Sali Shijaku, painter, Painter of the People, died in Tirana. He was born in Tirana, in 1933. He completed his higher studies at the Institute “IE Rjepin” of the Academy of Arts in Leningrad (1960). He started working as a painting lecturer at the Higher Institute of Arts. Among the first works of Sali Shijak are several portraits, landscapes and environments of Tirana. At the beginning of his creativity, Sali Shijaku worked in the traditional realistic way, while later, after his studies he painted in pictorial models, he sought expressive findings through emphasized color ratios, until he reached monumental laconic perceptions, where drawing and color gained high artistic expression value. Sali Shijaku brought new modern and contemporary elements to the Albanian art of the 60s of the 20th century. He has participated in national exhibitions and has been awarded prizes. He has opened several solo exhibitions, where his researches in form stand out, especially in elements such as composition, color, light and shade. His works are preserved in the National Gallery of Art. He received the Republic Award of the First Degree (twice), Second Degree (twice) and Third Degree. (In the photo: Shijak’s work “Vanguard of the Revenge Battalion”, 1966, oil on canvas.)
Text: Albanian encyclopedic dictionary – Vol. 3 , Academy of Sciences of Albania, “Kristalina-KH”, Tirana, 2009, page 2456-2457.
Graphic processing: AHCF
