Ashgabat Hosts Exhibition of Works by a Founder of the Mary Painting School

A solo exhibition of works by painter Hoshgeldy Shahberdiyev is on display at the State Museum of Fine Arts of Turkmenistan in Ashgabat. The artist died young, and his relatives transferred more than 2,500 paintings and graphic works to the museum's collection.

Shahberdiyev graduated top of his class from the Ashgabat art school and passed the painting faculty entrance exam of the famous VGIK on his first attempt. In the third year of his studies, doctors told him that his heart was working irregularly and would not last for long.

He returned to his hometown of Mary and threw himself into the country's art life. Starting in the 1970s, a new national art school began to take shape in Mary. In 1984, at a large exhibition of young painters from Mary held at the Central House of Artists in Moscow, Shahberdiyev appeared as one of the recognised leaders of the school. He died in 1986. The Ashgabat exhibition is a tribute to his creative merits and his role in the history of Turkmen fine art.