Gazi the Tatar (1900 - 1975)
Gazi the Tatar, pseudonym of Gazi Ighan Ghirei, born in 1900 in Crimea and died in Paris 18th on November 1, 1975, is a Montmartre painter and poet.
Gazi is a nickname meaning "victorious", which he gave himself despite not having participated in any military battle.
He was born and spent his childhood at Hansaray Castle, in Bakhtchissaraï in Crimea. This statement is false and unfounded, because in 1783 the lord (Khan Shaguin Ghirei) who lives in this castle, abdicated and left for Russia. Hansaray Palace then became the seat of the Russian governor of Crimea (Tavritcheskaya Govbetniya) on the orders of Catherine II. It is therefore unlikely that Gazi was born and lived in this castle.
After the revolution of 1917, the Bolsheviks in December 1917 invaded Odessa then Yalta, establishing a reign of terror. Driven from their country by fear, the family took refuge in southern Italy where Gazi began studying at the Academy of Fine Arts in Naples.
His father is descended from the Khans of Crimea, Tatar princes descended from Genghis Khan. Princes of Crimea, who lived in the castle of Batshi-Sarailh, on the shores of the Black Sea, which subsequently became the summer residence of Soviet leaders.
His father probably died a natural death and not murdered by the Bolsheviks. In fact, the first assassination perpetrated by the Bolsheviks on foreign soil only took place in 1924 (murder of investigating judge Sokolov in Paris for his book on the end of the Romanov family). Gazi continued his studies and visited Italy to improve his knowledge of Italian painting.
In 1920, he settled in the Latin Quarter in Paris and rubbed shoulders with the artists of Montparnasse.
Let us note in passing that the Tatar princes are all of the Muslim faith. Gazi would therefore have converted to Catholicism at an unknown date, before his meeting with Suzanne Valadon in 1934.
Around 1934, Gazi met Suzanne Valadon, the mother of the painter Maurice Utrillo. The friendship between them will encourage Suzanne to return to painting at the end of her life, also encouraged by Pablo Picasso and other artists. From 1935, he lived with Suzanne, whom he considered his adoptive mother, and Maurice, his son, as his foster brother. Gazi often visits Maurice, married to Lucie, when they live in Vésinet.
When Suzanne died in 1938, Gazi moved to Place du Calvaire. At this time, his painting is close to the style of Maurice Utrillo both in terms of subjects and material, but the drawing is more precise and the rendering more poetic. His watercolors and drawings denote more poetry than his paintings.
In 1938, Gazi was beadle at the Saint-Pierre de Montmartre church and, moved by a youthful memory of Suzanne Valadon, he undertook the restoration of the cult of Notre-Dame de Montmartre.
After researching the history of Notre-Dame, he sent a file to the diocese of Paris following which Cardinal Suhard, Archbishop of Paris, restored the veneration of Notre-Dame de Montmartre, patron saint of artists around the world, on November 20, 1942.
Gazi died in poverty on November 1, 1975. He was buried in the Pantin cemetery, before being transferred to the Saint-Vincent cemetery. His grave is close to that of Maurice Utrillo.
(text source: Wikipedia / Image: https://www.montmartre-secret.com/2022/03/gazi-le-tatar.html)