Nazip Ismagilov (Najip Naqqash)

Author works

Kalila and Dimna

Kalila and Dimna

Book
Tugra (personal coat of arms) of calligrapher Najip Nakkash

Tugra (personal coat of arms) of calligrapher Najip Nakkash

Glass, ink, oil, acryl, foil, oracal, pointed steel pen, squirrel brush, 40x40 cm, 2008.
Tugra (personal coat of arms) of the Tatarstan State President M. Shaimiev

Tugra (personal coat of arms) of the Tatarstan State President M. Shaimiev

Glass, ink, oil, acryl, foil, sharp-pointed nib steel pen, squirrel brush, 40x40 cm, 2008.
Oh, Kazan! (Syuyumbike tower with a half-moon symbol)

Oh, Kazan! (Syuyumbike tower with a half-moon symbol)

Paper, ink, color pencil, watercolor, gouache, sharp-pointed nib steel pen, squirrel brush, 40x52 cm, 1991.
Shamaili. Set of post-cards

Shamaili. Set of post-cards


Arabic Calligraphy: Link of Times and Peoples

Arabic Calligraphy: Link of Times and Peoples

PH Zaman, exhibition catalogue, Kazan, 29x21cm, 2010
To My People triptych. Left part

To My People triptych. Left part

Designer paper, ink, gouache, acryl, 800 x 590 mm, 2017
To My People triptych. Central part

To My People triptych. Central part

Designer paper, ink, gouache, acryl, 800 x 590 mm, 2017
To My People triptych. Right part

To My People triptych. Right part

Designer paper, ink, gouache, acryl, 800 x 590 mm, 2017

Biography

Nazip  Ismagilov (Najip Naqqash)

Bio of Nazip Faizrakhmanovich Ismagilov (Pseudo-name Najip Nakkash), senior research associate of the G. Ibrahimov Institute of Languages, Literature and History, textologist and calligrapher.

Najip Nakkash is a unique figure in modern Tatar art. He has resurrected an ancient lore of Tatar decorative art, forgotten for over eighty years : Arabic lettering.

He participated in many local and international exhibitions (2003: Teheran, Iran; 2004 :Dijon, France; 2006 : Ankara, Turkey) and organized fifteen solo shows. His works are displayed in: all Kazan’s museums, art galleries of the towns of Naberezhnye Chelny and Almetyevsk; and some of his works are in foreign private collections.

Najip Nakkash was born in 1948 in the village of Usali in Mamadyshsky region, Tatarstan. He lives in Kazan. After graduating from the Kazan State University, language and literature department, he has worked, since 1979, as a research associate at the G. Ibrahimov Institute of Languages, Literature and History. His main activity is studying medieval Tatar prose and the preparation of ancient literature texts for publishing. He published four books and thirty research articles. Over one-hundred and fifty of his calligraphic works have been published in calendars, newspapers, and magazines of Tatarstan.

The artist freely applies different styles of Arabic lettering, his works are: picturesque, original, compositionally proportionate, and full of national colour. He has a good hand in ornamentation and infuses truly Tatar spirit into traditional Islamic art. In recent years he designed the mosaic panels for the mosques in Nizhnekamsk, Leninogorsk, Shangalchi village, and a newly-built wing of the Marjani mosque in Kazan. His tugras (personal and family emblems and coats of arms) in Arabic are very popular with clients. He is the author of over one-thousand tugras, four-hundred of which are designed on glass.

On December 4, 1998 Najip Nakkash was bestowed with the Honorary Title of Art Worker of Tatarstan by presidential order. It was awarded for his outstanding merit in reviving Tatar calligraphy tradition and cultivating artistic taste in society.
He is a fellow member of the Artists’ Union of Tatarstan (since February 2001) and Chamber of the Art Craft and Skills of Tatarstan (since 2002).

He has taught calligraphy in the Tatar State Humanitarian Institute (for 8 years) and Russian Islamic University (for 6 years). Some of his most brilliant students carry on the master’s craft and participate in the calligraphic exhibitions.

There are forty-eight articles about Najip’s creative activity in newspapers and articles.

Supervisor of the Department of Textology, DLitt
/Z.Z. Ramiev/
Supervisor of the Department of Visual and Applied Art, PhD (art history)
/R.R. Soultanova/