Sakit Mammadov (born in 1958 in Neftchala, Azerbaijan) is ‘one of the most famous artists, whose works are in major art galleries and private collections around the world’, as stated on his website. Only a small fraction of his oeuvre is dedicated to erotic art, but Mammadov compensates in quality for what he lacks in quantity when it comes to this specific genre. Mammadov’s erotic paintings are a strange but eye-catching mix of sensuality, symbolism and the traditions of European figurative painting. Rather than treating the naked body simply as an object of erotic display, Mammadov places the female figure within richly atmospheric environments in which darkness, colour, nature, fabric and light become the extensions of the body itself. The body may not be clothes in jewels and silks, but it is clothed through the backgrounds which add layers of mystery and richness to the otherwise simple nude. Two of Mammadov’s erotic paintings that I find most interesting can be seen in Fig.1. and Fig.2.; ‘Night Symphony’ (1997) and ‘Under the Apple Tree’ (2013). The two paintings demonstrate the two different approaches to eroticism: the first constructs intimacy through enclosure, darkness and repose, while the second connects the naked female body with nature, fertility and the sensual abundance of the earth. Mammadov’s official gallery classifies these works within his ‘Nude’ category, but these are much more than simple nudes.
Fig.1 Sakit Mammadov, Night Symphony, 1997
Fig.1a Diego Velaquez, Venus at Her Mirror, 1644-48
Fig.2 Sakit Mammadov, Under the Apple Tree, 2013
Night Symphony
In Fig.1., in ‘Night Symphony’, the female body dominates the horizontal composition. The woman is seen lying almost completely stretched across the canvas, creating a powerful rhythm of curves from her feet through her legs, hips, back and head. We are tempted to trace the contours of her slender body with the tips of our fingers, or, in the lack of the tactile response, to trace it with our eyes and relish every curve, every fold. The woman’s pose is relaxed rather than confrontational and it is echoing the centuries of female nude in European art; think of Velazquez’s ‘Venus with a Mirror’, dated c 1644-48, seen in Fig.1.a. Mammadov’s nude, just like Velazquez’s Venus, does not look towards the viewer; instead, her body is turned away and her face is partially concealed. This withdrawal is important to the erotic character of the painting. Mammadov creates sensuality not through explicit action but through the suggestion of privacy. The viewer appears to have entered a secluded nocturnal space in which the woman is resting, absorbed in her own world.
Fig.3 Sakit Mammadov
Fig.4 Sakit Mammadov
Luminous Presence
The contrast between the warm flesh and the almost black environment intensifies this sense of intimacy. The skin is painted with subtle gradations of cream, pink, ochre and brown, giving the body a tactile, almost luminous presence. Against it, the surrounding reds, blacks and deep greens appear heavy and mysterious. The female figure therefore becomes the principal source of light in the painting. This technique also recalls a long tradition in European art in which the nude body is illuminated against a dark interior, but Mammadov gives the convention a distinctly atmospheric and theatrical quality.
Fig.5 Sakit Mammadov, Morning Light, 2004
Fig.6 Sakit Mammadov, Adam and Eve, 2016
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