Backstage 

Curator: We are looking at “Backstage,” an oil painting by Boyukagha Mirzazade. It depicts a group of ballerinas in what appears to be a moment of rest or preparation. Editor: It's blurry, frenetic...like a rapid sketch. The application of paint gives the impression that everything is in motion. You can almost hear the faint murmur of many voices in this holding place. Curator: That sense of motion definitely relates to its impressionistic style, which emerged, in part, to challenge academic traditions that promoted sharp details. This glimpse behind the curtain humanizes these performers. Where earlier, Degas had the field all to himself capturing similar behind-the-scenes narratives, Mirzazade brings to the stage a particular group of figures working, most probably, within the Soviet theater system. Editor: The very deliberate brushstrokes highlight that materiality. It's really about labor, the physical toll on the body and the labor that goes into making any 'beautiful' performance possible. One gets a feeling of how labor and class play a role here... These women are workers, refining steps in repetition over and over to prepare. This is not simply high art divorced from production; there's work here and the visible effort the material making involved, and I think Mirzazade wants us to appreciate both equally. Curator: I see your point. Focusing on the materiality and production processes adds another layer. When this piece might have been on view at the time, a social-realist aesthetic in art had dominated in official circles. Mirzazade's work could be viewed, thus, as part of a larger shift within the Azerbaijani art scene as its practitioners started taking risks and expressing themselves in looser brushstrokes that carried heavy ideological weight. Editor: Yes, and let's not forget the sheer tactile experience. Imagine the scent of paint mingling with sweat, and the subtle shifts in pose... Curator: Agreed. It presents us not just with ballerinas but rather laborers caught between states of physical exertion... Thanks for teasing out the material processes and their broader significance. Editor: It underscores, once again, how much physical toil supports ideas of 'sublime' beauty we so frequently like to idealize in this medium!