Geysar Kashiyeva

Geysar Seyfulla qizi Kashiyeva (Azerbaijani: Qeysər Kaşıyeva; 7 June 1893, Tiflis – 17 April 1972, Baku) was an Azerbaijani painter. She is considered the first professional female painter in Azerbaijani history.

Life
Geysar Kashiyeva was born on June 7, 1893, in Tbilisi. At the age of seven, she attended a girls' boarding school in Tiflis, where she learned the Russian language, and later continued her education at the Girls' Gymnasium. It was during her years at the Gymnasium that her interest in painting emerged, alongside her fascination with literary composition and literary seed work. In 1907-1908, she studied at the painting school near the society promoting art in Tbilisi. Later, the renowned Russian painter Richard Zommer, impressed by Geysar's talent, encouraged her to continue her education in Moscow, but the harsh conditions of the time did not allow for this, so Geysar had to be content with the environment in Tbilisi. She participated in all events organized by the Women's Charity Society in Tbilisi. It was at one of these events that Geysar Kaşıyeva met Shirin beg Kasamanski. Shirin beg was the son of Chingiz bey from the Qazakh nobility. He had received education at a military gymnasium in Tbilisi and had served in a light cavalry regiment for a while. The couple then formed a family, and from this marriage, a daughter was born to them. In 1916 she married Colonel Shirin beg Kasamanski, who was undergoing medical treatment in Tiflis after having been wounded in one of the battles during World War I. He died shortly after the war, in 1919. Their only daughter Layya later became a chemist and died in 1994. After the establishment of the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic, Geysar moved from Tbilisi to Baku in 1918. During the Soviet era, she taught painting in Baku and contributed illustrations to the "Eastern Step" journal. In 1930, Geysar married for the second time, to Zulfugar Seyidbeyli, but this marriage also did not last long. In the 1930s she married Zulfugar Seyidbeyli, an active member of the Communist Party of Azerbaijan. In 1938 Seyidbeyli was arrested for political reasons and deported along with Kashiyeva from European Russia. Shortly after, they were both exiled.

Geysar returned to Azerbaijan in 1950 and passed away on April 17, 1972, in Baku. Her works are preserved in the Museum of Fine Arts in Baku.

Contributions
In 1907–1908 she took a course in professional painting at the Caucasus Artistic Society, where she was taught by Oscar Schmerling (who later worked as caricaturist for the Azeri-language magazine Molla Nasraddin). Her first works were painted in watercolour, pencil, ink, or coal. Those include Goncharov's Portrait (1909), A Muslim Intellectual (1912), Lakeshore (1914), Baba Yaga (1915), etc. She also designed playbill and posters while working at the Muslim Women's Caucasian Benevolent Society.

Upon the establishment of the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic in 1918, Kashiyeva moved to Baku. After Sovietisation, she gave art lessons and worked as an illustrator for the magazine Sharg Gadini. She returned to Azerbaijan in the 1950s and once again engaged in artistic work.