to the assessment of the stylistic situation of the architecture of Baku at the turn of the 19th-20th centuries generally.
Researchers have noticed that at the end of each century, artistic trends are formed that become leading at the beginning of the next century. Moreover, sometimes these artistic and aesthetic trends continue to exert their influence in subsequent periods. So, for example, the national-romantic direction outlined in the works of Sh. Fatullaev in the Soviet period receives a certain interpretation, primarily in the work of Mikail Useinov. The opposite pole of the stylistic development of architecture is undoubtedly represented by constructivism, which clearly gravitated towards international models.
The stylistic situation in the architecture and design of Azerbaijan in the 20th - early 21st centuries was most fully studied by Rena Efendizade. In her works, an analysis of stylistic trends was carried out both at the level of the work of one master, both at the level of a separate style, and at the level of the architectural and artistic process of this period as a whole. She repeatedly turned to the consideration of domestic architecture of the 1920-30s. and the role of constructivism in shaping the appearance of Baku at that time.
According to R. Efendizadeh, «along with the general features characteristic of constructivism, «Baku constructivism» has its own characteristic features, it is distinguished by a special classic of volumes, co-scale with the architectural and spatial environment of Baku and its natural and climatic conditions» [5, p. 43]. It is important to note that in the first decade and a half of Soviet power, constructivism was perceived as direct opposition to eclecticism, as the response of socialist society to the «decadent art» of capitalist society.
[2, p. 324].
In addition, constructivism was seen as having a powerful international potential; it was positioned as a phenomenon parallel to German functionalism, which laid the foundations for the future «international style».
One of the central figures in the development of stylistic processes in architecture and design over the past three decades is Rahim Seyfullaev. He is distinguished by a large stock of semiotic models, thanks to which he uses the combinatorial method, creating something new from already known elements. It was R. Efendizade who exhaustively analyzed the postmodernist discourse of Rahim Seyfullayev and outlined his role in the formation of neo-eclecticism in Azerbaijan. The ability to give each designed object a certain «cultural context, some kind of iconic distinctiveness» [4, p. 25] - this is where the specificity of design project thinking is expressed, and this is the creative credo of Rahim Seyfullaev, who works primarily with the iconic sphere.
For a long time, the word «eclecticism» was perceived negatively, but today a different attitude towards eclecticism has developed. History has shown that eclecticism is not a negative phenomenon; it acts as a modification of well-known styles; the example of eclecticism also shows that styles are not only monosyllabic, but also polysyllabic in structure. Both eclecticism and one of its forms, stylization, reflected the active creative searches of architects.
Eclecticism not only prepared the preconditions for a new style - modernism, it became the reason for a change in the creative approach of architects, in which they switched to stylization and methods of variability. Thus, freedom of choice was replaced by great creative freedom. Turning to the past, the architect-designer borrowed only an associative image from history.
Reviving as a style in the 1950s, eclecticism entered the world stage in the 1990s in the form of a new eclecticism - postmodernism. Having liberated the designers of the late twentieth century, the new eclecticism contributed to the return of the aesthetic essence of architecture and made it possible to resurrect historical connections that had been forgotten for decades.
Throughout the entire period of independence, buildings of various architectural styles have been and continue to be built in Baku. And the authors of these buildings are both Azerbaijani designers and foreign designers. The authors of public, residential buildings, and business centers of different styles are Rahim Seyfullaev, Ilgar Ispatov, Nazim Veliyev. The authors of residential, public and multifunctional buildings, erected using elements of various styles, are designers and architects Elbey Gasimzade, Ilgar Beylyarov, Nariman Imamaliev, Ramiz Huseynov, Elchin Aliyev, Novruz Eldarly, Farid Akmiev, Chingiz Rakhdari, as well as members of the Arkon group Jahangir Akhundov, Kamal Musakhanov and others.
Unlike the eclectic architecture of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, we do not see rich decor in modern buildings. Here designers give preference to working with compositional techniques and creatively rethought forms. Here, the new design incorporates historicism, modern architecture and regionalism into its practice. All this makes it possible for a new regionalism to emerge, reflecting the architectural spirit of a particular place. The new eclecticism is distinguished by greater freedom of form, combinatorics and an appeal to the architecture of the past.
The trends in the development of design in Azerbaijan during the period of independence demonstrate, if not a unique, then a very peculiar stylistic phenomenon. On the one hand, in the field of architectural design and clothing design, such a phenomenon as a new national-romantic direction, as well as a new eclecticism, is emerging. On the other hand, the functional-aesthetic direction, which we would call the new international style, is receiving a second wind. Moreover, both phenomena have acquired a completely completed, formed character in the past two and a half decades.
This gives the right to talk about the manifestation of cyclical patterns in the development of stylistic systems in general and the reflection of these patterns in the artistic culture of Azerbaijan during the period of independence. It is very important that there is not only an aesthetic, semiotic and actually artistic-stylistic repetition of the situation that took place in Russian culture at the turn of the 19th-20th centuries, but also an extremely interesting manifestation of cyclism from a
chronological point of view. The repetition makes itself felt with an interval of 100 years, that is, within the two famous «Kondratieff» economic cycles.
Based on the idea of «Kondratieff» cycles, Russian researcher V.M. Petrov put forward the concept of alternating certain cycles in the development of artistic culture. According to V.M. Petrov, in the history of culture analytical and synthetic cycles alternate, each lasting 50 years. At the same time, the main object of attention of the researcher was the problem of cyclicality in style, the pattern of stylistic variability. The starting point of V.M. Petrov's concept is the style of thinking - left-hemisphere or right-hemisphere, each of which alternately dominates and determines the general style of the era over the next fifty years. The cycle where the left-hemisphere style of thinking dominates is analytical; the dominance of the right-hemisphere thinking style leads to the onset of a synthetic cycle.
According to the concept of V.M. Petrov, the visual art of the analytical cycle is characterized by «the desire for normativity, rationality, rigor of form, laconicism, asceticism of expressive means, graphics, balance, staticity», etc. The art of the synthetic cycle, on the contrary, is characterized by «a tendency towards originality, intuitiveness, freedom of form, richness and variety of expressive means, picturesqueness, color, expressiveness, dynamism, transitions, flow of elements» [1, p. 209].
And finally, the Russian scientist believes that the next analytical cycle began in 2011. This means that over the last century the following sequence of cycles has taken place: since 1911, the patterns of the analytical cycle have appeared in the history of artistic culture, and the synthetic cycle began in 1961. Thus, from the point of view of the theoretical scheme, the content (content) of artistic processes at the turn of the 19th-20th and 20th-21st centuries can and should be, in principle, identical. It was the previous, synthetic cycle that contributed to the unification of various types of design activities, as was the case in the period 1861-1911, when, in fact, design arose. Historical period 1961-2011 was the time of the formation of universal design thinking, which made it possible to make statements in the spirit of the following: «everyone who invents an algorithm, a procedure, is engaged in design».
That is why at the turn of the 19th-20th and 20th-21st centuries we observe a cyclical repetition in the development of artistic and stylistic systems. That is why, both then and now, eclecticism, national-romantic style and art nouveau style exist in parallel in the same cultural space. Let us recall that for the situation of the last two and a half decades, we proposed adding a new definition to the name of each style: new national-romantic style, new international style and new eclecticism.
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