Mongol

Davron Toshev began painting when he was just five. As a teenager, he was apprenticed to his uncle, the sculptor Hamro Zoyirov, but it was always painting rather than the plastic arts that really inspired him. In 1990, his passion led him to a studio in Tashkent where he met the artist who would change his life: Khurshid Nazirov. Nazirov introduced the young Toshev to the world of miniatures.

Like the medieval masters before him, Davron is inspired by Eastern poetry and literature, especially by the timeless themes and lively characters of the great Alisher Navoi’s famous works. Toshev’s pictures tell of lovers’ trysts, music and dance, poetry, philosophy, and the harmony we can find in nature.

“Uzbek literature is an infinite, inexhaustible source of inspiration for the world in which I live and which lives in me,” he says. “I try to visually convey the immortal verses of wisdom, love and history.”

In 2019, Davron opened “Usta Davron Miniature Center” to revive the old tradition of miniature that had practically disappeared. The center also revived the tradition of old Bukharian paper and teaches local students the art of miniature. For Davron, the most important task is preserving the secrets of great art and passing them on to the next generation.